This year, I work at a preschool.
One of my new experiences this year is working with a CODA. A say WHATA?! I didn’t know this term, CODA, until I did some research on my client. Whenever I come across something new, I MUST RESEARCH IT. So what is a CODA you ask?
C – Child
O – Of a
D – Deaf
A – Adult
Her first language is ASL (American Sign Language). How cool is that? Fortunately we have a Sign Language Interpreter at school…but the child is often absent 😦 The first few times I worked with her, she was very quiet. I decided to brush up on my signs and I used some in therapy, she was much more expressive and participated more. I SO look forward to working with her!!!! I’m excited to use sign but also excited to help her bridge this language gap/barrier…
ON TO MY POINT!!!
Sign Language is how I fell in LOVE with the field of speech-language pathology!!!!!!!
I took a sign language course in community college and stumbled upon this amazing field that I LOVE! Although this field is tough and tiresome (especially with the paperwork), I LOVE WORKING WITH KIDDOS and helping them to become better communicators.
IMO (In my opinion), even if you don’t know a lot of signs, you can use some to help your limited verbal/nonverbal kiddos start to communicate. I stick with using “help”, “I want”, “play”, “more” (somewhat “iffy” on this one), and “finished”. SOME sign can go a long way.
Resources:
Baby Sign Language on YouTube (the parents of a student with autism that I worked with showed me these videos by Patty Shukla, her voice and the background of the video was peaceful:)
Speech Room News (post about working with children with hearing loss – “What doesn’t Jenna Rayburn write about?”- She’s amazing!)
Readers, how did you discover the field of speech-language pathology?
Total accident! I was looking for a major in college (I was at the end of my sophomore year) & stumbled on it. I knew it was for me the first time I got a patient in the clinic to say his sound right!