Day 9

Today we spilt up into two different therapy groups. One group went to a local preschool and the other group went to NaRCIE (National Resource Center for Inclusive Education), here in Punta Gorda. Also, after lunch, some went out and completed home visits around the area. I was a part of the group that went to the local preschool. While at the preschool we completed screeners on children that the teacher had concerns about. The children ranged from a non-verbal boy to a very talkative girl who spoke mainly Spanish.  It was a blast getting to play and work with these children and to observe them interact with their classmates. 

Afterward, we went to lunch at ASHA’s culture kitchen. Here we had a variety of local and non-local cuisine. Several ordered the whole fish, and some ordered the fried chicken. It was delicious.

Overall, today was bittersweet because it was our last day of providing speech-language therapy services in Belize. Throughout the trip, we have had some amazing experiences and have been pushed out of our comfort zones. We have learned how to adapt to our surroundings and embrace the culture around us. We have had to deal with language barriers, limited resources, and interesting places to do therapy. I’ve had the opportunity to observe people doing speech therapy in gutters, makeshift rooms with tables and chairs, and a local church. To help continue what we did in the therapy session we educated the parents and provided some with materials to help encourage communication between them and their children. The experience here has been truly one of kind that can never be forgotten. 

Below is a picture of a resource we created for a mom with a child who is hard of hearing and has no resources for learning ASL. It was composed of 300 + ASL words. The mom was very motivated to start learning and teaching her son new ASL words when we met with her.            ~Jennifer Roberts~