"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." I can hear one of my grandmother's highly regarded quotes resonating inside my head. Apprehension consumed me when I entered college as an undecided major. Unexpectedly that all changed a few weeks into my first semester. My grandmother had a stroke which ultimately affected her speech and was in dire need of a Speech Pathologist. This is what initially sparked my interest in this field. I was determined on working with the geriatric population because of the experience and attachment I endured with my grandmother. However, the irrefutable fact that this is my passion became evident when I started working as an Assistant Teacher at Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech. At Clarke I currently teach in a self contained classroom of four year old children that are deaf and hard of hearing who are learning to listen and speak. I assist under the direction of the classroom teacher in planning, preparing and executing lessons in a listening and spoken language approach. I have the opportunity to record, transcribe and analyze language samples on a daily basis. In addition, I facilitate the child's communication in the classroom and ensure carryover of activities between the classroom and individual speech therapy sessions. Every week I contribute and participate in meetings with the educational team to discuss each child's progress using Cottage Acquisition Scales of Speech, Language and Listening (CASSLLS). I currently have a deaf child in my class that was recently unilaterally implanted. This child had no language but showed progress of pre-verbal behaviors. Within months of being in my class we began to see a range of semantic intentions through two word combinations. The simple phrase ... ... middle of paper ... ...rate degree in this field once I hold my ASHA's Certificate of Clinical Competence As a ________student, I will strive to become the best Speech Pathologist I can be. My passion of Speech Pathology will assist me in exceeding expectations in the program. Being an Assistant Teacher at Clarke has not only made my passion of working at a speech and hearing center stronger but it also provided me with the knowledge and hands-on experience I need to succeed in graduate school. The experiences I have endured at work and the undergraduate level have strengthened my devotion to this field of study. Therefore, I will be an incredible asset to the diverse student body of _________. I am looking forward to learning about different research, diagnostic assessments, and treatment methods for individuals with speech and language disorders in your accredited program.
Language does not only mean oral communication, there are many other forms of communicating however oral communication is the only one considered “normal.” The book “Deaf Like Me” follows a little girl Lynn throughout her early years of life and relates to us the struggles she endured while trying to fit into the mold of being normal. The story written by her father Thomas Spradley and her uncle James Spradley is an exceptional and moving story walking us through the early attempts of Lynn’s family trying to get her to learn the oral language despite her deafness that did not allow her to develop language by listening to the people around her.
English is an interesting language. English is comprised of many different words from different languages all mashed up and mixed together. English is a very hard language to learn, especially if you can’t hear it. How easy would it be to confuse a “B” with a “P”, they sound similar and when trying to lip read how can you tell the difference? I feel that young Deaf /hard of hearing students being taught by a Deaf teacher or a child of a Deaf adult (C.O.D.A) teacher is very important because ASL is the first step to learning English and becoming bilingual. According to the article Why Schools for Deaf Children Should Hire Deaf Teachers: A Preschool Issue By Courtney Shantie and Robert Hoffmeister, the authors state “This paper will focus on
Practitioners should plan activities that follow children’s interests, make up stories about their favourite cartoon or film character. Get down to the child’s level and ask them what they have drawn and praise the child. The practitioner should use different body language, tone of voice, characterisation when telling a story to the children. Practitioners should be singing rhymes along with the children in order to help them learn new words and also increase their confidence and communication skills. It is important to support children in their phonological awareness to help them understand that words can be broken down into different
Deaf Again autobiography is a man’s recounting of his life growing up in deaf culture, but virtually living in the hearing world. Mark Drolsbaugh was born to deaf parents, but grew up partially hearing. When he was diagnosed with hearing loss, his grandparents responded by not allowing Mark to learn ASL. Doctors and speech therapists concluded that Mark should not be immersed in deaf culture, instead he should hang on to his hearing as much as he can. He was given hearing aids and translators did not sign to him, but just repeated everything clearer. His parents were actually instructed to not used ASL around Mark because that would promote deaf culture. He became very reliant on lip reading and had no significant connection to the deaf community, even though his parents were both deaf! When he wasn’t familiar with the lip patterns of an individual, he found it very hard to understand them. Because of this, he was unable to keep up in school and had to rely on teaching himself all of his classwork. Eventually, he was accepted into Germantown Friends School, which was very rigorous, but people
Special needs assistants who work with Deaf and Hard of Hearing children in Deaf and mainstream schools are a vital component for children in the acquiring of learning and social skills and with general communication. SNA’s assist with care, health and safety, equipment and explanation or simplification of instructions. The SNA’s ability to use ISL can be extremely important for children who use ISL as their main form of communication, especially to ensure the child is not isolated. The role of an SNA can vary with each child depending on individual needs. There needs to be continuous communication between the SNA, the teacher, resource teacher and the visiting teacher service to ensure the child is getting as much help as possible in the areas
Singleton, Jenny and Matthew Tittle. “Deaf Parents and Their Hearing Children.” Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education. 5.3 (2000): 221-234. PsycINFO. EBSCO. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
The documentary “For a Deaf Son,” delineates a young boy, Thomas Tranchin, who was born deaf into a hearing family, and the battle his parents endured to decide to teach Thomas in sign language communication, strictly communicate in English, or both. The documentary is educational for the hearing world to shape their own particular opinions on what type of technique would be better for their child in the event that they were to ever be in a comparative circumstance. As Dr. Carlos Erting expressed in the film, 93% of hearing impaired children have hearing parents; therefore, this documentary gives a glimpse at both perspectives of nonverbal communication and oral communication. However, as I viewed the short film, the clashing feelings of Thomas’
Mark Drolsbaugh, the author of Deaf Again, was born to deaf parents at a time when the deaf population didn’t have and weren’t given the same availability to communication assistance as they have today. He was born hearing and seemed to have perfect hearing up until the first grade when he started having trouble understanding what was being said but was too young to understand what was happening. (Drolsbaugh 8).
