This week, we began taking our Spanish language course at the Universidad Autonoma de Queretaro. All four of us were eager to begin, ready to soak up everything we could about Mexican Spanish and professional terminology to use with the families at Gigi’s playhouse and Ándale Para Oir. On Monday and Wednesday, we were very surprised to find that there are many phrases and words used not just in Mexico, but throughout central and south America that we did not know. Though the five of us speak Spanish fluently and several of us are native speakers, there are many ways in which the language differs across regions. For example, to say “boy” in Mexico you might say, “niño or chamaco”, but in Argentina you might say, “pibe or chabón”. We found this to be important to know because we will work with families and clients from different Spanish speaking countries in our careers as bilingual speech language pathologists. At the end of class on Wednesday, our teachers (Vanessa and Liz) gave us a pre-assessment to test our ability to explain terms and concepts related to communication disorders in Spanish (e.g., diagnosis, recommendations, stimuli and prompts that we would use in therapy).
On Wednesday and Thursday we began our work with Ándale Para Oír, Para Padres de Niños Sordos. On these days we had the privilege of joining a preschool class of students ages 3 to almost 5 who have either cochlear implants or hearing aids. We had the chance to observe the daily “horario” (schedule), filled with activities such as crossing out days on the calendar, talking about the weather, music and playing instruments, and physical activities. We were able to serve in a role of a “maestra sombra,” meaning a shadow teacher and each one of us was able to work one on one with a student. What really surprised us after our first day was how different each student was in their temperament and in their communicative needs. In a class of four or five, we had one or two students who had no auditory access either because of profound hearing loss or because they had recently lost their cochlear implant.
We found that for some children, using Mexican Sign Language (Lengua de Señas Mexicana) was really needed while other children did well with verbal models. The lead teacher helped us to learn some important signs for the classroom such as “thank you,” “help,” “sit down,” “give me,” and “attention.”
Each child in the preschool class at Ándale para Oír has their own companion doll (un muñeco) that stays with them throughout the day. As can be seen in the picture above, each doll is drawn on the board and is counted for attendance each day along with the children. We found that it could be very motivating for a child to participate if their doll was also participating in an activity. Some of the dolls even wear a cochlear implant which struck us as powerful as these children are learning to accept their hearing loss as part of their identity.
We look forward to developing some materials for the teachers at Ándale Para Oír to send home with families that focus on visual and auditory stimulation, concepts (e.g. colors, shapes, animals) and literacy skills.
Hasta luego,
Datie y Genesis
Congratulations and thanks for all the hard work!