BRINGING THE GENERATIONS TOGETHER

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Theresa Yao is a 2018-19 SF Bay Area Schweitzer Fellow and a graduate student in Speech Pathology  at CSU East Bay. Her project has brought together two generations of people who needed help from each other.  One group, adults with aphasia (limited or inability to speak or understand others) often experience severe isolation and depression as a result of their medical issues.  The other group, involved young children attending a Hayward summer free lunch and reading program.  It is well known that learning to read is easier if a child can read aloud together with someone.  Theresa was able to create a magical experience in which the adults found a sense of purpose and enjoyment by listening and reading to the children and by helping to expand the experience using puppets and gestures.  The children quickly bonded with the members of the aphasia community and not only got important exposure to the value of diversity but a summer full of reading fun.  For more information about this project, click on the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7y_vlayrGU