Sierra Hagar

3/6/16

Second Home Visit Reflection- Ken Thomas

Bethany and I went to visit the Thomas family Wednesday the 24th of February. When

we got their Ken and Mrs. Thomas were not home yet. Mr. Thomas let us in and talked to us

about his older son and how he is so good with the new baby in their family. When Mrs.

Thomas got home she demonstrated one of her strategies with Ken for us. He had a sucker that

he wanted her to open. Instead of just opening his sucker she asked him what he wanted and

modeled the open sign for him. Ken tried to say open by making the o sound. She still didnt

open it until he tried to sign open. She was very persistent. After the sucker incident Kens

father took him down stairs so we could talk to Mrs. Thomas.

We went over the developmental checklist and Kens goal. Mrs. Thomas decided that

she wanted us to change Kens goal to using signs during lab. She explained that she didnt want

us to use signs for labeling but more for communicating wants and needs. She gave me the

signs: stop, help, open, and all done for us to work on with Ken. We also suggested the

strategies class to her to see if she would be interested in the extra help with Ken.

We showed interest in their family and in Ken by asking questions about her children

and about the autistic program they used for their older son and plan to use for Ken. Mrs.

Thomas really opened up about her family and her adventure with autism so far in her life. She

shared her testimony with us and gave us a whole new perspective on seeing children who
have disabilities differently. It was a great home visit where we were able to learn more about

her and her family.