tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85281272502320620402024-02-19T02:16:35.662-05:00 38 Things...An SLP student's ramblings while in grad school. rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-38480824600257571482014-12-15T18:16:00.000-05:002015-07-10T17:15:49.731-04:00Aaaaaaaand That's a Wrap! Finished with Graduate SchoolSo I've been neglecting my blog the last 6+ months because life got a bit away from me, but I do have a few posts rattling around in my brain that I want to write about!<br />
<br />
Possible upcoming posts:<br />
<br />
I've graduated, now what?! The CF job search<br />
The overseas SLPeep: How I plan (hope) to get a SLP job in (insert country here)<br />
<br />
It's been a roller coaster ride in graduate school and I'm sure the ride will get that much more emotional/exciting/anxiety filled/amazing as a CF!<br />
<br />
Wish me luck in the job search!<br />
<br />
<br />rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-60499771198983529372014-04-22T14:40:00.000-04:002014-04-22T16:12:59.746-04:00SummaTime '14 and the slp2bTwo posts in one day?! I figured that making it through my clinical practicum deserved it's own post and that this one would be more of what's coming next.<br />
<br />
So what does the summer have in store for this slp2b?<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
-For the first time since I started grad school, I will not be working. April 28th is my last day and I will be sad to say goodbye to my awesome co-workers and my adorable toddlers! I love my job at the Children's Institute and have really enjoyed being a G.A. there, but I am looking forward to just focusing on school, especially on my internship.<br />
<br />
-Speaking of my internship, on May 5th I will be starting my first internship which will be at DMC Children's Hospital in the department of <a href="http://www.childrensdmc.org/Audiology/Speech" target="_blank">Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology</a> in Detroit, MI. I will mostly be working with an outpatient therapist for 2 days a week for 16 weeks. I've been told that I will have an opportunity to observe with the cleft palate and cranial facial team, as well as, spend some time with the inpatient therapist and an SLP who works exclusively with AAC. I'm excited and will be learning a lot at this dynamic placement. It will be a steep learning curve and will definitely help me to continue to develop my professional skills. My supervisor sounds like she will be tough and will have high expectations, but I would not expect anything less!<br />
<br />
I will have a lot of studying to do before I start, especially in the areas of pediatric dysphagia and motor speech disorders. Both of these classes are only 6 weeks each at EMU and mostly focused on the adult population. I've signed up for several <a href="http://speechpathology.com/">speechpathology.com</a> courses to help me review and have already spent a day becoming more familiar with the 4 standardized tests my supervisor suggested I look at before starting my placement. I will be reviewing and studying before I start, but it's not until I get the hands-on experience that I will really be learning.<br />
<br />
-And then there's the <a href="http://www.ets.org/praxis/asha/requirements/" target="_blank">Praxis</a>. I've signed up to take the Praxis on August 16th. Since I will be at my internship 2 days a week with some outside research/studying and I won't be working this summer, I will have plenty of time to prepare for the Praxis. I am hoping to combine some individual studying with studying with a group... I can doooo it! I just have to buckle down and stick to a study schedule.<br />
<br />
My summer will be full, but it will be a nice balance of school, internship, praxis prep, and just enjoying life.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-29658216367108075532014-04-22T13:58:00.001-04:002014-04-22T16:13:22.819-04:00The Pressure CookerAnd suddenly the semester is finished. There were many times this semester that I thought I wasn't going to make it and that I wasn't cut out to be an SLP. Most of these moments were outside of the therapy room and involved paperwork, but inside of the therapy room, I morphed from a very unsure, anxious-filled student into a more confident, heck-yeah-I-can-do-this clinician. I love doing therapy. I love the fact that I can go in to a session with a plan of action and the ability to modify it on the fly. I love trying to figure out what will help my clients the most and give them support they need while fostering independence.<br />
<br />
So, what made this semester so difficult? All of my spare time was devoted to clinic and my clients. My other <br />
<a name='more'></a>classes were on the back burner and often neglected. There is soooo much paperwork that has to be submitted and scrutinized in clinic. Every little step in the process was looked at, analyzed, critiqued, modified, re-modified, and finally approved. There were several times this semester I thought, there is no way I will be able to handle a full caseload if I am struggling to keep up with just 3 clients!! Now I realize, that yes, there will be a lot of paperwork for a full caseload, but it won't be like this. All the little components that go into an assessment or therapy session will be things that we will just do for ourselves and will be a part of our planning. The actual submitted paperwork should be more streamlined, concise, and standardized based on the particular settings requirements. Every little detail will not be scrutinized by someone else. We will not be writing weekly self-reflections. This is something we should always do, but should now be internalized.<br />
