Merriam- Webster generally defines communication as, “the act or process of using words, sounds, signs, or behaviors to express or exchange information or to express your ideas, thoughts, feelings etc. to someone else.” (Merriam- Webster, 2015) Volunteering at Mountain Care Facility has provided me with a real world perspective into how communication can be expressed through many modalities. Learning and making real- life connections goes way beyond just sitting in a classroom discussing and studying it, learning really happens when you see communication occurring and fully experiencing it first hand. Communication is something we as a society take for granted, and spending time at Mountain Care has shown me the difficulties many people face
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Whether we just sit there and talk, play cards, walk around or do puzzles- I learn something from these people and I hope I give them something to learn and look forward to weekly as well. I’ve found that at Mountain Care the residents will tell you what they like or what they want- for the most part. Sometimes I am told that they don’t want to talk to me anymore or other times I can’t get a word in edgewise in the conversation. Wherever the residents direct me is where I go. I find this to be beneficial because I would rather engage with people who wish to be interacted with. There are some folks there who hibernate in their rooms with no desire to interact with anyone at all. However, I have noticed that everyone has a good relationship with the workers of the facility. Everyone is on a first name basis and I’ve never seen any kind of mistreatment or lack of interest from the workers over the care of their patients. A study was conducted discussing the correlations between the environment and the facility and results showed that, the smaller the facility- the more home like the atmosphere and the better the control of the facility by managers and workers (Zinn, 1993)- which in turn turns out to be most beneficial for the …show more content…
Some residents can have full conversations while others struggle to get out a single word. Just from observing, I have noticed what seems to be a lot of pragmatic and semantic difficulties. Just a lot of saying what they are thinking right then and there- without really thinking it completely through or just using words in completely inappropriate times, with no meaning in the conversation. (Association, 1997) Specifically, there is a gentleman there who uses one word phrases- if he talks at all. We will sit and do a puzzle and he will repeat the same word over and over- the word having no relation to the puzzle. However with his use of gestures and acknowledgments, I know that he understands what I am saying to him and that he can follow my conversation, just his semantic and pragmatic abilities are impaired. Similarity, there is a woman who will dance and sing along with other workers, so she can obviously follow conversations even if her semantic and pragmatic use is varied. I’ve also observed word finding or just remembering specific things to be difficult for many residents too. It is one thing to discuss concepts like syntax, semantics and pragmatics in class and their relation to certain disorders or dysfunctions. It is another thing to get to experience that in real time. Sometimes, I will find myself thinking and making connections between concepts
Whether we just sit there and talk, play cards, walk around or do puzzles- I learn something from these people and I hope I give them something to learn and look forward to weekly as well. I’ve found that at Mountain Care the residents will tell you what they like or what they want- for the most part. Sometimes I am told that they don’t want to talk to me anymore or other times I can’t get a word in edgewise in the conversation. Wherever the residents direct me is where I go. I find this to be beneficial because I would rather engage with people who wish to be interacted with. There are some folks there who hibernate in their rooms with no desire to interact with anyone at all. However, I have noticed that everyone has a good relationship with the workers of the facility. Everyone is on a first name basis and I’ve never seen any kind of mistreatment or lack of interest from the workers over the care of their patients. A study was conducted discussing the correlations between the environment and the facility and results showed that, the smaller the facility- the more home like the atmosphere and the better the control of the facility by managers and workers (Zinn, 1993)- which in turn turns out to be most beneficial for the …show more content…
Some residents can have full conversations while others struggle to get out a single word. Just from observing, I have noticed what seems to be a lot of pragmatic and semantic difficulties. Just a lot of saying what they are thinking right then and there- without really thinking it completely through or just using words in completely inappropriate times, with no meaning in the conversation. (Association, 1997) Specifically, there is a gentleman there who uses one word phrases- if he talks at all. We will sit and do a puzzle and he will repeat the same word over and over- the word having no relation to the puzzle. However with his use of gestures and acknowledgments, I know that he understands what I am saying to him and that he can follow my conversation, just his semantic and pragmatic abilities are impaired. Similarity, there is a woman who will dance and sing along with other workers, so she can obviously follow conversations even if her semantic and pragmatic use is varied. I’ve also observed word finding or just remembering specific things to be difficult for many residents too. It is one thing to discuss concepts like syntax, semantics and pragmatics in class and their relation to certain disorders or dysfunctions. It is another thing to get to experience that in real time. Sometimes, I will find myself thinking and making connections between concepts