Observation+Reflection

Chelsea Payne SLPA 3790 Mrs. Barton 29 April 2010 Observation Reflection While in my observation period I observed different domains of language: expressive and receptive, form: morphology and phonology, content: semantics, vocabulary, concepts, and linkage of ideas, and use: pragmatics. The most interesting domain to observe was language, because not only am I intrigued by why language impairments happen, but it is fun to watch therapy because there are usually creative and different activities used. I also enjoyed watching therapy that was working on form: morphology and phonology because these therapy sessions were also interesting to watch because of the different activities that were involved. It was interesting to be able to watch throughout the therapy sessions and be able to see the clients work on their goals and some of them make significant progress. Therapy activities that I thought were creative were usually the ones that incorporated moving around. I did not enjoy watching a client and clinician sit side by side working on flash cards or a board game; I do understand that sometimes that may be a required activity to accomplish a goal. I really enjoyed watching little G.A. because his clinician did so well in making activities fun for him to keep him engaged in therapy. His clinician did one activity in particular that I really enjoyed watching, it was a magic box with items that he could pull out which incorporated his target sounds. Little G.A. seemed to really enjoy playing this game, and it was a great game for his age. I cannot say that any therapy technique that I watched was unsuccessful, because I am sure most of the time the clinicians received responses they were trying to elicit. I can say that I believe activities that involve only flash cards and pen and paper are very dull. I think that a client will succeed better in therapy if they can both learn and have fun. I know this cannot always be the case, but in my opinion, I believe that the therapy sessions where the clients seemed to be having fun they had better success rates. Overall, observations for me were not fun to attend, but I got a few laughs and learned something from the experience. My favorite session to watch was in a rhyming activity and the client gave “whore” as a word that rhymed. The clinician said, “Yes, that is a rhyming word, but it is not a nice word.” Also, I really enjoyed watching some of the adult clients, because it was a breath of fresh air from the children. I do have to say that the children were the ones that gave us the laughs behind the window. Not only did I get a grade that I needed for this class, but I tied all the information I have learned into my classes and incorporated it into watching the therapy.