Hello all my bloggers!
I am doing fine - very well, in fact. Hope all of you are too!
I remember:
When I was a young inexperienced therapist trying to learn how to be more auditory, more organized, more “on target” with my students and know how to guide the parent, I had the incredible good fortune to observe Judy in action. From the first time I saw her engaging in therapy, I wanted to “be Judy Simser”. Jim was doing his practicum experience from the McGill program with Judy in Ottawa. I was teaching kindergarten at the Montreal Oral school for the deaf. I was having fun and doing ( may I say) I pretty good job, but I knew something was missing. Judy opened up a whole new way of teaching for me. I got the parents to come in to the classroom, I got another teacher to manage the class while I did one-one therapy with the child and parent in the coat close. I learned as I copied Judy how to connect with the child in an auditory way. One must “connect and expect with voice and overall body language” with the child who does not know what sound is. Funny, there really are no words to describe what a therapist has to do. It must be “caught not taught”. It’s very natural. It is what parents do with their infant to get them to pay attention and learn. When a parent learns their child is deaf, this normal action is often gone and we have to help them retrieve it. It’s in there somewhere! That is what we are trying to awaken in these teachers in Vietnam; that skill, but more importantly the desire to “do better”, to look at themselves and think “can I do this in a more effective way”. We think they need to teach in more effective ways. We hope to help them realize that.
Our training is dynamic and fun. We use real live demonstration of parent guidance therapy, we share some of our favorite toys, and we are ready for another action packed week of focus on helping teaching learn more about listening and spoken language for children who are deaf and hard of hearing.
Stay tuned to this blog for updates on our teaching in Nha Trang and the fun Judy and I have as we “recharge our batteries” in this gorgeous place. It takes incredible energy and focus to do this job well. I am doing all I can to keep up with Judy!
