Week 2: Thinking outside the box

It is hard to believe that a whole week has passed since my last community based rehabilitation prac in Mariannridge! Today was our second week working into the community. While we are still trying to find our feet and figure out what our role is in the community, it is getting a lot easier and more enjoyable- particularly as we are learning to ask questions instead of just assuming things! Feedback and input from our supervisors is really useful and we are constantly being challenged to think outside the box.

The box being our screening audiometer.

Over the last 3 years of our training, we have learned to rely on our expensive audiological equipment. However, living in a 3rd world country, the reality is that one day we may be placed in a hospital or assessment centre that doesn't have this equipment, or we may have to wait months for our audiometer to get fixed, with no back-up machine. It is also likely that we may need to work out in a community that does not have electricity. The thought of not having a screening audiometer is quite intimidating!

So we are currently in the process of discovering our role in community based rehabilitation without an audiometer... we realise that this requires us to research activities that can be used to improve on the children's auditory memory, discrimination skills and the like, as part of early intervention for those who are at risk for delayed development, learning problems, hearing loss and auditory processing disorders.

We were able to incorporate some of our aims into the games that the occupational therapists and speech therapists were already wanting to play in the creche. A game of "Simon Says", with multiple-part commands was played. The children had to remember what all 3 instructions were before following through with the actions. We were also able to have 'Story Time', where we asked the children details about what we had just read. This was to target their auditory memory.

Once our time was up at the creche, we headed back up to the Cafe/community centre where I finally decided to introduce myself to the knitting ladies. I feel that we are sometimes so focused on getting to our location, setting up and accomplishing our aims, that we miss out on things along the way- such as a simple greeting and introduction. It only took 1 minute of my time, and before I was finished explaining what we were doing in Mariannridge I had been ushered towards another lady to discuss the concerns that she has with her son's hearing, and a few minutes later another lady approached us about motor and speech concerns that she had with her son.

I left those conversations feeling more connected, welcomed and understood by the community as a student audiologist, even though I had only spoken with a group of +-10 ladies. I definitely need to remember to go into the community each week with a humble attitude, remembering that I am there to serve them, and that a smile and "how are you" can go a long way!