Monday was my first solo session with my new client whose mother speaks very little English. Over the weekend, I was thinking of things I wanted to tell her, but I’m not to the place yet where I can verbally express all of that in Spanish. Then the thought came to my mind that maybe I could write her a letter, and so I did.
These are the basics of what I told her.
-I thanked her for the opportunity to work with her son.
-I told her I thought her son was intelligent and that he has much potential.
-I explained that I’ve been a therapist for 6 years and that I believe that ABA(applied behavioral analysis) is effective.
-I concluded with the fact that I believe in the power of prayer, I serve a God who does miracles and that I would be praying for her son and family.
So when I arrived at the home, I told her that I wrote her a letter, and I gave it to her. She read it out loud while I stood there, smiling some and shaking her head. I asked her if she understood it, and she did, and said “Es bonita.” Then she started talking fast Spanish, most of which I didn’t quite grasp. I did catch her saying that she had seen a little progress in her son. From there I just began to set up for the session, and soon the client and I were engaging in a game of Candyland. About halfway through the session when my client, his younger brother and I were in the middle of a game, the mom came in and started asking me something about a text that was on her phone from her sister. It was in English, and she wanted me to translate it into Spanish for her. Ay yi yi! 😳 I translated the first line, but brain freeze set in, and all I could say was “No sé.” I did end up telling her about Duolingo, and I helped her download it on her phone. At the end of the session, I was able to tell her that next week I would be on vacation(Pacific Coast Camp-Woo hoo!) and I would be back at her place on the 27th. She understood and thanked me for my help.
I pray that I at least was able to plant a little seed yesterday.
In the meantime, it’s back to studying verb tenses and asking God to touch this middle aged gringa mind. 👏🏻