Here are the questions I planned to ask:
Tell me about your love of special therapy?
What made you want to go into this field?
What experiences have you had previously working with kids who have developmental delays?
Can you tell me about some of the difficulties these children have? How does it impact them in the classroom?
How do you think having a speech delay impacts them when trying to interact with other children and when making friends?
Do you notice if children with a delay are treated any differently then those children without a delay? By their teacher? By their peers?
How will what you do impact these children?
Where do you see a child you are working with say in.., 5 yrs? In 10 yrs? As an adult?
Interview transcribed from recording and Coding afterwards:
Coding: interactions perceptions
Me: So.. again, [name] thanks so much for letting me interview you. We’re just basically going to kind of, kinda, get some ideas of what you do and kind of what your understanding is of children with special needs. So tell me about your love of speech therapy. Where does that come from?
I: Well it was kind of interesting because I didn’t start out intending to go into speech therapy. I didn’t even know what it was when I started college..I um.. started my freshman year of college and I didn’t know what I wanted to do and so I thought maybe all be a teacher, maybe I’ll go into English, maybe I’ll go into music..um, but I went to our career center and took some assessment tests there and audiology showed up on one of the test and I was like, uhh that sounds interesting we have a program here and I’ll sign up for it so I signed up not really knowing much of what it was um, and originally going into the ear side of things, but I decided as I got further in that I preferred speech pathology and it was interesting because all the way through my undergrad I was like. This is interesting, but I don’t know if I feel passionate about this. I went on my mission and was still like, ahh, is this really what I want to do. And it wasn’t until I got into grad school that I found that I love this. I started actually working with clients and getting further into speech therapy and just loved it!
Me: Now you say clients, what um.. can you describe them to me?.. what were some of the things like… were they students, were they kids, were they adults?
I: Well at the clinic uh, we work with a wide variety of clients. There are a wide variety of clients. There are adults clients some of them, some of the clients are BYU students, most of them are kids. Um…I’ve worked with one adult and a few kids. I’ve worked with a hearing impaired individual. I’ve worked with someone with vocal modules, worked with a kid with down syndrome. Also a kid with autism, so that’s what I’ve done so far. I’ve assessed a kid with an articulation disorder.
Me. So, um do you feel uh….that you’re getting more experience overall with all like all children who have, like cuz you work with specific subjects that have disabilities, but as well there are.. I’m sure there are some kids with just like typical speech delays. Or, like a delay in expressive language, just because there not able to express. Do you feel like there’s uhh, have you felt a difference working with any group of these children necessarily?
I: Um…
Me: Not quite sure what my exact question?? That doesn’t make sense.
I: So are you saying, asking if there’s difference in working like with the kid that has…
Me: Like a kid that is more severe because of a disability they have compared to a child who might just be showing like maybe a mild delay in expressive language because of an specific articulation…um…?
I: Um, I would say yeah, yeah, because with the more severe cases, specifically with down syndrome and with autism then you have different, different levels of cognition, um.. then with and otherwise typically developing child. Um, and so you have to use different techniques then you would with a regular garden variety kid, if you will….(laughter)
Me: That’s great, it sounds like you make different adaptations and accommodations according to the child and their specific disability or need.
I: Oh yeah, yep..
Me: That’s wonderful. Um, What experiences have you had working with these kids who have disabilities? You went to a clinic, um when you were doing like the, um, graduate… sorry you’re in graduate school now…when you were doing.. I’m trying to think of what that’s called.
I: Undergraduate?
Me: Undergraduate,..program.
I: U huh.
Me: When you were to do any like hands on experiences or time in the field?
I: Um..not a lot. Uh, we had a fairly big major and so there wasn’t a lot of opportunity.. for hands on. Um, when I was my senior year of high school I worked at the boys and girls club in my town and so that gave me some experience with regular kids. Then, but Um my experience with kids with disabilities other than the clinical setting in graduate school has been….Um, I have two brothers that have autism.
Me: Oh, I didn’t know that.
I: um hum, and well…one of them, one of them is my mom’s son from her second marriage and then one of them is my dad’s son from his second marriage. Um, I’ve worked more closely with my moms son. Um, and.. yeah. I’ve had a couple of my close friends have had, have been, autism. They’ve been more on the high functioning end…Aspergers end of the spectrum, but…yeah.
