Today our work continued at Camino. With only two days left of therapy, we have to think about how to make our work meaningful and long lasting. In just two weeks, we have seen a lot of progress with these kids! Several parents have been able to attend their child’s session daily. This is incredibly important in transferring both knowledge and skills to them so that therapy can continue when we are gone. Here are some highlights of the gains the students at Camino have made in such a short time!
Noelia began with Michael in the spring through the Telepractice at the TC clinic. Michael attends the integrated school in the afternoon and is one of the most verbal students at Camino. He has made a ton of progress in the past two weeks. Currently, he is worked on producing words that contain m, b, d, and f with all vowels!
Valentina is another student who has made incredible progress. During the evaluation last week, Valentina did not even spontaneously vocalize. Now, we hear her vocalizing all the time on the playground and in circle time. Christine has been working hard with Valentina and her mother, who attends every session. Valentina’s mother has then been practicing what she learns in the session with her at home! It is great when parents are able to sit in on the sessions since they will be able to apply the techniques learned in therapy everyday.
Since receiving a new hearing aid last week, Eduardo has made amazing progress with Elanna! Like Michael, Eduardo is able to produce many sounds and is currently working on producing words beginning with p, b, m, and f. Both of Eduardo’s parents have also been attending every session, which is awesome! Today, Silvia trained them in how to work the new hearing aid and check the battery.
Adriana also received her hearing aid last week and has made a ton of progress while working with Nia! Adriana attends the integrated school and is another one of the most verbal students at Camino. She is currently working on auditory discrimination between words, production of words beginning with several phonemes, and Nia has been incorporating incidental language into the sessions. Adriana’s mom has also been attending the sessions, which is great!
I have been working with Liz and she has made significant improvement since we started! Liz is 8 years old and first received her hearing aid at age 6 when she came to Camino. Prior to therapy, she barely vocalized and relied entirely on signing to communicate. During the evaluation last week, she was only able to produce a few vowels and consonants. We have been working on producing words beginning with the vowel and consonant combinations that she can produce. She has been working really hard and has made some real improvement. On the playground, she is eager to use her voice with all of the TC students.
For the past two weeks, we have been developing “circle time” with the younger classroom with the goal of having the classroom teacher take over when we leave. Our aim for circle time is to provide the students with a time everyday where only Spanish is spoken and the students are unable to rely on using sign. In addition, we hope to increase the language input by using repetitive language. Circle time starts out with a song. Then, the teacher presents each student’s name and they are called up to put their name under the school, indicating that they came to school today. For those students who did not come to school, their name is put under la casa. Scripted and repetitive language is used during this activity. Finally, a book is read to the students and they are encouraged to use their voices to repeat syllables, words, or even phrases related to the story. Circle time has been going smoother and smoother everyday. The classroom teacher, Mariela, has been gradually taking over more and more responsibility, so that it will be an easy transition once we are gone.
It is amazing to see such progress in such a short time. If only we could stay longer…
Christie Clarke