04.17.10- Day 105

Thoughts on the Bhattari family and my job...

On Thursday night Alan, John, Grace, and I went over to see our newly resettled refugee family from Bhutan. It's always interesting getting to know and trying to communicate with a new family who speaks little English (especially since we speak NO Nepali). I found myself smiling, laughing, simplifying language, and drawing to try to get my point across. It's amazing how much you can communicate without words. If you have a few words you can communicate almost anything. I remember a couple years ago when I was spending time with Mu Leh from Burma, who basically knew no English. She was able to communicate to my friend and I that her son's name was going to be Jonah by pointing to a Bible and acting out the story of Jonah and the whale!

So, on the way home from visiting with the Bhattari's, I realized that I spend at least 50% of my time in my job communicating to children who either have difficulty with receptive language, expressive language, or both. I spend so much time demonstrating, using physical cueing, acting, using simple words, giving wait time, smiling and nodding, etc through out my day. Communicating with children that have disabilities isn't all that different from communicating with someone who speaks a different language. My kiddos with disabilities just speak a different language. There's always a way to get the message through, but you just have to have the perseverance and creativity to communicate it.