Active participation is one of the standards we use to evaluate how an AAC device is working. Is the client actively participating? If not, what do we need to change to increase the function aspects of the device? Incidentally, that was our discussion in class today. My professor, Dr. Bedrosian, had a special project for me. During class my job was the play the part of an individual who was not able to speak. I had some limited writing ability, but passing papers would not be an option.
Anyway, this class is discussion based, so we are expected to participate in discussions about the literature, and devices etc. So, when Dr. Bedrosian asked me a question (me the non-speaking individual), I was unable to answer: I couldn't talk, I couldn't write, I didn't have a device to speak for me. In short, I had no option but to stare at her and shrug my shoulders. The rest of the class laughed.
So, later on, Dr. Bedrosian passed out some papers. I wasn't able to receive them, or pass them along. So, after the papers had sat infront of me for a few minutes my neighbor, Meghan, noticed, gave me one, and passed them along to my other neighbor. (and then, of course, gave me a quizzical look). More not talking later, and not participating in class (Meghan turning pages for me etc) Dr. Bedrosian let the rest of the class in on the secret.
When Dr. Bedrosian asked my classmates their internal responses to my behavior I got a lot of funny answers.
- "I thought he had finally cracked, broke under the pressure of grad school"
- "I thought he was having a stroke"
- "I thought he was really [upset]" (They didn't use the word upset)
Anyway, I thought that was really fun, and you might enjoy it.
No comments:
Post a Comment