11/10/10
Today I went with our speech therapist, Lauren. She picked me up at our house around 9am so I could shadow her for the day. We saw a total of 7 kids. When we first left, Lauren briefly explained what problems each child had and what kind of things she was using to help with the problems.
The first kid we saw was Jo she is 2 ½, has poor muscle control and is also hypo sensitive. Lauren is using, hot, cold and vibrating teething rings and is also using different textures and tempters of food. Lauren is also teaching Jo stem sounds, stem sounds are vowel sounds, like A, E I, O, U, that babies and children make before learning to talk. It was interesting to see how Lauren worked with a younger child instead of my sister, who I am used to seeing her work with.
After there, Lauren explained that the next kid we were seeing was almost 3 and had some speech delays. When we arrived, I met a very energetic little boy named Rob. Lauren worked on stem sounds, let him blow bubbles to strengthen his mouth muscles and had him request certain items. It was intriguing to see how different it was to work with a more active child then one who sits still.
When we left there, we visited a 8 year old boy named Dev who is on a tracheal tube. Lauren told me Dev has SMA, which is spinal muscular atrophy. He can shrug his shoulders and slightly raise his eyebrows. Dev is also using a dynavox with eye gaze system because He can not push buttons. He had just fallen asleep before we arrived so Lauren talked to his nurse about how he was doing and how his day had been.
When we left there, we saw a 16 month little boy name C. He has some speech delays, is not walking yet but he does scoot across the floor. C also has some chewing delays and aspirates on thin liquids. He was also asleep when we arrived; so, Lauren dropped off a chewy tube to help with his eating and checked to see how he was doing on the liquid thickener she had prescribed earlier in the week.
Next, we went to a daycare in our area to see El a 2 year old little girl. El was defiantly one of my favorites of the day. She had been labeled failure to thrive as a baby, is small for her age and has some speech delays. She is super quiet but is very adorable. Lauren is working on requesting, saying things like, bubbles, open, close, no, yes, book, etc. El is also using the Chewy tube to help her with her mouth muscles. I will say working in a day care with a child is much harder then going to the child’s house. It is a lot louder, distracting and you have to listen very closely when the child speaks.
After we left there, we went to Lauren’s office. She showed me how to write a brief summery in each child’s folder and how to get things ready for the next kid. The next kid that we saw came to the office. Ad is a 10 year old boy who has autism. Lauren is working on taking turns and sound cards with him. While he was there, Ad threw a fit. It was interesting to see how Lauren deals with fit throwing and it was also a good learning experience for me. After Ad left, a 7 year old boy named Tim came in. Tim also has autism, he worked on sequencing cards and a “following direction” work sheet. He was a very talkative and a very sweet little boy.
I really enjoyed my trip with Lauren, She taught me about the 2 different kinds of chewy tubes, how to write a summery of the kids therapy session and what a liquid thinker is. I can't wait to go again and learn more. It was defiantly a great learning experience that I will never forget.
(Due to the confidentiality of the children their names have been change.)
Today I went with our speech therapist, Lauren. She picked me up at our house around 9am so I could shadow her for the day. We saw a total of 7 kids. When we first left, Lauren briefly explained what problems each child had and what kind of things she was using to help with the problems.
The first kid we saw was Jo she is 2 ½, has poor muscle control and is also hypo sensitive. Lauren is using, hot, cold and vibrating teething rings and is also using different textures and tempters of food. Lauren is also teaching Jo stem sounds, stem sounds are vowel sounds, like A, E I, O, U, that babies and children make before learning to talk. It was interesting to see how Lauren worked with a younger child instead of my sister, who I am used to seeing her work with.
After there, Lauren explained that the next kid we were seeing was almost 3 and had some speech delays. When we arrived, I met a very energetic little boy named Rob. Lauren worked on stem sounds, let him blow bubbles to strengthen his mouth muscles and had him request certain items. It was intriguing to see how different it was to work with a more active child then one who sits still.
When we left there, we visited a 8 year old boy named Dev who is on a tracheal tube. Lauren told me Dev has SMA, which is spinal muscular atrophy. He can shrug his shoulders and slightly raise his eyebrows. Dev is also using a dynavox with eye gaze system because He can not push buttons. He had just fallen asleep before we arrived so Lauren talked to his nurse about how he was doing and how his day had been.
When we left there, we saw a 16 month little boy name C. He has some speech delays, is not walking yet but he does scoot across the floor. C also has some chewing delays and aspirates on thin liquids. He was also asleep when we arrived; so, Lauren dropped off a chewy tube to help with his eating and checked to see how he was doing on the liquid thickener she had prescribed earlier in the week.
Next, we went to a daycare in our area to see El a 2 year old little girl. El was defiantly one of my favorites of the day. She had been labeled failure to thrive as a baby, is small for her age and has some speech delays. She is super quiet but is very adorable. Lauren is working on requesting, saying things like, bubbles, open, close, no, yes, book, etc. El is also using the Chewy tube to help her with her mouth muscles. I will say working in a day care with a child is much harder then going to the child’s house. It is a lot louder, distracting and you have to listen very closely when the child speaks.
After we left there, we went to Lauren’s office. She showed me how to write a brief summery in each child’s folder and how to get things ready for the next kid. The next kid that we saw came to the office. Ad is a 10 year old boy who has autism. Lauren is working on taking turns and sound cards with him. While he was there, Ad threw a fit. It was interesting to see how Lauren deals with fit throwing and it was also a good learning experience for me. After Ad left, a 7 year old boy named Tim came in. Tim also has autism, he worked on sequencing cards and a “following direction” work sheet. He was a very talkative and a very sweet little boy.
I really enjoyed my trip with Lauren, She taught me about the 2 different kinds of chewy tubes, how to write a summery of the kids therapy session and what a liquid thinker is. I can't wait to go again and learn more. It was defiantly a great learning experience that I will never forget.
(Due to the confidentiality of the children their names have been change.)
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