Day 9
Today was the first official day of therapy. It was also Walking Wednesday! Which means you must walk everywhere. Unfortunately only three people knew that it was walking Wednesday and only few were informed later throughout the day. So over all, waking Wednesday, not a success, but for me and Tessa, success!
Once we all arrived at the Havens we split up into our groups, for the first session my group also worked with a second group at the Toddler house working on language simulation. We first worked on teaching the kids basic body parts, by pointing to pictures in books and singing songs like Head shoulders knees and toes. We also watch them to see if they imitate our motions and sounds. We sing these songs in English because first off, we don’t know the Tonga language and second in Zambia they learn English as well. After our session was finished we moved onto Haven 1 and worked with smaller babies, trying to get them to babble. Often these babies in Haven 1 and 2 just sit and stare and make few responses to us, so it is quite a challenge sometimes. During our Haven 1 session I learned that I can be very stern when I need to be, which has been a struggle for me as a growing clinician in previous settings.
Next it was lunch time, but after walking all the way back because of Walking Wednesday! When lunch was finished I decided to take a short 30 minute nap, which was much needed. Apparently Walking Wednesday and working with babies all morning can wear you out. After walking back to the Havens my group worked in the 3rd Haven. We drew faces for the kids and worked on learning parts of the face. Some of them really enjoyed the coloring and others wanted to eat the colors. After the group session was over we had the opportunity to pick one child and work with them one on one for the remaining time. I chose Thomas. He has not made a vocalization except for crying since I’ve been here, but he can point and wave by after someone models it for him. We worked and I talked and played. No sounds. But he did wave bye at the end. I guess I’ll have to wait till tomorrow.
Tomorrow is Thumbs Up Thursday! You will have to wait to read what that means tomorrow!
Thanks for reading!
Ben
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