Within the United States, there are roughly sixty-one deaf schools in with an estimate of only a couple hundred students attending each school. Three-fourths of the Deaf population are sent through mainstream schools where they are working alongside other hearing students. During class days, many Deaf students are sent to an oralism class or an interpretation class. Not only does this disrupt the student’s studies but also it puts the student behind because they miss class time every time they have to attend oralism class. If this class is removed from the school system, I believe this will assist the Deaf in being able to focus more on their school work instead of trying to perform oral
From a deafness-as-defect mindset, many well-meaning hearing doctors, audiologists, and teachers work passionately to make deaf children speak; to make these children "un-deaf." They try hearing aids, lip-reading, speech coaches, and surgical implants. In the meantime, many deaf children grow out of the crucial language acquisition phase. They become disabled by people who are anxious to make them "normal." Their lack of language, not of hearing, becomes their most severe handicap. While I support any method that works to give a child a richer life, I think a system which focuses on abilities rather than deficiencies is far more valuable. Deaf people have taught me that a lack of hearing need not be disabling. In fact, it shouldn?t be considered a lack at all. As a h...
After over 15 years of working as a CNA and Caregiver, I decided that I wanted to continue my education in the medical field. In 2013 I took the first step towards gaining a better future with more experience as a medical professional. I enrolled into a Medical Assistant program at IBMC college of Longmont. It has been a long road and I am almost to the finish line having gained essential skills needed to move further into my career. It has been a grueling and eye opening experience for me being an adult learner returning back to school at 33 years of age. I persevered through these pass two years with courage and determination, never letting my short comings get the best of me. As I approach the end of my journey with IBMC I have realized that I have a passion for helping those persons who
I performed three observations in Ms. Robinson’s speech therapy class. Ms. Robinson pulls different students from their classes to join her for a 30-minute session. The children do not attend a session every day.
The search for the most effective way to educate deaf students has long been filled with controversy, due to strong advocacy for conflicting approaches. The bilingual model of deaf education has been in place in many schools for the deaf for the past 20 years (Drasgow, 1998), and while many advocates of a strictly oral approach to deaf education discount its success, it is still a viable and appropriate option for deaf students with severe to profound hearing loss. In this paper I will describe historical perspectives around deaf education and discuss hearing loss and language acquisition for deaf children. I will provide justification for the continued use of the bilingual model against arguments in favour of a strictly oral approach. In addition, l will address challenges inherent to the bilingual model and conclude with suggested changes that may benefit deaf students’ language learning and literacy outcomes.
In order for him to bridge the social and cultural gap it is important for his parents, as well as his teacher to consider his own personal individual needs and preferences. A major controversy today is over which language should be the first language for a child who is deaf- English or ASL. Michael’s parents should consider allowing him to experience both English and ASL, which would then allow him to determine his own first language. Michael’s kindergarten teacher needs to make every effort to provide him the most adequate teaching with significant curriculum to best suit his needs (Heward,
At the age of 36, mom decided to return to college to obtain her nursing degree. This wasn’t a hard decision for her to make. In April before she enrolled in school, my great grandmother passed away. This major dilemma played a major role in mom’s return to school. She had taken care of my great grandmother for months before she passed away, and decided that she wanted to make an impact on the lives of geriatrics.