Farrell Williams

Student Name:             Farrell Williams

Age:                             6

Birthday:                      July 15

School:                        Bragraw Elementary School

Grade in Fall:               1^st Grade

Ward:                          South

Over the course of my summer placement, I decided to observe a young child named Farrell Williams.  Farrell is an amazing 6 year old male student who attends Bragraw Elementary School.  In the Fall of 2012, Farrell will be going into first grade.  I am not sure how I picked Farrell as I formed relationships with many students and was amazed by them all.  However, Farrell seemed to peak my interest.

Farrell has a speech impediment.  The challenge with his speech is very noticeable and often results in his words coming out very jumbled and with a high pitched sound.  I noticed that when he talked many of the other students and even adults would make fun of him or dismiss him because it was hard to understand him and/or took too long to decipher what he wanted or needed.

One of my interests is how children acquire language skills.  My personal desire for all children is for them to be able to read well and to speak articulately.  This personal interest led me to take extra time to work with Farrell each day I was at Bragraw.  I truly believe that if a child can read and write they can accomplish any goal.

Each day I was at Bragraw, I purposely carved out time to speak with Farrell. I engaged him in basic conversation about his weekend, his likes and dislikes, his family, and/or any topic he chose to share with me.  I learned that Farrell was born on July 15, he had an older brother, he liked playing outside, and he liked to play basketball and to swim.  Farrell was a typical 6 year old boy.  As Farrell would share parts of his life with me he would get so excited that his words would become very jumbled and difficult to understand.  It was at those times, I would “grant being” to Farrell and ask him to take a deep breath, to slow down and repeat what he said.  I did not want to miss any words my small friend wanted to share with me.

Our interactions always began with Farrell taking a deep breath.  After the deep breath, I would repeat his words back to him. Then I would remind Farrell to look at me (eye-contact), and then repeat the words or phrases that he had just said to me. I would then ask Farrell to repeat the words or phrase correcting any words that needed correcting. I taught him the words annunciate and articulate and I explained that I wanted him to take his time and articulate and annunciate his words.  Farrell always rose to the occasion.  I placed the expectation of excellence in front of Farrell and he demonstrated to me that when given time and the space that he could and would speak clearly.

I cannot say with any certainty that my two half week interaction with Farrell had any long term impact.  For me personally taking time to listen to Farrell and to meet Farrell where he was and then expect him to do better was important to me.  Farrell had a lot to share and because his words are not always clear does not give a person the right to ignore or rush him.  We all want to be valued for who we are and for the gifts we bring to the table and this is especially true of our students.  I just hope that my short time interacting with Farrell has shown him that he is valued and that his words do matter.