Take home activity

This week in class, we talked about our resource plan and future development plan for our infants. We also talked about bringing the take home activity into the home and how the children responded to them.

I went with Kailey on her home visit and loved watching Hadley look at the picture book that Kailey made for her. She recognized the pictures of her siblings because her facial expression changed as she looked at the pictures. It was so darling!

Ezra didn't get to use his activity very much because his siblings were busy using it. His mom directed his sister to hand Ezra the pipe cleaners so he could do something with the container. When the novelty of the new toy wears off, I think Ezra will enjoy dumping the pipe cleaners out and putting them through the slots in the top of the container.

"America doesn't value education as much as they do doctors"-Mallory
As we talked about the education system in America, I realized the importance of continually learning as a future educator because in other countries, this is why teachers are valued. To have the same job I could have in America in Finland, I would need to have a master's degree.

Developmental Specialist

"My favorite part is seeing the progress of the children I work with" -Carly

I really related to Carly when she said this in class on Friday because I have felt the same this semester as I have worked with infants and toddlers. One of the toddlers I am working with is working on redirecting from large group to going outside and cleaning up the classroom. This past week, he was able to get his coat and backpack and stand by the rope to go outside. It is amazing to see the progress of young children.

For my HWD this week, I asked Sister Swenson and Sister Cranmer some follow up questions about becoming a speech pathologist. Sister Swenson mentioned that I would just need to do a years worth of classes to get into the master's program at Utah State. Sister Cranmer pointed out that it might be possible for me to do some of the classes online while I am still in Rexburg.

This week in class, we graded each other's family projects and talked about professionalism. I liked the aspect of professionalism that emphasized the importance of being a life long learner. The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.

Creating a Take Home Activity

For class this week, we all presented our take home activities and gave each other feedback on our ideas. I was grateful for the feedback of my peers because I would have tried using straws with mine and it probably wouldn't have worked as well as pipe cleaners. They also suggested adding bells to the bottom of mine so it would make more of a sound when Ezra uses the drum sticks on it.

I liked talking about making the activities appropriate for future development because it helped to hear the insights from my peers. Some of my peers had really creative ideas that I was tempted to switch my activity, but I decided mine would work best for helping Ezra learn how to put his hand into a fist.

"If you put water into the bottom of the container, it will be filled with a lot of germs later" -Jamie

I was grateful for the health and safety discussions we had as a class while we presented our ideas because one of the activities looked like it wouldn't be very safe for children, but after she explained how it was going to work, it looked like it would be a safe activity.

Presentations

This week in class, we had our presentations for our family projects. When the other groups were presenting, I realized how real these situations could be for any of us in the future. I couldn't help but feel that I had taken my situation for granted with such an easy pregnancy and delivery with my baby. I also realized how quickly things can change in early childhood for some of these families that think their child is typically developing, but really they have an illness that can take them early in life.

"Take the time to think about how you would feel if you were the mother of this baby" -Hanna I felt like all of the groups did a good job to make it applicable to us and to make the situation seem real.

For my HWD this week, I created my student hand out and found out some of the requirements for graduate school. While it depends on the university, I noticed that some blanket requirements would be to take the GRE and to have letters of recommendation. To go to Utah State for graduate school in speech pathology, I would need a bachelor's degree in communication disorders. Other universities would require courses such as anatomy or language development with children.

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We didn't have class this week so we could work on our take home activity for our infant.

 I am working on a fine motor bucket that he can put pipe cleaners through. The purpose of the activity is to increase his fine motor muscles so he can sign for the things he wants like crackers and milk. He has begun consistently signing for milk, but doesn't understand that he will only get milk when he does that sign. This week, he was doing the sign for milk, but what he wanted was the jello. I am not really sure how to help him understand the difference between signing for milk and signing for something else.

This next week we are going to introduce the sign for eat.

I don't have a weekly quote because we didn't have class this week.

Family Project

While working on my family project this week, I realized how hard it was to narrow down the amount of resources that I wanted to help find for the family. It was difficult to decide what would be most helpful for their current situation and how to help them the most after the support coordinators were no longer there.

 It was nice having two days off of class this week to be able to work on the family project. I spent Wednesday trying to finalize what I thought the best resources would be for the family and then Friday I worked on making the pamphlets for the family. I decided it would be most beneficial for the family to have information on wheelchairs and walkers for the future as well as where they could rent an apartment since they came home to a foreclosure sign on their front door.

For my HWD this week, I researched schools where I would want to go to become a speech pathologist. I decided that ideally, I would like to go to the university of North Carolina in Greensboro. Next week I am going to see what I would have to do to go to school there (entrance exams, scores etc.) and see if there is a neighboring school that my husband could go to for Graduate School for engineering.

Because we only had class one day this week, I don't have a weekly quote.