During the spring 2011 I audited classes, attended workshops, seminars and participated in fieldwork. I will also share some places I visited to enjoy and relax in my spare time. I am really glad I got the opportunity to come to the UNC at Chapel Hill and all the experiences I got. Here is my story!
CLASSES
Communication in the American Classroom is a requested course that GEDS fellows will attend. The course has been and still is a very instructive and interesting. We are a small group of students from Nigeria, Turkey, China and Sweden. The course is offered through the Graduate School at UNC Chapel Hill and serves as an introduction to teaching in the American classroom. The course foci are to learn about cross-cultural communication, cultural differences, practice English pronunciation, improve vocabulary and basic teaching skills. It includes topics necessary for effective interaction in the American classroom.
In addition to twice- weekly class meetings, we are required to maintain an 8 hours conversation log. We observed and evaluated lectures, interviewed experienced teachers, and gave microteaching demonstrations.
Child Development and Disabilities
The content in this course included typical and atypical manifestations of cognitive, social-emotional and communication development in children. Required texts were “Development and disability” (2002) by Vicky Lewis and “The developing mind” 1999, by D. Siegel. From Piaget, Vygotsky and Gibson, I have studied children’s typical development and how they get to know their world. It includes concepts such as representations, states of mind, self-regulation, emotional and social development. Also the lectures gave me new and deepen knowledge about children with non typical development.
We have watched several videos among which three have made a certain impact on me. The first was the film “Secret of the wild child”, a girl locked into a basement from birth until thirteen years of age. She was totally deprived of her life and we discussed her situation relating to UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
The second film was about Peter a boy with Down’s syndrome and his inclusion in the school. He had behavior problems and the film showed how his teachers and classmates cooped with this. Over the years the environment adapted to Peter’s needs in many ways but on the whole my impression is that Peter, when getting older and older, had to adapted even more (by given him drugs) to fit in during the last school years.
The third interesting film was about two families, one where all family members were deaf, and one in which all were hearing, except one of the newborn twins. There were also deaf grandmothers and grandfathers. A five to six year old girl in the deft family and the new born deft child were in focus for cochlea implants. The adults had strong opinions about pro’s and con’s for cochlea implant. The film gave me perspectives I never had thought about. There was no easy answer weather to let the daughter in the deaf family do the cochlea implant or not.
Qualitative software: ATLAS.ti
I have learned to use the software ATLAS.ti for coding and sorting notes in children’s health records to continue the qualitative analysis. Prof. Paul Mihas has provided help via a “hands- on workshop” every week at the ODUM institute. The ODUM Institute and the help from Prof. Mihas provide an outstanding opportunity every arriving coming GEDS fellow should know exist. The Institute conducts workshops and support for qualitative and quantitative methods.
Seminars at School of Nursing
The School of Nursing has several one-hour monthly seminars, at the middle of the day. Some of the most interesting seminars for me were:
“Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Nursing Research at Point-of-Care” Dr. Cheryl B. Jones talked about her role to foster research relationships between the School of Nursing and the UNC Hospitals. UNC Hospitals emphasize the importance of nurse doing in research to address critical problems in practice. She also mentors teams at the Hospitals that have research ideas or are developing ideas into research proposals. One of her purposes is to work to break down the walls between academia and practice.
Elizabeth Tornquist, MA, Editorial Consultants, talked about “Reporting Preliminary Work in Presentations, Publications and Grants Proposals”. In an amusing way no audio-visual aid, she gave stressed students good advise around issues such: How to find time to write, setting limits to your surroundings and disruption; and she had two words on how to begin and finish when writing a paper: CUT WORDS!
Another interesting seminar” at the school of Nursing was “Team-based Learning and Implementation in the Classroom”. It is a teaching strategy that allows nurse educators to provide a structured, student-centered learning environment in their courses. It can be implemented in any size class, for active learning. The speaker, Dr. Pink, described the components of team based learning and his own experiences with it. We also participated in a readiness assessment test, a key component of team based learning.
I have also attended two lectures about Hispanic/Latino migrants who are the largest migrant group in the U.S. There are opportunities and challenges with child migration and Latino health. More than half of the Latino population is American citizens. There is a lack of documented data and many of the Latinos speak poor or no English. In addition, many professionals lack the knowledge needed about the Latino culture. The group’s health is declining including mental, asthma and obesity, although they have access to the health services. Depression and suicide are increasing among Latinos teenagers. According to Dr. Perreia, there is a high positive correlation between education and health. In addition, it is important begin working with the parents earlier then currently done.
Fieldwork
Frank Porter Graham (FPG) Child Development Institute
In the reception room, I read the history and current information about the institute. Dr.Kate Gallagher was telling us the story of FPG, showed us around in the building. We could meet the staff and the children in the school.
It began in the 1960’s when President Lyndon Johnson announced War on Poverty. Later parents of children with disabilities began advocating for inclusion in every aspect of community life, including education. A small group of scientists came together to conduct research and provide services that would make a difference in children’s lives, help families and inform policies. The Institute took its name from Frank Porter Graham, who was President of the University of North Carolina (1930-1949) and a strong advocate for children.
The research today, provides insight into how child care experiences relate to child development. Families need access to high quality early care and education to promote children’s learning. The institute evaluates and develops approaches to ensure that culturally, linguistically and children with abilities diverse benefit from high quality experiences. The research is driven by local, state and national needs. FPG works to promote earlier identification of children with disabilities and explore ways that early intervention program can better serve communities. From social and emotional development to physical health the staff studies the lives of children as they grow. Overall the staff is highly educated. All of them have at least a master in different topics. There are many research programs.
I have been visiting schools on different levels: elementary, middle and high school. I met school nurses and nursing students in their clinical practices. Much of the school nursing and health problems are similar to those of Sweden, but there are also differences. There are no school physicians, and they don’t offer individual health dialogues with the child in specific ages. In Sweden that is recommended by our guidelines which called for curiosity from the head of the school nurses. I heard from some school nurses that can’t talk about family planning, an obvious issue for teenagers (the school can be funding of people with other opinions). Well that made me irritated and I also got that confirmed from the head of the school health services.
Family Support network (FSN)
Prof. Irene Zipper gave us information about FSN and one day she brought me and my supervisor to Greensboro, where we met people who work with a local program. Interesting for us to see their “Children’s developmental services agency (CDSA) and how they give service to families and their children. FSN of NC started 1985. The network has three core activities: information, connection with the local programs and matching parents (huge database). FSN/NC offers support, free of charges to families across the state who are caring for children for special needs. For example parent to parent peer support which means supporting other families in similar situations. Examples of activities that are offered in some of the seventeen local programs are sibling groups and groups for fathers. In addition they have two ongoing projects aiming to develop models for 1) strengthening military families with children who have developmental disabilities 2) implementing strategies to support people with disabilities and their families in emergency situations.
Spare time
Fun things I have done and places I have been:
· Weaver Street Market / The Whole Food Markets
· Movies Friday and Saturday evening on campus are free for students, (The King’s speech, Country strong, The Fighter, The grit, The black swan)
· Varsity Theater at Franklin Street, cheap movies
· The Bolin Creek (walking, jogging and watching beautiful birds tracks)
· The modern museum in Raleigh
· Washington D.C. (rented a car, be sure to take all insurances)
· Duke University: Chapel, Duke garden and Nasher Museum of Art
· Eating places I like: The Forster’s, Kitchen, Mediterranean Deli, smoothies at the Lenoir, and the food at The Whole foods Market and Co op at Weavers street
· Cooke Arboretum on campus
YlYlva Stahl
