Day 2 -July 6, 2010 Communication

Today's class focused on communication in terms of its definition, different modes of communication, and the requirements for communication to take place. In order for communication to occur, two or more people have to be involved in a reciprocal exchange of thoughts, ideas, opinions, concerns, etc. with all parties involved paying close attention to each other and sharing a common language which is understood by all. Two highlights of today's class for me were the videos and the group activities. In particular, the video showing the use of assistive technology and how the use of this assistive technology had made life so much more meaningful for the young man. It was amazing to see the potential of this young man and what he could contribute to society. It is difficult to imagine what his life would be like without this access to the world around him. Again, as educators, we must believe in the students that we work with both directly and indirectly. The group activity that I was involved in required one member of the group to be non-verbal but yet be included into the conversation with the other two members of the group. This proved to be a very difficult assignment as we quickly realized that we could involve her in the conversation but only at a very basic level. The non-verbal member could only answer yes and no questions with facial expressions and/or gestures but couldn't give any in-depth responses. This was very frustrating for the non-verbal member as her facial expressions and gestures indicated that she had so much more to contribute. This activity proved to be very beneficial in that we could 'somewhat' put ourselves in the shoes of someone experiencing this type of exceptionality. Once again, similar to the video, it is a reminder that we must act as advocates to help students access whatever it takes for them to be more independent and contributing members of society.