Overview of My 3 Week Trip Back to China : )
Who: I’ll be
working with the same organization that I was with last year at two of the four locations that I worked with last year. I’m
excited to be returning to the same organization and continuing to work with
the same people. I think that it’s
important to build relationships with the local staff as opposed to jumping
around to various organizations. This will be my third year with this organization which is exciting!
What: The two sites that I will be going to both
work with children with special needs.
My role while I’m there will be to provide training to local staff on
assessment and intervention for speech/special education services. Last year I developed some materials and I
look forward to building upon those and fielding any questions that the staff
may have. They have been treating
speech/language delays for one year
(they previously did mostly physical therapy) and I expect that they
will have a number of questions about assessment and treatment. I will also be going into a local orphanage
at one of the sites and working with the children there (one of my favorite but emotionally difficult
settings).
Where: I’ll be in Yunnan province again : )
Why: There are a number of children and adults in
China with special needs but not a lot of services. An Internet search will tell you that China
has special education services, but I’ve not seen many with the exception of
the services being provided from private organizations. Most children with special needs are not welcomed
into public schools and they stay at home with their parents. There’s a big stigma about having a special
need in China and I think that it’s important to show the love of God for all
of His created beings; after all we are all made in the image of an incredible
God! I love working with parents and
encouraging them to enjoy the blessing that their children are. I also love working with the individuals
themselves and encouraging them to actively participate in their communities. I could write “why” for pages but that’s the
gist of it.
How: Despite multiple valiant efforts, I can’t
speak Chinese : ( This is challenging
but also useful… I CAN’T do the therapy because I don’t have the language
skills. This forces everyone involved to
follow a training model. This model
allows for the local staff to learn the needed skills and do therapy all year
around. It also ensures that services
are done in a culturally appropriate and meaningful way.
