Reflection

I learned that progress is not linear and that success looks different for every child based on the challenges they face day to day as well as family and caregiver education. I also learned that it's important to recognize strengths rather than only deficits mrs. Rachel King was able to help me understand that sometimes sharing the positives of a child's condition and improvement can uplift the family and provide hope for their situations. A challenge was recognizing how easily I might underestimate a child’s abilities based on diagnosis alone rather than observing the child's actions. When being able to see what a child is capable of after reading their files it was amazing to see how far they have come and how hard they try to accomplish communication and feeding. My take away from this experience was to take a strength based mindset while also being open minded and positive through evaluations to provide hope for the families while also being motivated to make a change. 

Reflection

I learned that feeding therapy prioritizes safe eating before we can improve skills. Making sure a child can safely intake either solids or liquids. A challenge that I noticed throughout this observation was reinforcing patience and understanding that progress takes time and every little step and accomplishment along the way matters. Seeing the child with an MG tube not be able to properly intake foods was saddening however her parents made sure she had the resources and they had the education to initiate progress was refreshing as well as hopeful. Additionally I learned the importance of patience and child play when it came to children who are very selective with foods. Through patience and time we were able to get the client to not only touch the food but be able to interact and play with it. I will carry forward the ability to have patience and appreciate and celebrate every positive step towards success and improvement. As well as the importance of patience through every evaluation of all clients. 

Reflection

After observing it I was able to reflect on the strengths of AAC as well as the importance it has as a tool for a voice for many children. It was refreshing to see AAC being used early at young ages for children who could not ebay communicate. I learned what CVI was as well as how it impacts children's visual field and means of interacting. It was interesting to see children responding to different colors and movements in different lighting which was new for me. Challenges I saw during my first day of CVI were interacting with different age groups and knowing what was beneficial and what was influential to those kids' development. Something that will carry on to my future is advocating for AAC and growing more awareness on the technology and the influence it has on children and caregivers. 

Reflection

Overall I was able to learn a lot alot during intervention. Being able to watch the graduate students asses children then see them again for intervention was interesting as well as reflected the parents motivation and want to help their child especially seeing the long distances that were traveled to receive help. Today showed the power and importance of play during intervention. Therapy through play motivated and influenced most of the children to achieve small but meaningful goals. By starting therapy with toys and activities that were age appropriate the children were responding to the therapy in a more positive way. Similarly through play and the use of foods that the parents and caregivers were aware they liked we were able to make positive correlations with food assisting with the intervention and essentially the small steps towards development at home. A key takeaway from today's therapy sessions is the importance of connecting a nd playing with a child to provide adequate and successful therapy. A challenge that was faced was similarly the language barrier to fully understand what the parents are doing and what they can do to better assist they're child.

Reflection

I further learned the importance and positive impact AAC has on children who may not have the ability to properly communicate their wants and needs. The avaz gave the children a number of options based on what they were able to distinguish and a certain amount of pictures they were able to understand. Through this the children were able to pick and choose what toys they wanted as well as respond to short phrases and questions. A challenge that we faced was the language barrier even though we had an interpreter providing the therapy was more challenging when the child new some words in English but not all. Something I will take away from this observation is the power AAC has as well as the power therapy has even through a language barrier every population deserves the right and ability to communicate.

Reflection

From today’s experience I learned the value of AAC whether it was low or high tech as well as how easy it is make a board that almost mimics an AAC device. I was able to print out photos with their correlating words for their personal use at home and for therapy. Something that stood with me during our last day was knowing that one of our clients has been seeing the speech language therapist since he was 1 years old and now being 13 he’s shown progress and ability even being disabled there’s clear ability and intent to communicate. In a way these sessions gave me empathy as well as a tremendous amount of hope towards AAC and therapy. It made me appreciate the little steps and milestones that mean the most to parents and their children’s development.