Me: Sounds like you’ve got a lot of specific experience with kids with autism.
I: um, hum…
Me: Do you feel like you have um, different understanding of the different disabilities. Because of more, I guess, interactions you’ve had with them? Do you feel because you’ve been more involved with children who have autism, or, with a certain type, do you feel like you have better..um, understanding of how to work with them because of those interactions that have been more frequent or?
I: Yeah I do. I, I feel like of all the disorders, I don’t feel like I’m an expert of any of the disorders, but of all of them then I’ve had, definitely had the most experience with those with autism and how to interact with them…so.
Me: Do you have kind of a preference, or…?
I: Um, yeah I, well I have been fairly successful in working with kids and people with autism, and I.. so that is kind of where I would like to go after grad school. I’d like to…down the road, hopefully get my doctorate and go into research and autism.
Me: Very exciting…we should talk after the interview about bridges
I: (laugh)
Me: It’s a program for children with autism.
I: uh huh.
Me: Anyways..um, Can you tell me, that you’ve worked with these children who have kind of a delay or disability, can you tell me some of the differences you notice between, um.. like these children and the other children, like in the classroom. How does it…How does it impact them?
I: Well I haven’t worked with them in the classroom that much, but I would anticipate that… well, that betting on the disorder that you have (laugh) The, like the boy that I worked with that has autism. I went and observed him in the classroom. And I…hum. I don’t know how much I’m allowed to say for confidentiality purposes, but, um I just that the difficulty with engaging and having, uh, limited language both comprehensive and expression that its defiantly going to impact how he can function in the classroom. Also the client that I worked with, with down syndrome. Um, he had, was functioning at, defiantly a delayed level so he would need to have adjustments made so he can understand basic classroom instructions. Um, and as far as academics go then he would need to have them tailor to his level. Um, because he just wouldn’t be able to go in with the regular kids. Socially he might be stronger in that area, but still he needs support in learning how to behave appropriately and, um understand how to interact with his peers.
Me: How do you feel having a speech delay would impact a child when interacting with other children in the classroom?
I: Um,
Me: As far as making friends..
I: Well it depends on how severe it is. If you’ve just got, if you have a little trouble with your R’s or your L’s it’s not going to have as big an impact. Although if it persists then they’ll get teased for that.
Me: Right.
I: But as far as a language delay then… you know, if that continues for long enough then kids may say, “stop talking like a baby.” Or you know if they don’t have enough of normal structure in their language than other kids are going to have trouble understanding them. And also the social component of language, where you have a hard time if they don’t understand basic rules of how you talk to someone your own age…this is how you talk to someone your own age, this is how you talk to an adult, this is how you start a conversation, this is how …you have to be cognoscente of what your partner is interested in and..um so, There’s lots of things to be taken in account.
Me: Sure. Very true. Um..okay. so, um. Specifically these children…you said you’ve had limited experience in the classroom, but have you noticed that the interactions the teachers have with them as well as the peers…you’ve kind of gone into the peers how they might interact a little bit differently then, they might have some social problems… How do you think that, that, because of those disabilities they have…or delays…how do you feel they…what are their interactions like? What do they look like compared to the typical peer in the classroom?
I: Um
Me: Specific to the teacher
I: You know…I really don’t know. I haven’t had an opportunity to interact with, with teachers and the students really. Except for in a special education situation. Um, with my brother. Um, then his teachers have been amazing, but he has always been in the special education classroom and um, so the teachers are used to dealing with kids with special needs.
Me: Would you say there’s diffidently a difference being in a special education classroom compaired to being in a regular classroom?
I: Yeah, because you have all these different things that you’re dealing with and, I, I would imagine but I don’t know, um… that a teacher. It would be difficult to have, you know 20 kids dealing with 20 regular kids than dealing with all of their variety and than one or two special kids in the classroom. That might be overwhelming. But on the other hand teachers are usually fantastic people.
Me: right.
I: And..
Me: Would you say even just the regular teachers, just because of maybe lack of education. Would that impact the interactions you see?
