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In Mexico, my work included consultation on therapeutic assessment and treatment procedures. I obtained information detailing these areas through interviews (which included a questionnaire) and observation of various speech-language pathologists and families who consented to video- and/or audio-taped visits for a minimum of one hour. Analysis of the results was based on the following criteria: a) affective; b) behavioral; or c) cognitive views of the cause of a disability and intervention style.
In addition, I completed an immersion program that allows students to gain clinical assessment, treatment, and observation hours, and to participate in service delivery workshops and on-site personnel training. The first international clinical externship and Texas Speech-Language Hearing Association-approved workshop took place in 2005 at the Center of Integrated Development clinic in Puebla.
The clinic's clientele consists mostly of children, from infancy through high school. Referrals come from pediatricians and other health care professionals. The socioeconomic level of the clients' parents ranges from low to middle class; the educational level is some high school. The clinic offers pediatric and adult services in: educational psychology, qualitative and quantitative psychometry and learning intervention, and clinical treatment. Payment is arranged on an individual basis.
In the area of educational psychology, early childhood intervention offers assessment "in utero" to age 3 for conditions such as hypoxia, macrocephalia, cerebral palsy, Down's syndrome, selective mutism, and autism with schizophrenia. Intervention entails early orientation to speech, language, and behavioral learning activities.
Intervention is offered for university students who have learning disabilities. Students receive a written evaluation that examines their ability to construct visual images and verbally describe them based on auditory-verbal stimuli. Evaluations also include neuropsychology of oral language.
In the area of learning intervention, a well-established elementary education project utilizes neuropsychology, physical education, and development of cognitive skills through:
- Expositions and theater
- Mimickery of the SLP's language-based activities of socialization, e.g., painting, cooking and dancing
- "Neurotheatre," in which theatrical plays are designed to stimulate cognitive functioning, educational activities, and clinical treatment through short scripts
- Personality tests, play-based therapy for those who present no psychological issues, and family-based therapy
- A state-funded program that addresses the needs of families with violent backgrounds
— Katandria Love Johnson
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