Part 1: What I need to know...
My essential question is: How are speech pathologists able to individualize the treatment, that will benefit the student the most, whilst integrating them into groups with other students? I am planning on majoring in speech next year by finding and reasearching this topic I will be more prepared for the classes ahead of me. When I walked into my internship on the first day Mrs. K showed me two of the groups that she works with, and started to explain the basics of speech. I was taken aback when I met the kids. We had Ivan, who was working on his pragmatic skills, Justin who needed help with his writing skills, and Catrina who needed to get organized. They all seemed so different and needed so many different things. I started to question if I could meet all these kids needs if I chose this career path. By finding the answer to my question I will be able to learn about the connections between students, and I will have a better understanding of my future career path.
Part 2: What I know or Assume...
I understand that there must be some underlying conncetion between most of the students that causes Mrs. K to group certain students together. The kids are always in the same grade, and sometimes they are even friends. I can only assume that they have set needs that are documented in their paperwork, and they are possibly grouped based on that. I am not really certain about any of my assumptions at the current point and time, but just by observing the groups I can tell that they all seem to be in the same classes and most kids in speech groups are in a literacy support class as well. For the most part all the kids that are in a group are also on the same level intellectually, but possibly have different needs that have to be met.
Part 3: The search
I looked for the answer to my question throughout the duration of the year, and honestly I was expecting a more complicated answer than what I found. I consulted my mentor in an interview where I asked a multitude of questions that pertained to my question and speech as a career. One specific question that helped me come to a conclusion about my question was ". How do you transition between students with severe communication disorders and simple ARTIC students?"Mrs. K's answer was "Since I spend up to three years with these kids I learn who needs what, and it becomes easier with experience." By establishing a relationship with her students she is able to recognize which students need similar help. My annotative bibliographies also helped me in search of my answer. Two out of my three annotative bibliographies were real life case studies, and by seeing the treatment and the medical background of certain students helped me see what would need to be done.
Part 4: What I discovered in the end...
I realized after my interview and my annotative bibliographies that what I assumed proved to be true. I was searching for a more complex answer, but after directly talking to my mentor I realized that she groups them based on their intellectual abilities, and specifically addresses each of the kids needs to make sure everyone gets what they need. If I decide to become a speech and language pathologist I feel like I'd be better prepared because of everything I have learned this year. I am so thankful for the opportunity to get real life experience in a job I might pursue.