By: Mike Hipple, PRC-Saltillo Blogger
It is a new year already, it is time for setting goals for this year. No matter who you are and where you are in life, everyone should have goals to work on during the year. Goals aren't just for school, therapy, or an adult service plan, you can have goals about anything. You can have goals about, how many books you plan to read, how many sporting events that you will get to, who do you want to see, and what will you do for the communities that you are in.
For January PRC-Saltillo asked the ambassadors to share our goals for the year, so these are mine and if you see me throughout the year, please ask me how I am doing with these goals. I have four areas in my life, so I have eight goals. First area is professional development. I will take the professional assistive technology test and I will read one book about assistive technology and one book about special education quarterly. The test is something that I want to do for sometime now. I have been studying for the exam for years by going to conferences, watching webinars, and being in groups. Reading books about the two areas that interest me and I work in is a good way for me to learn about plus I enjoy reading.
The next area is having fun with my family and friends. This might sound crazy to have goals for this, but for myself I need to work on this. First goal is to go out of my house during the week to meet up with my friends and do something in my community. Maybe I will volunteer at the library, drive around the mall, meet up with my friends for lunch, volunteer at a school, go to a sporting event, or anything else. Before 2020 I was really active in the community, but I have been having a hard time going places, because I do a lot of my stuff on the internet. I want to get back out in the community, because it is time!! My 2nd goal is to enjoy my family more. My nephew and my niece are having a fun time of their life and I don't want to miss anything.
The next area is networking and giving speeches to groups. I will choose two state conferences in the state of Wisconsin that I haven't been to before and go to build my network and to bring awareness to AAC. I think that everyone should be doing this, but that would be a different blog :). My 2nd goal in this area is I will give eight speeches and write fifteen blogs in 2024. Note I do publish my blogs on a variety of AAC websites, so please keep a lookout and if you have any suggestions for me please let me know.
The last area is enjoyable and travel. The first goal is I will make time to do three to six things a week for myself like watching the game without working on anything. The last goal is I will read two fun books a quarter.
Now, my goals are for me to be an adult who is active in the community and who has been using a device for 23 years. It is okay to have different goals than me because we are at different places in life. Maybe you are using just two words, the great goal for you is to write sentences between three to five words or talk to someone who you don't know and the person who understands your message. If you need help on coming up with your goals please let me know. I hope your 2024 will be awesome and you work on your goals to get where you want to be.
Communicators In Action - goals, new year, AAC