This is just a way for me to organize my thoughts and to make sure I can get this posted.
Feel free to comment, just remember I’m not finished. Could this go in my reflection?
Tuesdays class meeting was my first. I really enjoyed it. Everyone seems laid back and more open. I’m really impressed with technology and our virtual classroom. This is the most I have ever worked with computers and I’ve never gotten this deep into them. But yesterday was fun and showed me that computers are fun and not always scary.
From class yesterday I experienced maneuvering around the MOO and special commands. For instance, typing emote is a way to express emotions and I learned how to page people. I also discovered I need to type much faster.
We discussed communication disorders, individuals with cds, the professionals involved with these individuals, the general public’s knowledge of our field and the media’s portrayal of it all.
I just wanted to finish a thought that I was unable to on Tuesday. We were discussing how some people think little kids with speech impairments are so cute that they talk back to these kids mimicking the impairment. This disturbs me greatly because I think it causes more damage then we think. Worse case scenario, but possible. A child with a speech impairment is thought to be cute and mimicked and never realizes that anything is wrong. Then this child starts school. All of a sudden what was cute is now wrong. This stranger called the teacher keeps asking the child to repeat themselves because they cannot be understood, the teacher also keeps repeating the word correctly to the child but the child doesn’t understand this. Remember; everyone always mimicked the child and never exposed the child to the correct pronunciation. As if this isn’t enough, the other children make fun of this child and do not include him/her in their activities. Finally, here comes another stranger, this one is the speech therapist and this stranger wants to fix how the child talks because it is not cute but wrong.
I think this could cause confusion, embarrassment, low self-esteem and the therapist may have to spend extra time working on the three things just mentioned before even beginning therapy…just a thought.