I: Definitely, definitely…it could, if they, um..are familiar with the disorder and typical things that go along with the disorder, they might not know how to interact in a way that will benefit, the greatest benefit to the child. Or if they don’t know that the kid has a disorder they might attribute their behaviors to defiance or, you know, stubbornness. So…education, education is huge.
Me: That is a very good point they might kinda confuse um, some of those behaviors and then tangent off on other areas, and not address the main concern.
I: Um hum. Or at least understand it and be able to. Cause, the way you deal with a behavior problem that is related to a disorder is going to be different than how you deal with behaviors that doesn’t stem from some underlying specific so… Knowing why is important.
Me: Yeah. Um.. Very true. How do you feel.. like, how will what you do impact these children?
I: Well, Our whole lives are communication. How we develop relationships with other people and how we interact with our world, and so by helping these kids improve their communication I’m helping them interact with their world. And, those relationships then…
Me: So your interactions with them are impacting their interactions with the world around them?
I: Um, hum. Like teaching them the skills they need to um, have a rich life. Be able to communicate not just their wants and their needs but also their interests and their preferences and to tell stories and to..um, you know it’s part of human experience.
Me: Yeah. Where would you say if you’re working…k, think of one child you’re working with, and just imagine him in your head. I don’t know how old his is, or if it’s a girl or a boy, or what disability it is, maybe it’s a delay he’s showing in expressive language, um, but take this child and imagine… Where do you think he’ll be in like a year from now?
I: Hum, let’s see. I would say…well, that defiantly does depend on the client. Because with a client that I’m working with, a client that I have worked with that has autism, it’s fairly severe and so the progress with him is kind of incremental and slow, but um, I have hope that he will be able to make some progress toward his goals and hopefully.. maybe further down the line because of what we’ve done. But don’t know exactly how far.
Me: What do you see in far as interactions with classrooms or peers…?
I: Um,
Me: Do you see him…?
I: I would hope that he would be able to interact at least more with his peers and be able to engage with them, whereas there’s little to no engagement with other people at this point in time. I’d be really neat if he could engage with his family first. There’s some engagement there, but it’s limited. That would be my first hope. That that is improved, and then we can move to peers and teachers (laughter).
Me: Okay. Where do you think maybe five years from now they might be?
I:I just see him being, like more verbal and probably not typical, but I can see, like hopefully some interaction with peers and more consonant interaction with family. Um, a, probably will still need special education and, huh, care… but hopefully he could be more mainstreamed. That just depends. It’s really hard to predict with these kids. Especially when they are fairly severe.
Me: Yeah that’s true. Would you say within ten years from now…where would you see him.
I: Let’s see..
Me: Probably an adult by then.
I: I don’t see… unless things change significantly he probably won’t be living independently. Um, yeah, but depending on how things go, hopefully he’d be able to maybe work in a supported work environment. Maybe, not. It’s really hard to tell.
Me: True. Very true. Um, well is there anything that you can think of specifically that maybe I
haven’t thought of, or maybe I haven’t covered that… your interest or understanding of the kids that you’re working with or, um intervention you’re providing for them?
I: Um, not that I know of…like, as far as…yeah. We’re just trying to help them function more, function better in their life situations with their family and at school. Things that will be relevant to them in real life context. Um…
Me: I really appreciate your time, so I thank you for letting me do this interview.
I: Well…you’re welcome.
Note taken while recording:
A- new insight, B-body language
-How much do I interact and talk about me during an interview? Am I open and can I share things about me?
-Do most people working with these children have a passion?
-Working with clients, mostly kids.
B-Holding hands, looked
-With the more sever have differing levels of cognition. Have to use different techniques
B-She’s shaking her leg. Is she nervous?
B-She smiled when I yawned.
A-I found myself trying to listen and dive into new directions because of what she was saying.
-How can I listen, analyze, and take notes?
A-Severity of disability can impacts the level of involvement.
A-I found myself trying to lead the conversation to get her to my opinion or viewpoints.
-Her interactions are impacting the interactions those children are having with their world.
B-I found myself further back in my seat, showing a distance and then she was further back.
B-Our eyes were contacting on and off. She started touching her wrist.
A-Interactions could change over time due to intervention.
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