Speech Therpy Week 3

So far, I have shadowed our speech therapist three times. I am learning a lot and really enjoying it. This week, I went with Lauren on a Tuesday instead of a Wednesday like I have been doing. We saw 3 kids on this day. Normally, we see more but since the holidays are coming up more people have been canceling.
The first kid we saw (I will call him CH) was a 2 year old little boy who has some speech delays. Lauren is doing educational play with him. Educational play is where you incorporate sounds, and simple words with toys that the child likes. When we first arrived at his house, he was a little shy and would not come around me. But by the end of the session, he was my new little friend. We were playing, talking and I even got a hug when we left. This one little boy made my day so much better; I would love to see him again.
After there, we went to see a 5 year old little girl, named Kay. She has down syndrome and is so adorable. When we arrived, she opened the door for us and told me hello. She is a very talkative little girl. Lauren is working on counting, colors, shapes and naming objects with her. We played lots of games and did a lot of naming things.
From there, we went to Jo’s house. This is the little girl I got to see the very first time I went with Lauren. She is doing a little better since the last time I saw her. She is now teething, sitting up better, not grinding her teeth as much and eating more. Also, they have a occupational therapist for her and they are working on walking. While we were there, she had a melt down probably due to teething. After she calmed down, she did really well. Jo’s dad explained that she was doing better with the chewy tube and eating.
When we left, we had about a 30 minute drive back to my house. The time in between houses and the ride back to my house gives me a good time to ask questions about things dealing with Lauren's job. One of the questions I have been wondering about is when you are teaching a child do you pronounce every word correctly. Lauren explained that she tries to teach the correct way to say the word but also tries to match the dialect of the people around the child. So, if the parent has a country accent, she tries to talk somewhat the same way. This keeps the child from getting confused between what the speech therapist is teaching and what the parents are teaching. Lauren also told me about a test you have to take after completing college. This test determines if you will be able to practice speech therapy or not. She said this is one of the hardest test she had ever taken and that all of your schooling (pre-grad and grad school) is in this one test. We also got to talking about the differences between Speech Therapy (ST) Physical Therapy (PT) and Occupational Therapy (OT). I have been going with my sister to OT and PT so I have learned a little about what they do also. As Lauren and I were discussing the differences between the three of them, she brought some major things to my attention that I have never thought about before. First off all in PT, I would possibly have to work with adults. I don’t mind working with them it is just not what I really want to do. Also, I would have to lift people, sit people up, and help them stand. Depending on how much they weight, I could possibly drop them. I DO NOT want that responsibly; I would hate to have to explain to someone how I drop their mom or dad. I could go in to pediatric PT. They work mainly with kids, but they also work with kids wearing prosthetics. I’m not familiar with prosthetics and I am not sure if it is something I would enjoy doing. But it is something I would like to learn. Also in PT, you have to move around A LOT. You are always moving in some way. So if you ever pull a muscle, you are either going to have to put up with the pain or call in sick. This is definitely something to think about, seeing how I am twisting or pulling something about every two weeks. OT’s do a combination of physical and speech therapy and also life skills. Life skills include everything from writing your name, counting, teaching someone how to take a bath and wipe themselves. I have absolute NO desire to teach someone that. I think God has given certain people a gift and patience to teach life skills. I, however, do not think He has given me that gift. I am not sure if there is a pediatric OT job but that is something I want to look in to.
Lauren has been teaching me a lot and I am having a lot of fun. This I defiantly something I would consider doing in college.