Note: We safely returned to New York on January 30^th. I apologize for not posting regularly to the blog while we were in Beijing. There was quite a lot going on! I will be posting over the next few weeks so stay tuned =)

Thursday, January 13^th - SPEECH THERAPISTS GALORE!

Elaine’s classmate, Pen-Pen, in their graduate speech-language pathology program, was in Beijing and was interested in visiting New Day, and so, she came for a visit in the morning. It was great having another SLP around. She is fluent in both Mandarin and English and interpreted for me so my brain had a lots of speech therapy terms for L-ST. My brain had a break from switching between languages.

In the evening, the preschool teacher, L-ST, a few of the other a-yis and I attended a workshop on speech and language stimulation techniques for children from birth to 18 months. It was sponsored by Care for Children and presented by a Hong Kong trained Speech Therapist, employed by Care for Children, in Mandarin. She used Powerpoint and between reading the slides, listening to her speak, and my own knowledge of speech and language development, I comprehended 60-70% of what she said. Not too shabby =). At the end of the session, when I approached her, I spoke English, which may have surprised her, given that she presented the Powerpoint entirely in Mandarin, and we were in China. I gave her another mini-shock when midway into our conversation, I switched over to speaking Cantonese. It was great having the opportunity to network and I plan to maintain contact with her.

During the course of our conversation, I asked about job opportunities for speech-language pathologists in Asia. She mentioned Hong Kong has an established system with an adequate amount of opportunities, China has a need but the current employment opportunities in China are primarily in international schools (for children of expatriates, in which the salary is higher). When I mentioned my interest was in social services in China and not necessarily in working at the international schools, she looked intently at me, and then asked “Are you a Christian?” I responded, “Yes, how did you know?” Her response, “You can tell.” Hmmm... Food for thought.

Friday, January 14^th – GAME PLAN

On Friday, the team met and we formulated a plan for the following week:

 L-ST and I would provide therapy to the children we had evaluated in the first week. For the first and/or second session, I would model the therapy techniques. During the last sessions, L-ST would work with the children and I would provide feedback. I would also be working with the physical therapy team and providing suggestions on how they can incorporate speech-language stimulation into their therapy sessions with the children.

Elaine was scheduled to arrive on Sunday, the 16^th. For the first day, she would spend time with L-ST and me, observing the sessions and modeling therapy techniques for L-ST. The rest of the week she would be based in the pre-school, working with Sarah, the teacher, to incorporate a “push-in” model of therapy, i.e., incorporating speech-language therapy goals in a classroom environment.

Our plan focused on the following:
- Collaboration between staff members is essential to encourage the development of a child
- Speech-language stimulation can occur in all settings (e.g., home, school)
- Speech-language stimulation can occur in everyday routines (e.g. eating, getting dressed, taking a bath, reading a book)
- Children learn from adults and from each other

~~~

By the evening, I was exhausted and needed to rest for the weekend. The time difference, my internal switching between languages, and working and playing with the children wore me out. On Saturday, I was going ice-skating with some of the foreign volunteers in Beijing. On Sunday, I would attend fellowship with the most of the foreign volunteers in Beijing. Afterwards, a driver, Wu Jie, and I would pick up Elaine at the airport.

It is hard to believe that a full work week went by; I did not expect the time to go by so quickly. I thoroughly enjoyed my time and look forward to what the next two weeks will bring. I anticipate lots of opportunities for mutual learning (between L-ST and me), hugs and kisses from the children, and laughter-filled days and evenings with Elaine.

In His service,

Angela