Point of View

I wish to encourage belief in the ability to learn.

Over the years my clients and students have taught me that abilities improve through rehearsal and strategies.

And growth requires the belief that progress is actually possible.

Disability may seem more real to us than human potential. But this is an imbalance that moves us in the wrong direction.

We may get caught up in a disorder as we examine it, label it, pour our energy into it, try to understand it.

There is truth in the maxim that 'we get what we are looking for.'

We need some perspective.

None of us is perfectly, equally skilled in all areas.

At what point do we decide that our weakesses are disabilities?

When might we choose simply to describe the weakness, isolating it so that we can work on it or work around it?

We get to choose the point of view that works best for us.

Many individuals have significant disorders, but decide to look at them as 'challenges.'

Others acknowledge their disability, yet achieve growth that makes a difference.

Their belief in the problem is no stronger than their belief in human potential.

Is it scientific to believe in the human potential to learn in spite of weaknesses? Yes.

Scientists are discovering that the human brain responds positively, physically, to suitable challenges.

When we set new goals 'just out of reach but not out of sight,' we can enjoy the satisfaction of achievement, and a lifetime of new horizons. _____________________

Meet the Author

Ruth Alice Jurey, M.S., C.C.C.
Master of Science in Communicative Disorders, University of Redlands

Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech/Language Pathology,
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

California Standard Teaching Credential, Speech-Language-Hearing Specialist

Licensed Speech & Language Pathologist, California & Nevada

Selected Presentations
‘Phonological Awareness: How To’
Summary and application of 30 years of research in phonemic/phonological awareness for classroom teachers, Kindergarten through third grade. Task analysis, strategies, ongoing activities. The language- literacy continuum and implications.

‘Fast Listening and Language-Based Learning’
Implications of work in temporal auditory processing. Simulated experiences, and review of research findings regarding temporal auditory processing deficit and remediation. Bottom-up and top-down instructional enhancements across the curriculum.

‘The Reading Tree Workshop’
Fundamentals of the process of learning to read, for parents and tutors. Simulated experiences, demonstration and rehearsal. Natural language as the solid foundation for the first steps in reading including listening skill, phonics, visual discrimination, naming, memory and fluency.

‘How Do We Make the Human Connection?’
Pragmatics of the communication process including basic aspects, and those of particular relevance in the medical setting. Communicative responsibilities of the helping professional. Communication as teaching and learning. Affective influences.

‘Adult Learning’
Characteristics of adult learning for managers and clinicians. Principles and simulated experiences of the learning process. Variables which assist or hinder the adult learner.

Related Projects
Contributed chapter, ‘Interaction, Sound and Sense: Resources for Early Literacy Development’ for Prager Perspectives volume Early Literacy, in series Literacy for the New Millennium, Barbara Guzzetti, PhD, editor (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007).

Author of this public service web site, The Reading Treehouse, to demonstrate the language-literacy continuum in concrete ways. Includes task-analyzed instructional materials.

Customize high- and low-tech assistive communication devices for disabled users.

Develop instructional materials for use in my work including GO Math: Graduated Operations for Individual Learning, and Playful Sounds: The Sound Foundation for Speech and Reading.

Professional Experience
Placer County Office of Education, Auburn, CA (current)
Speech & Language Pathologist
Evaluate and treat students in speech and language, primarily students with autism enrolled in special day classes. Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Collaborate with teachers, occupational therapists, behaviorists, psychologist and parents.

Horizon Charter School, Lincoln, CA
Speech & Language Pathologist
Evaluated and treated students in areas of speech and language. Worked with professional staff and parents to further student progress in the home school setting.

Private practice (27 years), North Lake Tahoe
Speech & Language Pathologist
Diagnosed and treated individuals with a variety of challenges in communication, including developmental or acquired disorders. Therapy for cognitive-communicative disorders including language, memory, executive function, verbal reasoning; articulation, voice, fluency. Central auditory processing and music.

Sierra Nevada College, Incline Village, NV
Adjunct Instructor, Communication Skills
Principles and practice of effective oral communication. The communication process as it affects listeners, speakers and the message; creating self-confidence; organization.

Tahoe Forest Hospital (private practice contract, 17 years), Truckee, CA
Speech & Language Pathologist
Supervised or provided all speech/language pathology services for Tahoe Forest Hospital inpatients, outpatients, home care patients, and skilled nursing facility residents. Stroke, head injury, hearing loss, and other medical conditions. Continuing education for professional staff.

New York City Board of Education
Teacher of Language and Hearing Impaired Children
Classroom teacher for heterogeneous groupings of language-impaired and severely hearing-impaired children and adolescents.

Riverside Unified School District, Riverside, CA
Speech & Language Specialist
Diagnosis, speech and language therapy for regular and special education students.

Philosophy
The Human Connection: Communication is a vital human need. We represent ourselves through our communication with one another. To understand others, and to be understood, is of vast practical and personal importance.

Thinking and Learning: The skills we use to communicate are also the skills of thinking and learning. Internal communication--planning, keeping track, reasoning, remembering--is vital to our wellness and achievement.

All Included: A clinical learning project is a collaboration between clinician, client and family. All can contribute and participate in large or small ways.

Human Potential: The rehabilitation arts and sciences are founded on the principle of potential despite special challenges. I adhere to the ideal that if there is a need, no one is beyond help. Problems point to new possibilities which can have a positive impact on the quality of life.

Communication for a Lifetime
Infant thru Preschool: A child’s future academic and social growth depend upon early speech and language development. So problems that affect communication learning should be addressed as soon as discovered. There is no better time to get your child the help that may be needed.

School Age: Since speech and language disorders have academic as well as social consequences, treatment can make an important difference for the student with a communication or learning problem.

Adult: We tend to judge others--and be judged ourselves--on the basis of oral and written communication. Adults can refine communication skills for well-being, personal satisfaction or career advancement. Some adults believe that they are somehow too old to learn. Actually, no age is too old. Experience can be an advantage to the adult who chooses lifelong learning.

Particular Interests

• Mental technologies: cognitive, communicative
• Literacy
• The appreciation of human potential
• Classical pianist

Thank you for your interest in this work, my literacy information project.
I appreciate your sharing with others who may be interested.

        © 1997-2013 Ruth Alice Jurey, M.S., C.C.C., Speech & Language Pathologist        Last Updated 11/2/13       Contact Me