Senior Project Complete!

I am graduating!!! This year was a struggle for me and I think it has been for some of my other peers but we were able to make it together. After all our hard work I do think it was worth it because we were able to master the block presentation. Working at my mentorship was an invaluable experience for me to go through because I was able to learn in great detail what speech pathology was about making it an even more valuable experience because at the start of my project I had no idea what it was. Thanks to all the mentors that I had I was able to form a project that I know I will remember throughout my life.

Blog 22: Senior Project Reflection

 (1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your Block Presentation and/or your senior project? Why?
I am proud of making time because I did not have faith in myself that I was going to make it to 30 minutes of speaking time and I actually did make it. I looked at this presentation as a challenge that I had to beat and I felt accomplished at the end of my block presentation because when I first started my freshman year I was not able to present or even stand in front of people, so being able to present for 30 minutes and by myself was a personal growth that I had been waiting to occur for a long time. I am also very proud of the research I did during my senior project because it was complimented by Mr. Pang, and everything I learned through my research was able to help me  when I was explaining my answers.

(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Block Presentation (self-assessment)?

AE       P          AP       CR       NC

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?

AE       P          AP       CR       NC

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?
I was able to find a mentor that was willing to help me throughout my project and teach me about different things she does to help children with Autism communicate. When doing my second independent component, professor Laubie was more than happy to let me observe her college course and it really helped me because I was able to master how special education works.
(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would have you done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?
I think that if I could go back in time I would want to change my first independent component to doing something on National Autism Awareness Day to promote awareness throughout the school. I think it would have fit in with my answer of integrating a family centered therapy, more than doing more mentorship hours.
(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.
During the course of this project, we had a lot of research checks that we had to do and I think that learning how to find research, not only in google but through the Cal poly database and through books, has helped me learn what is going to be expected of me once I start college in the Fall. Through experience taking college classes I have noticed that most college students do not know how to present in front of a class and I really feel that this presentation has giving me a lift when talking in front of people. This project also showed me to network with people and it could be related to the real world because that is the way people get jobs, the more people you know they more opportunities you  will have. I had to find my mentor through talking to different people. This senior project really is the most valuable project I will take from I-poly! Thank You Senior Team!!

Blog 21: Mentorship

Content:

LIA Response to blog:

 Literal

·     Log of specific hours with a total and a description of your duties updated on the right hand side of your blog

·     Contact Name and Mentorship Place

• Alexandria Nicks -Speech Language Pathologist 
• Casa Colina Children's Center

 Interpretive

     What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?

• The most important thing I gained from this experience was learning what the role of a speech pathologist is and how much of an impact they have on children with speech impediments. This was a valuable experience for me because I was interested in going into the field of speech pathology and it gave me a chance to actually see for myself I will like working in that environment. 

   Applied

     How has what you’ve done helped you to answer your EQ?  Please explain.

• My EQ is "What is the best way for a speech pathologist to help a child with Autism communicate?" and for my mentorship I observed speech pathologist treating children with speech impediments. A lot of the children that I observed were diagnosed with Autism, I saw how speech pathologist treated them depending on what they were working on. I also observed a therapy session titled "Kid's Crew" where they treat children diagnosed with Autism and help them practice social skills, it has helped me answer my EQ because I have been working with Speech pathologist and observing how they help children with Autism communicate.

*Please do not turn in your mentorship hours to the office.  After we collect the total list from all seniors, we will turn in one piece of paper with all hours for everybody.  It is counted as 50 hours of the 200 you need in order to graduate from I-Poly.  The 10 hours in the summer have already been added to your community service total.

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Grading Criteria (May 13th)

50 hours completed (50 from the academic year)

LIA response (submitted to your blog)

Essential question connection

Blog 20: Exit Interview

Content:

(1) What is your essential question and answers?  What is your best answer and why?

My essential question is "What is the best way for a speech pathologist to help a child with Autism?"

• My first answer was "Group therapy treats challenges in social skills that are present in a child with Autism" My second answer is "A speech pathologist can integrate a family-centered  strategy to help a child with Autism."My third answer is "Enhancing IEP goals depending on  their baseline".
• My best answer is my first answer because through my mentorship got to see speech pathologist using group therapy the most. I was able to form this answer around my mentorship and I felt that it outshines the other answers because I was able to find research and actually see it in action through my mentorship.

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?
My mentorship consisted of helping out during a group therapy, because of that I felt I had more experience seeing what is done in a group therapy. I also found a lot of research that made me more convinced of that my best answer was my first answer, like an article from the Cal Poly database titled "Teaching Pragmatics to language disabled children" and "An investigation of social Behaviors of primary school aged children"

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

At the beginning of the year, I changed my topic from health and safety to special education and I had a really hard time finding a mentor that would be willing to help me. I talked to Mrs. Ortega and some of my peers about the problem I had. Xena told me about Casa Colina and I ended up finding that they had a volunteer program. From there I met speech pathologist who worked their and I found my mentor.

