ECSE340 Week 5

This week I brought my developmentally appropriate activity to the home, which was a little "baby gym" made out of PVC pipe and I hung black and white patterns and a mirror from the top with red ribbon. We started him out tummy time on the boppy next to the hanging patterns. While he was on his boppy we went over the 3 month questionnaire. He was fussier this week than usual and only lasted about 16 minutes on the boppy and 1 minute on the floor, after the boppy time. We decided that for the next week, which will be the last visit, we will shoot for 5 minutes on the floor (first) and 15 minutes on the boppy (second), so 20 minutes all together! Hopefully he will be happier for our last visit!

ECSE340 Week 4

This week was great! The baby I'm working with has improved SO much and he's so much happier on tummy time than he was the first time. Last time he absolutely hated the mirror but when we tried it it was the second attempt of tummy time so I used the mirror on the first attempt this time. He lasted 5 min and 30 seconds and the mirror ended up being a hit! It took him a while to look at it but when he did he loved it. For the second attempt of tummy time, after a few minute break, we used the black and white patterned paper (the tool we used on the first attempt last time) and he didn't last too long - 1 minute and 10 seconds. I concluded that he was always just tired on the second attempt and the tool didn't play a factor in that. After another break, we tried the boppy again. This time with the mirror, black and white patterned paper, and a little book of his. He lasted so long - 9 minutes and 45 seconds!! It was so awesome! The whole visit he was pretty gassy and so he fussed a little bit here and there but he was suffered through it and was so tough. :) I told baby's mom the overall goal of 20 minutes a day and I really think he will be able to do it easily!

Week 11

I really enjoyed this week and the discussions, readings, and clips we had this week. Mental health illness was a subject that really made me think. Because I knew the background of Liza Long's child and more information that was given, I had a hard time agreeing with anything she was saying. I don't agree that she should have made a big deal about this, or comparing her son to Adam Lanza. I don't doubt that this affects him Mental health illness is a hard subject because I do agree that it's something that the world needs to be more aware of, but I also believe that it does not need to be blown out of proportion.

I loved the video clips on Wednesday, and pondered a lot about how those apply to teaching and how teaching, or just these different types of professions in general, can bless our lives.
What is one talent you have been blessed with that will make you a better teacher? I feel like one talent I have been blessed with is my ability to love and show it. I love to share my love with people and tell them constantly that I do.

Weekly Quote:
"Ours is the responsibility to care for the flock. May we each step up to serve." -Thomas S. Monson

HWD: Presenting on Monday! Agh!!

ECSE340 Week 3

The intervention session with the baby went so great! We worked on the only thing he fell behind in on the ages and stages questionnaire which was gross motor skills: tummy time. I used a variety of ways to help him get used to tummy time and actually like it! I started by having him lay on a soft blanket and I used a black and white patterned paper to gain his attention and distract from the hard time on his tummy. He loved it and did a lot better than I thought! He was able to lay on his stomach that time for 2 minutes and 40 seconds. We gave him a break and then a few minutes later we tried again using a mirror instead, and he absolutely hated it! I can't tell if it's because of the mirror or if it's because it was the second try and he was worn out from the first try. He only lasted 1 minute. After another break we tried again on the boppy his mom had, and he loved it! It was so fun, he was smiling and happy and it was awesome to see the mom discover something that had worked for him and something that had made him so happy. He lasted for 3 and a half minutes on the boppy. I left her with the black and white patterened paper and recommendations like having his older siblings lay with him and play with him, lay him on his tummy for 1-2 minutes after feedings, diaper changes, and naps, and lots of time on the boppy! I'm excited to keep working with him and see if he will be able to achieve the goal I've set for him, which I know he will be able to!

Week 10

It was super interesting to learn about all of the laws this week. You hear about the laws all the time in this major so it was nice to finally learn the details and descriptions of all of them. I know that knowing the laws is a huge part of this major and learning about them got me super excited for my major! HWD is stressing me out! Here's to a crazy week!

Weekly Quote: "You can have it all." -Abraham Hicks

HWD: Handout

ADA Assignment Reflection

My disability for the ADA assignment was to cook a meal wearing oven mitts to experience how it would feel to have a sensory disability and understand the types of struggles that they go through every day. I didn’t have much time to make a full out and extravagant meal, so I just grilled some chicken and made a sandwich with cheese, mayo, and lettuce. We only had one oven mitt and so the other hand was in a square oven mitt with no thumb or anything so it made it even harder. I started by getting out all of the ingredients, which already was a struggle, so I knew that I was in for a long ride. Even getting a plate out of the cupboard was weird, and hard. I started by trying to undo the wired tie on the plastic bag my bread was in. It took me AGES!! I had to use my teeth and it honestly took me a solid ten minutes. I was so frustrated and all my roommates were just laughing at me. I so desperately wanted to ask for help from my roommates but made myself realize that people with this disability don’t have the opportunity to just ask people to make it different and better for them all of the time. I felt kind of gross touching all of my food with oven mitts, but that’s beside the point of the assignment, haha. Grilling the chicken was pretty different, just because I couldn’t feel the frozen chicken when I put it on the pan. It was weird not having to worry about touching the pan and feeling the heat, I had some fun with it. Slicing cheese was pretty normal, and it was almost easier because it wasn’t as much of a worry if I would cut myself with the knife or not. Spreading the mayonnaise was normal. Tearing up the lettuce to put on the sandwich was so weird for me to not be able to feel the temperature. The hardest part was honestly just putting caps back on bottles, the cheese back in the bag, sealing bags back together, things like that. Even after this assignment I know that I will never understand this disability to the extent that it really is. I got frustrated really easily, to the point of where I didn’t want to talk to anyone anymore. I was mad that no one would help me and I was mad that it took me 20 minutes longer than it usually would. Overall it was an awesome experience that helped take a disability I had no idea about and how it would be to me experiencing it first hand and feeling for these people who deal with this disability every day.

ECSE340 Week 2

Yay for my first home visit!! I was pretty nervous but I felt confident going into it and I think it went pretty well. It was nice to get to know and assess the baby and mom before I start working with them. They are awesome! The home visit gave me more of an idea of what professionalism and how we as professionals should apply and emulate it. It also was good to go with Olivia to her home visit, even though it was after my home visit, to see how home visits should go. I felt comfortable with the mom and baby and I'm really excited to work with him on his goals, like tummy time. It'll be interesting to learn how to make an intervention plan and actually apply the intervention life and make it a reality.

Week 9

It was so nice finally being done with the Family Project! Now time to focus on HWD. It's interesting to learn more about the Special Education laws now, because it is such a big part of our major and is knowledge that we need to know in any career we will most likely be involved in.

Weekly quote: "There is no greater disability in society, than the inability to see a person as more." -Robert M. Hensel

HWD:
https://www.asws.org/WhatisAutism.aspx
http://researchautism.net/autism/types-of-autism