powerpoint

(application/vnd.ms-powerpoint, 206 KB)

Back To Journal

Back to Table of Contents

Interview of SLP and teacher:

SLP: Hello Mrs. Collins how are you today?

T: Well I am doing good today Ms. Puig thanks for asking.

SLP: How is Johnny doing lately?

T: Well I think he has been improving ever since he has started therapy. I am just worried about him. In class he just keeps to himself and he does not talk, or interact with the other kids.

SLP: Well you know he may just feel like he does not fit in. In therapy, he is real active and participates with the other students. He often complains that he does not want to go back to the classroom that he likes being in the speech room. I guess he just feels comfortable being around the kids in therapy.

T: That is why I wanted to have this talk. I want to maybe get some ideas of how I can help Johnny feel better about himself and become more active in class.

SLP: There are many things that you can do to help improve his self-esteem. I have been doing a little bit of self-esteem activities in therapy but I just don’t have a lot of time to squeeze in too many self-esteem activities. Johnny only comes every Monday and Wednesday for 30 minutes and he does group therapy with three other people. In order to help build his self-esteem, you need to know how does his disorder impact his life (Glenn E., & Smith T., 1998). You probably have observed him in the classroom and you know what he goes through.

T: I do know that Johnny has a phonological disorder, which affects the production of his speech sounds. I know that he uses a lot of speech sounds in place of other sounds (w-r) etc. Sometimes it is very hard for his classmates to understand him. Because the kids usually can’t understand him, they will ask him to slow down and repeat himself, but he just gets frustrated and avoids talking at all. I know that these feelings he is experiencing is affecting his self-esteem, which is causing him to withdraw from class participation and social activities. I would really like to help him become more positive about himself and active with the classmates.

SLP: Well there are many activities that you can use in your classroom that will help build Johnny’s self-esteem. In order to help build Johnny’s self-esteem, you need to have activities that will identify his strengths, help him get support from his classmates, focus on positive concepts, have him set his own goals and objectives, and help him be able to problem solve. These activities will help him with awareness, worthiness, and power, will show his individual strengths and weakness, and, hopefully, these activities will help him to balance out his strengths and weakness which will help his self-esteem (Glenn E., & Smith T., 1998)

SLP: One way to identify his strengths is an activity called Handicaps not Limiting. Here, you would bring in a speaker (adult) who has a communication disorder. Let them give a speech, on how having a communication disorder does not interfere with their life and how they were able to succeed and live a very productive life. After the speaker, have each student list their personal strengths (Glenn E., & Smith T., 1998)

T: Yes, I really like the sound of this activity. Having a speaker could really boost Johnny’s self-esteem by helping him realize that he is somebody who can make a difference in life no matter if he has a disorder. I think the students will also benefit from this activity as they will learn more about communication disorders and then, maybe, understand that having a communication disorder does not make that person any different than the other classmates. Hopefully they will realize that Johnny is as nice, smart, and fun to be around just like his other classmates.

SLP: Another good activity to help Johnny build his self-esteem is to build support groups in the classroom. A good activity for this would be Booster Boxes. Here, have your students decorate a shoebox and cut a slit in the box. Then each student will write a compliment about the child and put in the box (Glenn E., & Smith T., 1998).

T: Oh, I think that is a great way to get Johnny involved with the class. Not to mention how much those positive comments will help him feel better about himself.

SLP: Now, to help Johnny focus on the positive things about himself, you can do an activity called Me Trees. First, everyone needs to trace their own hand, then take the paper cut out leaves and paste them on the hand to make a tree. On each individual leaf have the students write positive characteristics about themselves on each leaf (Glenn E., & Smith T., 1998)

T: I think activities like these will really help Johnny build his self-esteem. It will really have him realizing that there are good things about him despite the fact he has a communication disorder. Also, when classmates read his Me-Tree, they will learn more things about Johnny, and not just about Johnny, the boy with a communication disorder.

SLP: Another activity to help him build his self-esteem it to have him develop goals and objectives by an activity called Targeting. Here you have the students make a self-improvement contract. Each student needs to choose a behavior that they would like to see either increase or decrease. Then have them set a goal and a reward for reaching the goal. Then they will observe this behavior for one week and record the results -when, why, and how often the behavior occurs- and the daily progress they are making. They will continue to do this for several weeks and they will predict the progress of how they think they will do each week (Glenn E., & Smith T., 1998).

T: So, this activity will really help Johnny learn more about himself. Here he will learn about ways to improve something about himself by setting goals and reaching them.

SLP: Another activity that you can do for his self-esteem is called Childhood memories. This is an activity that is designed to help Johnny develop his problem solving skills. What you do is have students think of a problem and then have them use the problem-solving skills that they think will resolve this problem. Then have each student make a children’s book about the problem, included in the book is how the problem should be resolved (Glenn E., &Smith T., 1998)

T: Making a story book is a good idea. Johnny could make a book about the way he feels about having a communication disorder and he can present the book to the class. I also like this idea because he will be learning how to deal with his problem by coming up with solutions to solve the problem he is having.

SLP: I think that if you do these activities with Johnny and his fellow classmates, you will really begin to see a big difference in the way that he sees himself and the way that the class views him. People with high self-esteem are satisfied with themselves and they respect themselves. Kids who can see who they are and they like what they see tend to be better individuals and students. Kids need to know that others do appreciate them, which help them feel more positive about themselves (Glenn E., & Smith T., 1998)

T: I really like the ideas of these activities. I really think these activities will increase Johnny’s self-esteem. Thank you so much for giving me such great suggestions.

SLP: Just remember that building his self-esteem is a process that will require of lot of time and patience. In the long run, building a more positive self-esteem means your helping him build a healthy self-perception, which will help him like himself. (Glenn E., and Smith T., 1998).

T: Ms. Puig, I just want to thank you so much for taking this evening to meet with me. I appreciate what you have done for me.

SLP: Oh, your welcome Mrs. Collins. Anytime you want to talk just come down to my office and will work something out. Or if I am not there and you want to get a hold of me you can e-mail me if you need to. My email address is Puig1@marshall.edu. I also have a website that you might find useful at
www.http://fransweblog.antville.org/topics/MRP/76643.

T: Thank you so much for all of your help.

Back to Journal Entry

Back to Table of Contents

I am Poem
by Johnny who is 8 years old and in the 3rd grade

I am normal like everybody else
I wonder why people make fun of me (because I never tease other kids even when the other day Troy came out of the bathroom with his pants unzipped)
I hear them whispering about me (but my brother and I always whisper late at night so we won’t get caught staying up late)
I see them laughing at me (but I laugh a lot when I watch cartoons)
I want them to see that I am no different (because I love to catch crawdads and ride my bike just like my classmates do)
I am normal like everybody else

I pretend that I am happy all the time (but I was really happy last weekend when I went to the zoo)
I feel sadness (but last week I was really sad when I lost my pet hamster)
I touch my lips (but I love to touch worms and bugs)
I worry that I really am different (but I really worry that it will rain today and I can’t play outside)
I cry because people call me names (but I cried this morning when my brother hit me)
I am normal like everybody else

I understand that I have a problem talking (but I really understand that I am grounded today for yelling at my mom)
I say that it will be fixed soon (just like my favorite remote control truck)
I dream of being liked (but I really dream that one day I will become an astronaut)
I try to avoid talking (but I really try to avoid girls. They are gross!!)
I hope they would stop making fun of me (but I really hope that I can go to McDonalds for dinner so I can get a happy meal)
I am normal like everybody else

Back to Journal Entry

Back to table of conents