2023 felt like a very long year, but it was also very short! The year just flew by with only one blog post in May! I had time for five in 2022.)
Anyway, this is the first year post-pandemic that things are back to normal, more or less. There had been many changes in Summer's and in my personal life - some good, some not so good. However, Summer's word for 2023 is 'Gratitude', so regardless of circumstances, I (we) give thanks.
OFF TO SCHOOL
The year started off with Jacelyn, our Early Childhood Interventionist cum Speech Therapy Assistant, leaving us for her studies. She went to pursue her Masters of Science (Speech and Language Pathology) at NUS. When we first met in December 2021, she was a passionate young lady who was tired of the special needs field. The politics of the field has zapped all her energy from the actual work with the children. She was at the cross road of her life. Wondering what her next step should be, Jacelyn was introduced to me by an ABA therapist whom I used to work with. After speaking with Jacelyn, she joined Summer's in 2022 as an Early Childhood Interventionist cum Speech Therapy Assistant. She was God sent and all the children and families loved her. She helped Summer's set up our Specialist Intervention Programme (Special Education and Early Intervention Programmes). Today, Jacelyn has just completed the first year of her Masters course. While we missed her greatly, we are thankful that we were able to sponsor her studies. So we look forward to having her back in 2025!
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Jacelyn doing oral motor exercises with one of the kids, under the supervision of our Speech Therapist.
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CANCELLATION POLICY
While we were post-pandemic, we were still experiencing high cancellation rates from some families. And the top two reasons are "xxx work up late" and "we forgot". And often we were informed within 30 minutes of the start of the sessions or there was just no show. So in February, we finally imposed a cancellation policy after more than 8 years of operations. We used to allow unlimited cancellations because we want to support the families, knowing how difficult it is to care for children with special needs. However, we felt taken for granted by some families.
We are thankful that families have been understanding of our new cancellation policy. Of date, we have given nearly 20 waivers (and only three charges were made) and we see a decrease in last minute cancellations.
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Our new cancellation policy
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JOINING OF NEW SPECIAL NEEDS EDUCATOR
In April, we welcomed Cheryl, our new Special Needs Educator. Her role was to set up our group Early Intervention programmes. And she has the perfect experience and drive - God-sent! She has had eight years of experience in a local early intervention center and she had worked with a wide range of children. She is passionate and extremely creative! Most importantly, the children love her and Summer's is looking forward to an even better Early Intervention Programme in 2024.
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Teaching functional vocabulary through fun and hands-on activities.
Pretend play also enhances language and cognitive development. |
OROFACIAL MYOFUNCTIONAL THERAPY
June was one of the best months of 2023.
It started off with me attending the Inaugural Congress of the College of Otorhinolaryngologists in Penang, Malaysia! It was an eye opener to see medical doctors (including ENTs), airway-focused dentists, speech pathologists and bodyworkers (physiotherapists, osteopaths and chiropractors) come together, to talk about BREATHING. Yes, just breathing. Airway health.
This conference set the stage for my work at DP Dental - providing orofacial myofunctional therapy (also known as OMFT or MFT), working in tandem with one of the rare airway-focused dentist in Singapore, Dr Yue.
Dr Yue is the lead dentist at DP Dental and has vast experience in teaching and practicing airway-focused dentistry. He and his team believe in treating misaligned teeth without extraction. And one of the ways is through OMFT, training the lips to act as the face braces and the tongue as the palate expander. As such, he and his team also encourage the release of any restrictive oral tissues such as tongue ties. (And we at Summer's believe in the release of tethered oral tissues for better speech and feeding too! After all, we have been providing oral motor focused-speech therapy all these years; we believe in preparing the oral apparatus for its work.)
It has been an enriching experience to have been working closely with Dr Yue for the past six months and I am thankful for the opportunities he and his team has given me. Looking forward to greater collaboration in 2024!
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Photo taken at the Inaugural Congress of the College of Otorhinolaryngologists -
Head & Neck Surgeons, Academy of Medicine of Malaysia
(From left: Mrs Yue, myself, airway-focused SLP Sharon Moore from Australia,
Dentist Dr Yue, and a fellow airway-focused dentist from Malaysia) |
NUS SPEECH PATHOLOGY STUDENT
In November, we welcomed our first NUS Masters of Speech Pathology student, Hui Xin, for her clinical placement. She is in the first year of the course and hence the classmate of Jacelyn. It was a joy to have a student. It reminded myself of the early days of my journey to become a speech therapist and the stress of being a student clinician! And the caseload at Summer's is not the easiest, given that we work mainly with children with special needs (moderate or severe needs), so we are extremely thankful that Hui Xin was a trooper with a 'can do' attitude, while Yvonne was a patient supervisor! Can't wait for Hui Xin to join the profession in 2025.
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| Hui Xin and I |
Besides so many happenings at Summer's, on the personal front, I had a good break in India in November. I spent some time up in the mountains and had the opportunity for me-time, away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. I think I need more mountains in 2024!
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| The view from the mountain range |
Before I end the year and this blog post, I wish all of you the best in 2024! May it be filled with love, peace, joy and health. New year new hopes! 2024 here we come!
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