Ellie Gordon
Intern
I’ve spent a month as an intern for the Clinic, helping with a variety of tasks such as organizing data from the speech and motor development screenings in the International Schools in Shanghai, translating marketing material into Spanish, identifying community resources that are frequented by the French and Spanish speaking communities, and proof reading marketing documents, as well as joining in with the Summer Program sessions. I’ve even had to pretend to be a 6 year old in order to help a member of staff who is training to work with the children!
My primary task was to collate the data taken from the hundreds of screenings that ELG carried out in International schools in Shanghai, testing, among other things, language, speech, and motor skills. In an international environment such as this, where most children speak at least 2 languages, and where consequently academic or social difficulties can be easily dismissed as being due to language barriers, it struck me how children who have genuine special educational needs could simply fall off the radar.
Furthermore, although life in Shanghai is fast paced, and many children with special educational needs (SEN) can get left behind, ELG’s work aims to ensure that this does not happen. With the screenings in International Schools, as well as ELG’s full time program, community activity programs, summer programs, and specialized therapy sessions, ELG is successful in tackling the challenges faced by SEN children from a variety of angles. Perhaps ELG’s greatest strength is its ability to adapt to any situation and truly provide personalized care, taking into consideration travel, scheduling and linguistic needs.
I’ve really enjoyed my time here, and have learnt a lot about what it is like to work for an education consultancy organization. The staff have all been very friendly and welcoming, and it has been a pleasure meeting the children who use ELG’s services.
Thank you very much for having me!