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.

Blog 12: Third Interview Questions

Content:

Post 10 open-ended questions for approval you want to ask an expert in the field of your senior project.  The first question should be your essential question and the other nine must be about the foundation of your essential question or help you answer your essential question.

1. What is the best way for a speech pathologist to treat a child with a Autism?
2. What are some examples of goals a child with autism might have?
3. What levels of autistic severity have you worked with and how do they differ?
4. Children with Autism have trouble with keeping their attention span, what do you do to help them with that?
5. How does a speech pathologist help with social problems a child with autism might have?
6. What tools do you use to make your therapy more effective?
7. Tell me about a time where you experienced difficulty in helping a child with autism.
8. When treating a child with autism what are the three most common aspects you treat? And how do you treat them?
9. Tell me about a time where you successfully saw improvement in an autistic child due to the therapy you provided.
10. What type of therapy do you find more effective? Why?

 If you have already interviewed someone two times, you aren't allowed to interview that same person without House teacher approval.

The interview itself is not due till Friday February 21st to turnitin.com.   However, we want to give you as much time as possible, so we are asking you to complete the blog now. Remember that in addition to turning in the interview, you also need to turn in the verification sheet to your House teacher.

Blog 11: Mentorship 10 Hour Check

Content:

1.   Where are you doing your mentorship?
I am working in the Childrens Services Department at a rehabilitation center, with Speech Pathologist.

2.   Who is your contact?
My contact is Alexandria Nicks  or Ellie they are both speech pathologist working at the rehabilitation center. I observed several different sessions with them.

3.   How many total hours have you done (total hours should be reflected in your mentorship log located on the right hand side of your blog like your WB)?
I have completed 10 hours with my mentors.

4.   Summarize the 10 hours of service you did.
I spent my 10 hours of mentorship observing sessions that the speech pathologist had. I also helped with a kids crew program that was held with high functioning Autistic children.

5.   Email your house teacher the name of your contact and their phone number confirming who they should call to verify it.

Blog 10: Senior Project: The Holiday

Content:

1.  It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you over the break with your senior project?

During my winter break, I spent my two weeks in Mexico, so I was unable to do much because I did not have access to internet and books. But before I left and after I came back I looked for research that I could use to find more information about helping children with Autism with speech problems they may have as well as talk to a few speech pathologist to really understand how a child is being treated and helped. I learned more about it through the mentoring I did at the rehabilitation center I volunteer at.

2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did and why?  What was the source of what you learned?

I learned that children with autism struggle with their attention span and speech pathologist try to help children out with that by guiding them through activities that can help them practice staying focused. It was important because I learned about an aspect speech pathologist help a child with.

3.  If you were going to do a 10 question interview on questions related to answers of your EQ, who would you talk to and why?

I would talk to Alexandria or Ellie, speech pathologist that work at the rehabilitation center that I volunteer at because  they would be willing to help me out with any questions I might have and has provided me with information and knowledge I had no idea of before.

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!

Blog 9: EQ

Content

Essential Question
Once a topic is chosen, the student will develop a working essential question.  The purpose of the working essential question is to help the student build a strong foundation of research which will allow him or her to create an essential question that encourages depth and rigor in the chosen topic.
An essential question must:

• Provide a framework for studies (It calls for breadth and depth of research, Is not a yes/no question)
• Takes a stance (Allows you to argue some point, cannot be a recitation of facts or a list )
• Format (It is specific, The wording makes sense)

1. I reviewed the rule of three for writing an EQ
2.  Review the following EQs and
Tell us if it meets the rule of 3 criteria.
Tell why it does or why it doesn't

 a.  What is the most important factor in healthy weight loss?
This question meets some rules but not all. To start it has a framework for studies that can be made. It is well written and takes a position. The only thing I think would make it better is if the question would specify on a method of healthy weight loss.

 b.  What is most important to securing a conviction in a criminal investigation?
I think the wording is a little off. But other than that it is not a list or facts, it takes a stance and has different aspects that can be researched. Instead of "what is most important to securing...." it could say "what is the most important factor in securing..."

 c.  What is most important in creating a hairstyle that best satisfies a customer?
I think it should be more specific, like is it a hairstyle for a quincenera, wedding, or a casual look. It would be a little hard to argue because it depends on the customers tastes and one customers taste will not be the same as another so taking a stance and arguing a point would be difficult because it really depends on the customer you have. I provides a framework of studies and does allow for in depth research.
 d.  How can an Anesthesiologist best treat chronic pain?
This EQ follows the rule of 3, it has a framework of study it focuses on what anesthesiologist do to treat patients with chronic pain. The question was easy to understand and know what they wanted to research. The question doesn't include any list or facts.

3.  Based on your review of the rule of 3 and your experience with assessing four EQs, please write another draft EQ for your senior project.
What is the best way for a speech pathologist help a child with Autism communicate?