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

ʺGuidlines for Speech-Language Pathologist in Diagnosis, Assesment, &Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders Across the Life Span.ʺ American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. 2014. Web. 19 Feb. 2014
Littleboy, Lynda, Micheal Reed, and Jill Thompson. "Special Educational Needs in Early Years Care and Education". New York: Harcourt Publishers Limited, 2000. Print.

• This article was from the American Speech- Language- Hearing Association and I felt provided me with extensive detail on what a speech pathologist has to be doing when they are taking their patient through diagnosis, assesment, and providing treatment.
• This was a book that I thought was important because the care that speech pathologist can provide in the early years of the life of a child is a big impact that can help a child communicate; especially in a child with Autism.

Be prepared with evidence and specific examples to support any response.  It is also significant to cite sources as you explain.

Independent Component 2

 

 

Content:  

LITERAL
(a) Statement saying: “I, Diana Serrano, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.”
(b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component

Professor Rebecca Laubie helped me complete my 30 hours for my independent component. She taught an Introduction to Special Education at Cal Poly Pomona for the winter quarter. 



(c) Provide a digital spreadsheet (aka log of the 30 hours).  
 It is posted next to my mentorship log.

(d) Explanation of what you completed. 
I observed a college class for a quarter. I participated in the class as if I was part of it even though I was not able to enroll. I gathered worksheets, and PowerPoint's from the class filled with information and put them in a binder.  I kept a binder with all the worksheets and notes that were given to us during the class.

INTERPRETIVE 
Defend your work and explain how the significant parts of your component and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.  Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work. 

This was the top of the syllabus of the Special education class. The professors information was on it but I decided to crop it to keep her privacy instead I have emailed it to Ortega. Most of the 30 hours I did were spent in a classroom learning about how special education works and what services are provided to the children.

 

This was a slide from one of the power points and the binder that I put together where all the notes and worksheets that were given to me went. On top of the time I spent in class I spent time at home printing power points and arranging my notes in my binder.

 

This was the power point for the day we discussed communication disorder.

 

 

These were a few worksheet I received in the class I scanned them to be able to put them in this blog post. the original copies are placed in my binder for future reference.

 

 

APPLIED
How did the component help you answer your EQ? Please include specific examples to illustrate how it helped. 

This independent component helped me answer my essential question because I learned what a child with Autism can go through when they are in school and how a speech  pathologist is important in helping the child with anything that interferes with there education. My third answer to my essential question is that a speech pathologist can help a child with Autism by enhancing the goals listed in the IEP. By taking the class I learned what an IEP, and the process that it takes to develop. For example, I had read about what an IEP was and what it was like but it was a totally different experience having a professor that has worked as a special education teacher tell you what she had to do in being part of the IEP team and knowing the process of it. Reading about it and having somebody tell you about it is a totally different experience and I felt that taking the class was a worthy experience. During the course I learned about different ways special education teachers help children with disabilities and found that some of the strategies were similar to the ones speech pathologist use. Like, PECS (picture exchange communication system),  social stories, and Alternative ways of communicating (ipads, computers).
Grading Criteria 

• Log on a digital spreadsheet
• Evidence of 30 hours of work 
• LIA submitted to blog

World Autism Awareness Day

World Autism Awareness Day has been occurring yearly since 2007. April 2nd is the day when we light it up blue for Autism Awareness. This day is celebrated through unique fundraising and awareness raising events. At the place I volunteer we decorated the lobby to promote awareness.

March Madness

I am finally finished with my second independent component. Taking a class this quarter went by quick before I realized it finals week had already arrived. Dr. Laubie was very kind to have me sit in her lectures and integrate into her class as if I was one of their own. I learned a lot from this class, view the world from a different perspective and have realized a person with a disabilities life is much more than just centered on their disability. There was a lecture where what we learned about was cerebral palsy and we watched a video on how a disability is so apparent to other people that when a person with a disability wants to do something everyone doubts them because of it.
The day Dr. Laubie was talking about Autism she began the lecture by reading us a story called "My Brother Charlie". It was a children s book that explained how a little girl had a brother with Autism and Charlie would not play with her, talk to her or want to be with her; but she knew that things Charlie wanted to say were inside of him but just did not find ways to say it. I thought it would be a good way to start of my senior presentation.

I am glad I decided to take this class as my second independent component. I do beleive that the time I spent in the class was qualitative and helped me learn a lot of valuable information that can help me with my project.