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.

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.

Almost Done With the Quarter!!

Going to my college class every Monday for 4 hours straight is painful but I've learned a lot. Professor Laubie has been a great help to me she has provided a lot of support and has been willing to help me out with anything. Things might have been a lot easier for me if I had met her before I started mentorship because she knows a lot of special education teachers I could have done my mentorship at. I think she could be a really good resource for future seniors that want to do their senior project on special education. For her class, students are required to complete 12 hours of observing a teacher. Since the class is a requirement for everyone in the credential program to take there is both special education teachers candidates and general teacher candidates. At this current time my independent component is made up of exactly 30 hours and I still have two more weeks until the quarter ends. The class really consists of going through a disorder and how special education plays a role, we then do case studies and present to the class to show we have some sort of idea of what we are doing.

Successful Month!!!

Woot woot!! We are done with January, and to be honest it flew by quick and I have had my moments. Mentorship has been incredible over the month, and guess what? I finished my independent component a week before it is do. I feel very accomplished because I spent my winter break in Mexico and was terribly afraid about not being able to finish my thirty hours but I managed to do it. Looking back I did a lot for my senior project this month and I know it is going to help me with the future of my senior project. I have been preparing for my thirty minute presentation on my answer, that by the way I am terrified for :O!! But this month I also started working on my second independent component and I started taking an introductory class on special education that has been really interesting so far. I have gone to two classes because it is only on Mondays and it was a holiday last Monday. I have learned the importance of having a person first language and have really gotten a deep understanding on what lives of children can be like when they have disabilities. We watched a documentary named "Including Samuel" that really portrayed the life of the child with the disability and how it affected everyone around him. The documentary really struck out to me, it got a few tears out but made me realize the importance of this subject in our lives.

A Day At Mentorship

I spent my whole afternoon observing different speech pathologist sessions. I saw children with all types of disorders ranging from feeding disorders to Autistic children who have trouble with their attention span. A specific patient that broke my heart was child that was afraid of food because of past experiences choking that keeps him traumatized. It made me really sad to see him and see that the patient was unable to sit on his own or even eat. I know there is always going to be people that are worse off than yourself but this experience made me open my eyes and realize that the problems that arise in my life is nothing compared to what the child is going through. When I saw the patient, I thought I was going to burst into tears and I don't know if it is just because I am sensitive but it was a moment. I saw how Ellie tried to get the patient to play with food to show that it was not going to hurt him and that it was good for his nutrition. Seeing this session made me realize the importance of a speech pathologist in a child's life when they cannot perform basic needs.

First week of Mentorship

I finally started volunteering! This week was my first week and it was great! I went twice for two hours, so a total of four hours. I worked in a session that groups about 10 kids together and show them different things about what to say when they are around different people. My first day was Tuesday and unfortunately it was the last day for that eight week session but it was a great experience even though I was a little lost at first. Luckily, I was not the only volunteer that was on her first day, so we found our way together. On Thursday, the session was still going on until about two more weeks. The session included a lesson on how and what children can say to join in on a conversation or a game they want to play. Every child received a chance to ask if they could join a game and a conversation. It was a great experience for me and there is much more to come!

Feeling Frustrated :(.

So it turns out that I could not start volunteering right after I assisted the orientation. There was a whole additional process I did not know about until it was mentioned at the orientation. I have to take two TB shots since there is a high population of infected individuals in Southern California. I took my first shot Tuesday and have to wait two weeks before I can take my second one. I was really disappointment because I did not inform myself before hand. I thought the process was going to be a lot quicker. The second interview is due Friday and I still have not had the opportunity to arrange a time to meet with my mentor. I talked to the volunteer coordinator and asked her if it was possible for me to interview the person I will be working with (mentor) and she told me she was going to talk to her and arrange a time for me. Until today she has not called me, so I will call tomorrow to see what the situation is. I really hope the speech pathologist is willing to let me interview her. I am feeling really scared and frustrated because it has been really hard for me to find a mentor.

Finally, Found a Mentorship Opportunity!

Unfortunately, I was unable to find a mentor at an elementary due to privacy concerns with students. For a few days I had no idea where I was going to go to find a mentor, I was going crazy asking teachers and classmates, and luckily Xena knew of a rehabilitation center nearby that helped children with learning and speech disabilities and let me know I might be able to find someone there. I looked into it and got in. Thanks Xena!!! I took my application and they let me know that I have to assist the next orientation before I could start volunteering, so now I am just waiting for Oct. 7 to come around and I am ready. The volunteering coordinator unfortunately let me know that the learning and language department was full but that she could place me in a department that has a speech and language therapists, so I decided to focus my topic on the speech side of special education. I am really excited to start my mentorship because it is going to be a whole new environment and experience for me.

So, I Switched My Topic to Special Education

So after thinking through it, I decided to switch my topic from Health and Safety to Special Education. I am really excited about doing my project because we just started looking for research and it is going pretty good for me. I have been able to find valuable research that has allowed me to learn more about my topic and open up my knowledge to more specific details regarding special education. I am glad I changed my topic in time before the deadline because I really felt I was not going to be able to pull off a project about Health and Safety. I decided to switch my project because I was always interested in the educational viewpoint of children with disabilities because they sometimes go through a lot more difficulties in their educational process and most of us don't really realize it. While doing research these past few weeks I found out some interesting things about special education, I found out that there is a really long evaluation from parents to teachers to a IDEA representative in order to be identified as a special ed student. A special ed student also costs a school nearly twice or three times as much money to educate than a pupil that is in general education. This Link gave a very good over view of what special education is, and how it works.