Good morning everyone,
I hope you have enjoyed learning from our graduate students this past semester and maybe you have a new found appreciation for how different we all truly are.
This week will be the last week I am holding office hours 11:00am-12:00pm on Monday and Tuesday.
Here is a last short blurb about myself, as many of you have heard about what I did at JMU.
I knew that I wanted to be an SLP when I was 12. My youngest cousin was born bilaterally deaf and received cochlear implants at 11 months. His family decided not to use ASL after he picked up verbal language, but I continued to find all aspects of total communication fascinating. Since then, speech pathology has been my passion; however, in undergrad I had a job in a special education room and it completely rocked my world. It was a Deaf Plus classroom where all the kids were Deaf and had co-occurring disabilities like ASD or ID. Their teacher was dually certified in multiple disabilities and Deaf Education, and I think that she is one of the smartest people I know. These children are often forgotten and pushed away be school systems because they're "too hard" or "unteachable". My time with these kids did make me question if I was meant to pursue something different. After a short period of time that I was confused, I realized that I was exactly where I was supposed to be. Besides working with kids who are DHOH, my dream as an SLP would be to evoke systematic change for students like this and continue to raise awareness about language development that differs from our norms. These children are not unteachable, they just need more professionals to believe in them.
This is so cheesy and I apologize (but also not really because I won't be the Peer Advisor soon), but my biggest piece of advice is to never give up. Whether it be in school, with a client, or for something completely not CSD related, don't stop giving it your all. This teacher never gave up and it has completely changed the kids lives. You can't give up on yourself and don't give up on your clients. CSD can be so hard and you will cry (maybe a lot) but watching all your work make a difference in someone is the best feeling in the world. I can't wait for you all to feel it. Good Luck!!
