One-year, four-month-old Josselyn was my first love at the Casa Jackson Center for Malnourished Infants. She and I bonded quickly through play (for her…just play…for me…early intervention for a little girl who is developmentally delayed…and…play too!).
My favorite memory: Josselyn managed to up-end a laundry basket and position herself on the top…and I thought…what better use of an up-ended laundry basket than for it to act as a “coche”. So, as I pushed Josselyn up and down the hallway of the clinic, it did not take long before I received looks of disgruntlement when I stopped. With speech and language pathologist in my blood, I did what any other good clinician would do and modeled the sign “more” using a “hand-over-hand” prompt! After a few hand-over-hand trials I slowly faded the prompts to gestures and the question “do you want more?”, and to my JOY, Josselyn signed “more” to communicate her desire for this activity to continue! Oh how the clinician in me bubbled over! Of course, the end result of this scenario was that I was EXHAUSTED after pushing her up and down the hall for longer than I bargained for…but it was worth it! She got her first glimpse of the power of communication…a reciprocal exchange that ended in her attaining something she desired…beautiful!
But, I digress! I said goodbye to Josselyn today because she is being discharged back into the care of her mother, also named Josselyn. I got to talk with “Mama Josselyn” today and learned that she is 18 years old. She is married and she is pregnant with their second baby…a boy. She is a sweet…woman?…and I pray for the best for her, little Josselyn, and their growing family. I’m confident that, with the education, supplies, and follow through provided by Casa Jackson, they will do well.
I’m thankful for Josselyn and how she reminded me of the joy that comes from teaching a child.
