Saturday, July 29, 2006
Huambalo Musings
Provided by Mimi
7/29/06
News from the "Communication Group". There are three of us working with Nancy, the speech therapist at Huambalo. Andrea, Linda, and myself (Mimi) observed Nancy working with a group of students this morning. One 4-year old in the group is non-verbal. I sat by him as he was playing with some small yellow cones that nestle inside of each other. I drew a yellow cone, had him give me the cones, and modeled how he could point to the picture to get a cone. He understood right away! After observing the group, we made a simple communication board to enable him to participate with it. We made the board using a durable plastic board we had bought in a small stationary store in the town of Pelileo on the way to Huambalo. We drew pictures on the plastic board with Sharpies. Nancy is a great speech therapist, and really liked our board. We're going back tomorrow to collaborate with her on what other boards she would like, and model how to use them with her non-verbal students. Using sustainable materials has been challenging - no BoardMaker - and I am hardly an artist. This is a place to search one's mind set of family, education, disability, independence, and life in general.
