Tatianna Baker
Ghost Boy Reflection
Ghost Boy is written as a journey, which the reader takes along with the writer. The journey gives a vivid picture of what an individual with physical limitations goes through and how AAC can truly change one's life. Having the opportunity to read this book this semester has opened my eyes to the life these individuals live and has shown me how important our job as a speech pathologist can be.
Before reading this book I hadn’t put much thought into how you go about assessing an individual for an AAC device. Reading chapter 6, it became clear to me that this task is not an easy one and it takes a lot of trial and error. To find the best fit system for communication you need to have a good understanding …show more content…
Pained by the sudden illness that took their son’s “voice” Martin’s parents reacted in very different ways. Martin’s mom was very bitter and found it hard to cope with emotional side of caring for a disabled son. At one point in the book Martin explained how his mother tried to take her own life as the growing guilt of being unable to help her son had gotten too much too handle. He also describes a moment in time when she was going through a lot of stress and unaware of how much Martin understood told him that he “you must die” because of what he was doing to the family. This was hard to read and made me realize how horrible it must be for someone in Martin’s situation. These individuals, as in Martin’s case, see firsthand what their disability does to their loved ones and have no way to help. Although, Martin explains later in the book that he had forgiven her and now has a greater understanding of her depression during that time, I wonder whether his mother has forgiven herself. Particularly after figuring out how much Martin was able to understand and for relizing she had lost hope in him. It seemed that after learning of his potential to use an AAC device, his mother seemed to throw herself into programming and setting up his device, determined to help her son communicate. She worked relentlessly to make sure he had the best device out there with the best programing and all the vocabulary items he would ever need. His mother even helped him program sexual vocabulary. As the chapters went on I found his mom had become more and more confident in her son's abilities and had become his biggest
Ghost Boy Reflection
Ghost Boy is written as a journey, which the reader takes along with the writer. The journey gives a vivid picture of what an individual with physical limitations goes through and how AAC can truly change one's life. Having the opportunity to read this book this semester has opened my eyes to the life these individuals live and has shown me how important our job as a speech pathologist can be.
Before reading this book I hadn’t put much thought into how you go about assessing an individual for an AAC device. Reading chapter 6, it became clear to me that this task is not an easy one and it takes a lot of trial and error. To find the best fit system for communication you need to have a good understanding …show more content…
Pained by the sudden illness that took their son’s “voice” Martin’s parents reacted in very different ways. Martin’s mom was very bitter and found it hard to cope with emotional side of caring for a disabled son. At one point in the book Martin explained how his mother tried to take her own life as the growing guilt of being unable to help her son had gotten too much too handle. He also describes a moment in time when she was going through a lot of stress and unaware of how much Martin understood told him that he “you must die” because of what he was doing to the family. This was hard to read and made me realize how horrible it must be for someone in Martin’s situation. These individuals, as in Martin’s case, see firsthand what their disability does to their loved ones and have no way to help. Although, Martin explains later in the book that he had forgiven her and now has a greater understanding of her depression during that time, I wonder whether his mother has forgiven herself. Particularly after figuring out how much Martin was able to understand and for relizing she had lost hope in him. It seemed that after learning of his potential to use an AAC device, his mother seemed to throw herself into programming and setting up his device, determined to help her son communicate. She worked relentlessly to make sure he had the best device out there with the best programing and all the vocabulary items he would ever need. His mother even helped him program sexual vocabulary. As the chapters went on I found his mom had become more and more confident in her son's abilities and had become his biggest