Presenter: Samah Ahmed, Behavioral and Community Health, Global Public Health Scholars
For my practicum project, I will be working with a child or children with special needs. I generally will be working on motor and cognitive/ learning skills with the child in order to strengthen any skills that are not strong. We will play games with scooters/wands to strengthen any motor skills and also engage in social activities for any child that experiences social issues at school. The activities I engage in with the child is determined by the child’s type of disability which is yet to be determined.
This presentation was very inspiring to me. It was amazing the level of involvement that you had with these kids, and I can only imagine the amount of personal growth something like this would provoke. Do you recommend this opportunity for others and would you do it again?
I really liked how you focused on the children's academics by having an ideal time period where they were meant to concentrate on reading and being able to speak in front of the class. Which later proceed with them having a “break” from this and able to have fun among peers. I just think it’s personally important for children to have a great connection among their peers because it allows them to slowly open up with them and express their emotions. Through your research was it hard to keep students focused and engage in every activity, if so did you have to make certain adaptations for students?
I absolutely love the work that you have done in the children's developmental clinic, and hope that is something I can become involved in as it is part of what I want for my career path. What is the largest challenge that children with disabilities are facing today? How can more people understand better ways to ensure proper growth and development for those in need?
You clearly described rewarding takeaways from working with children with disabilities. I can see that learning to assess children’s motor skills by ranking their progress is a skill you will take with you. How do you see integrating this experience with your future aspirations?