Mentor: Paula James-Music Therapist, SISU; Sara Cowden-Occupational Therapist and Tina Black-Occupational Therapist, Essential Therapy Services
I have always been heavily involved in the special needs community in Hall County. My involvement has been in Anchor Club, volunteering at regional Special Olympics, playing as a unified partner, volunteering at various special needs camps during the summer and volunteering with my church’s disabilities ministry. Throughout my time of being involved in these groups, I discovered a passion for helping students of different abilities grow into all that they can be. When looking for career pathways to go into in college, I discovered Music Therapy and Occupational Therapy. I decided that it would be very beneficial for me to complete my mentorships with these therapies to get a better understanding on how each therapy helps children with physical and intellectual disabilities. My mentorship for music therapy took place at SISU, in a school environment and in a group setting; whereas my mentorship for occupational therapy took place at Essential Therapy Services, in a clinic and one on one setting. Throughout my time, I got to witness miraculous changes in the children that we worked with in both settings. In music therapy, I witnesses students who have no means of communication create beautiful music with their peers and in occupational therapy, I witnessed students feel more independent and be able to do things that they could not perform before. At Essential Therapy, I also got to learn about their Astronaut Training program, along with feeding and mirror therapy. After mentoring with the therapists, I know now, more than ever, that I am ready to enter into a career pathway with children with special needs. No matter which path I go down, I know that I can make a difference in their lives while they’re impacting mine just as much.
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