• Class Presentations

    Posted by kevin-schaefer on June 25, 2018 at 1:03 pm

    Columnist Brianna Albers wrote a great piece this week about the struggles of doing a class presentation when you have SMA (https://smanewstoday.com/2018/06/25/sma-moving-forward-graduate-school-time-break/?amp). She goes into detail about how SMA makes it hard for her to speak and articulate, which is something I’m sure many of us can relate to. Ultimately though she shares a success story about a recent presentation she did for grad school.

    Even though I’ve always had a loud voice and am able to project well, I’ve still had plenty of times when my speech was slurred and people had trouble understanding me. Spinraza has helped with this, but still it’s an issue for a lot of people with SMA.

    For those of you who are in college, do you have this problem? Do you have to request any kind of accommodations when you are required to do a class presentation? Share your tips and experiences.

    deann-r replied 5 years, 8 months ago 3 Members · 3 Replies
  • 3 Replies
  • ryan-berhar-2

    Member
    June 25, 2018 at 7:08 pm

    I was always able to speak well enough to do presentations, but it was still not enjoyable for me by any means. If you can’t speak well, I’d suggest requesting an alternative assignment. In my experience, teachers are pretty accommodating.

    • kevin-schaefer

      Member
      June 26, 2018 at 9:28 am

      Yeah that’s been my experience as well. It requires self-advocacy, but most teachers and professors are willing to make those accommodations if you ask.

  • deann-r

    Member
    August 15, 2018 at 11:07 am

    This topic reminded me of the time in college when I had to give a big presentation and my foot pedal fell off as I was about to go to class.  My shoe then proceeded to fall off as I was crossing the street.  Nobody noticed my foot dangling, or at least didn’t say anything, but I was so self conscious during the entire presentation.

Log in to reply.