We had two locations to work with today, The Buzbee family and Casa Havilah. The children in the Buzbee family have been adopted from extenuating circumstances including abandonment, abuse, and negative biological home lives. With these adolescents, we worked on expression of feelings, sensory needs, and identifying techniques to assist them to be more successful in school and in their social and emotional interactions. There are six children ranging from 13 to 17, including a set of twins and their sister. The children were receptive to our ideas and techniques that would assist them. We also shared with the mother ideas that we shared with the children.
In the afternoon, we visited a rescue home. Casa Havilah is a rescue home for 6 boys and one girl, ages 6 to 14, who have been abused or have observed abuse. This was a VERY active group of children. We did a variety of activities including music and movement, turn taking, sensory, and communication. The SLP took two children aside due to identified needs in the area of speech and communication. The team spent time talking with the house parents about what we observed and provided information and ideas to help the children be more successful both at home and at school.
Tomorrow, we are looking forward to working with a rescue home for girls, a preschool with 80 children, and possibly some of the 130 children that attend an after school program for tutoring.
