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| My Instagram story during this time |
Work Immersion: Speech
Language Pathology
To one of my observations that rendered unfiltered musing and offered nothing but being bare with one's emotions;
One of
the requirements to graduate high school was to have our Work Immersion,
this was the high school equivalent to On the Job Training for
college. Anyway, to Health Allied students, we were mandated to attend a Speech
Language Pathology session, a community work immersion, a government-owned
hospital exposure, and a Red Cross immersion all throughout. Our first
immersion was to attend a real session at University of Santo Tomas –
College of Rehabilitation Sciences – Speech Language Laboratory. I
specifically did not know what the Rehabilitation Sciences were all about prior
--- that there were individuals pala practicing different aspects of
medicine not that highlighted fully – unlike with Medical Technologists,
Nurses, and Physicians. So yes, do not judge me for that [sad emoji]. I had
later realized it after doing documentations. Anyway, so yes Princess, Therese,
and PJ were my SLP mates, we brought any form of paper and a writing
tool to document the real session.
We met
a Speech therapist, whose name I could no longer remember, and she asked
the permission of the child’s father to allow us, observers, to write
about the therapy session. The father nodded yes. We met Gabby. Gabby was an
eleven-year-old child who was suffering from an oral communication problem. He
had Austism Spectrum Disorder as disclosed by the SLP Personnel. He couldn’t
speak or utter sounds clearly, instead, he could only point things out he wanted
hence clear interaction was barred. With his age, Gabby, based on the Speech
therapist’s narrative, is currently suffering with major blockages of
expressing himself to others; focused pertained to his academic learning, and
psychological growth. Without the tools of visual resources [e.g. photos of an
action verb + a noun, (drink + water)], he couldn’t attain his desires or needs
to people in general. Gabby needs his iPad or any visual platform to divulge
his needs. Without it, Gabby is left with no attainments of such. The SLP
Personnel provided Gabby with adequate visual materials, a board containing two
drawn boxes, a plastic of fruits, and a mini cart. The board that underwent
drawing of two boxes served as a conveyor of Gabby’s needs. If he felt the urge
to drink, he would place a picture of a verb, for example [drink], and a
noun, example [water]. By the time he successfully placed two photos
together, it signified the desired action. The SLP Personnel would give Gabby
his needs according to what he had placed in those two boxes, henceforth,
conveyor. Next were the plastic of fruits and a mini cart, the SLP Personnel
would tell Gabby to pick numbered named fruits from an array of those and put
the said fruits inside his mini cart. Despite of difficulties identifying
quantities and names of fruits, Gabby, successfully surpassed the SLP
Personnel’s challenge, resulting to his father’s elatedness as well as the SLP
Personnel’s.
What I
have reflected so far
Patience
and passion are on forefront
Dealing
with people who are currently suffering with either physical, oral, mental, or
psychological impairment needs consistent patience and passion to fully help
them according to feasibility. I saw the raw heart of the therapist doing her
job of understanding the condition of Gabby and how Gabby’s father was feeling
at that moment was something to be noted for. She embraced the vulnerability of
Gabby and his father, and she embraced the slow yet steady progress; Gabby
was at the fourth session as I far as I could remember. Patience in a sense
that she was waiting for Gabby’s responses no matter how slow or fast they may
be, or if Gabby had trouble executing an action, the therapist would restart the
activity and aid him in action execution. Passion, on the other hand, for the
therapist did not hesitate to offer lending hands no matter how repeated the action
maybe done. I saw the clean intention and that sparked the conversation for me.
While
observing I was at complete awe seeing the therapist’s eyes shined as Gabby successfully
did an action. Slow but steady progress.
You
only want the best for your children
I empathized
with Gabby’s father and I fully appreciated his fatherhood; despite only seeing
it under a forty-five-minute observation. I overheard the two adults conversation
and it went like this non-verbatim:
“bale
sir, hindi naman po ba kayo nahihirapan mag-manage kay Gabby?”
“hindi
naman po, salitan naman po kami ng nanay niya sa pagbantay at pagsama pag may [therapy]
session”
“minsan
mahirap pero wala eh anak mo gusto mo lang ‘yung makatutulong sa kanya”
All for
your children’s betterment, you will do everything.
Celebrating
the slow yet steady success
I was
elated to see the eyes of Gabby as this pair radiated complete innocence and
authentic happiness after successfully doing an action. He kept on staring at
us and I could not help myself but to admire his cuteness from a distance. I felt
his sincerity and willingness to aid himself in accomplishing desired actions. He
faced difficulties at certain times, but he did not give up or just completely
surrender; rather, he pushed himself further with his baby steps.
I had
imagined Gabby doing a self-pat after the sessions for a job well done.
The
people of rehabilitation sciences are some of the unsung heroes of the
healthcare system
We are
preset by the idea that the healthcare system are just shares of Medical
Technologists, Nurses, and Doctors. But the system would not function well
without its rehabilitation sciences. I will admit I did not know such medical
department existed until I experienced it firsthand by observation. By
definition,
“rehabilitation
science is an integrated science dedicated to the study of human function and
participation and its relationship to health and well-being”
Basically,
to help aid people to get back, keep, or improve their abilities that one needs
for daily life.
The
people of rehabilitation sciences are individuals behind curtains performing
another aspect of medicine that is often neglected and gives no utmost concerns.
I do think if we further extend our focus on rewiring our preconceptions on
this medical department to deeper know their vitality to overall medicine, the
better. These individuals play equal parts in maintaining and practicing medicine
best alongside medical technologists, nurses, and doctors.
Rehabilitation
science is part of medicine.
It
does not bear lesser importance from the other medical sciences.
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| Taken from my Work Immersion portfolio |
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| Taken from my Work Immersion portfolio |
May we
treat this department the same respect we treat with other medical counterparts.
May we
know their roles in overall medicine.
We have unsung heroes in medicine, and they are some of them.
Asulats.
