421 End of the Semester

I feel like the biggest thing I have learned in this class, is the ability to work with others in a group. As I go into the work force, wherever that is, I will be working closely with people who have different backgrounds than myself. Just as it is important to check for bias with my students or children I am working with, I need to check bias with my coworkers.

I remember one of the first times in class we had a discussion about our backgrounds. I was surprised to hear the different upbringings of my classmates as we discussed the grief cycle. While I was surprised at times, I was also aware of the fact that not everyone chose to share that day. We all have different circumstances and backgrounds that make us unique and also give us the tendency to act in certain ways.

Creating a family plan for a fictional family was rewarding because I was able to learn from the ideas of my peers. Sometimes they would come up with ideas that I wouldn't have thought of on my own.

Working on a HWD throughout the semester was really fun because I was able to focus on things that I am passionate about. I loved being able to learn about the requirements to become a speech and language pathologist and interviewing professors was rewarding because of their insight.

From this class, I hope to take away the ability to learn from my mentors and to be confident when working in a group.

Final Home Visit

This week, I met with the family for the last time. It was sad to realize that I wasn't going to get to work with Ezra anymore, but it was exciting to see him picking up on some of the signs during our last visit. We came 15 minutes before lunch time and went over the future development plan and resources for Ezra. We participated as a group in one of them that was a little hard to explain on paper. Then we played bug under the rug to give Ezra the opportunity to imitate his siblings. He imitated them by putting a blanket over his head and by taking the blanket off of his siblings. He seemed to really like the game because he was smiling and giggling. During lunch, he did the sign for milk several times which was the first sign we introduced to him. His mom asked him if he would like some cheese and he signed it for the first time without any assistance! It was great to see him using the signs we had showed him during the semester.

I realized during the process of writing the future development plan and resources for Ezra that I need to be more intentional with how I word things for parents. I just assumed the parents would know why they should use these resources with their child but we don't have the same background in education. I needed to add an explanation to all of my resources for the parents benefit.

To have a better experience in this class, I should have used the textbook as a resource. It would have been good to try specific strategies for each client that are backed up with research.

I learned the most from going with a peer because Kailey did an excellent job of explaining things to the parents. In the future, I can apply this knowledge to working with parents in a way that empowers them. I can speak to them with respect and coach them to help their child. I tried to help my peers learn by coming up with strategies that they could use with their infant. I did this by talking to professors on campus.