USU students take projects to Mexico; help children with disabilities
A truck loaded with an indoor jungle gym, toys and books for children with disabilities will pull out from Utah State University on May 24 and head for Manaedero, Mexico and Gabriel House.
The home is an orphanage for children who have disabilities, or who are HIV positive. About 40 children are housed there.
The Mexico trip has become an annual tradition. This year, more than 90 students from three different Utah State departments have contributed work to the orphanage. In addition, more than 50 students, three faculty members and three professional engineers will make the trip to Manaedero and use their skills there to improve conditions and training at Gabriel House.
Sonia Manuel-Dupont, a professor in English, communicative disorders and civil engineering has worked with Gabriel House for two years, and has involved students from all three of her disciplines in working on projects for the orphanage. English students have created teaching units with books in Spanish. Representatives from the USU chapter of Engineers Without Borders will put in a septic system while they are at the orphanage. Because of the massive amounts of laundry that go through the facility, there is a real need for an improved water treatment system, Manuel-Dupont said. The Engineers Without Borders designed the new system.
Jordan Meek, a junior in Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education from Sandy, made a different kind of contribution by building an indoor jungle gym. “I’m pretty pleased with the way it’s turned out,” he said. “I imagine it’ll be a lot better seeing them play on it.”
His is one of this year’s most ambitious projects, said Stan Clelland, the Assistive Technology Lab coordinator at the USU Center for Persons with Disabilities. It was built as an independent study project; other toys and communication systems were assembled in the lab as part of an assistive technology course in the communicative disorders department. Books in Spanish have had tactile symbols added in for children with visual impairment, or they have been adapted to stimulate language development.
Beth Foley, the Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education department head and one of the professors who teaches the assistive technology class, began going to the orphanage five years ago. The next year and each year after that, she began bringing students with her. In addition to bringing assistive technology and toys with them, the students and faculty members will assess the needs of children and help train the Gabriel House staff on ways to work with them.
The students and faculty return to Utah June 3.
For information on last year’s trip, visit: http://www.usu.edu/ewb/projects/mexico/assessment.htm
http://www.uatpat.org/atlab/COMD_Mexico.htm