<br />
At the end of clinic 1 I wrote a post about my top <a href="http://shaghala.blogspot.com/2013/11/clinic-1-almost-finished-how-did-i.html" target="_blank">10 tips for surviving clinic</a>. These all still apply to clinic 2 (and beyond), but I would like to add:<br />
<br />
11. Be open to your C.E. coming into the therapy room in the middle of the session and demonstrating techniques for you. Don't take it as "oh-my-God-I'm-doing-this-wrong, this is so embarrassing the client must think I'm incompetent!" This is a learning process and I would rather be shown the correct way or a way to modify technique that isn't quite working. I welcomed this when it happened and appreciated the model.<br />
<br />
12. Be organized! Going from 1 client to 3 clients was a shock and I was so disorganized in the beginning of the semester. I had a hard time remembering what I submitted, what needed edits, what was approved... finally I bought a 13-pocket folder for each of my clients and made a "submitted/approved" checklist to help keep me on track. Find what works for you. <br />
<br />
13. Be a mentor and a sounding board. We had the unique opportunity this semester to have 1st semester SLP grad students come in, observe us for 2 sessions and then come into the therapy room to work on a goal with our clients. We were able to take on a more mentor/teacher role as well as take a look at how far we've come in this program! This was a great experience and I hope they continue to do this assignment in future classes. Also, be available for clinic 1's! Share what you've learned in this process and be open when you are approached. I tried to always be available for questions and sometimes the questions would make me think of ways to improve what I was doing too!<br />
<br />
14. Observe, observe, observe! This semester I took advantage of observing more and I'm glad I did. It's so easy to get focused on just your own clients and only observe when you need to make up a session. Also, don't ask permission to observe a session!! If you think a clinician may be nervous about you observing them, then don't tell them until after the session. You can observe any clinician in clinic because this is a learning environment and it's your right to do so. I always thought it was funny when someone would ask me if it would be okay to observe me!<br />
<br />
15. This needs to be said again: talk to your clinic classmates. I don't think I would have survived this semester without these awesome women! Thank you!!<br />
<br />
And with that, I say goodbye to clinic.rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-20542725960688134852013-12-16T15:10:00.000-05:002013-12-18T17:46:57.285-05:00ASHA and the end of another semester... The Fall semester is officially finished and only a few more days of work to go until I am officially on break. What a crazyemotionalbusy semester, it's no wonder I haven't had time to write many posts!<br />
<br />
So here are some highlights from this semester:<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Clinic - My first week of clinic I seriously thought I was going to have to drop out of grad school and move back to Korea - I was thinking about all the many possible escape plans I could come up with before I made myself calm down and look at what was going on more objectively. You can read more about it in my post <a href="http://shaghala.blogspot.com/2013/09/anxious-in-east-michigan.html" target="_blank">Anxious in East Michigan</a>. I obviously survived... it was around mid-term when I started to feel more confident in my ability to actually do this. And you know what? I can do this!<br />
<br />
ASHA convention - This year the ASHA convention was held in Chicago and it was exciting, overwhelming, fun, interesting, huge, intellectually stimulating, caused a bit of sensory overload, and overall it was AWESOME! I got to meet up with USUpeeps from my online post-bacc, I attended some really great sessions on CAS, TBI, apraxia, aphasia, autism, and I took in some Chicago sights. It may be a while before I can attend another convention, but I am really glad I was able to attend it at least once as a student.<br />
<br />
Graduate Assistant - So this semester I became a graduate assistant at the Children's Institute at EMU. Other than the large increase of hours and a small increase in responsibilities, overall it was an easy transition from student employee to becoming a part of the professional staff. I definitely considered work my "safe space" this semester and working with 18 months to 3 year olds has definitely sparked an interest in early intervention. They are a pretty amazing age group to work with. My biggest struggle with becoming a G.A. has been time management... and it will continue to be a work in progress next semester when I will have 2 clients in clinic. <br />
<br />
Overall it was another great semester, only a bit more emotional than previous semesters!<br />
<br />
So now that another semester finished, what's next?<br />
<br />
Winter '14 - Next semester I will be taking Voice, AAC, and clinic 2. I will receive an adult client in clinic 2 and will hopefully retain my child client. I will still be a G.A. at the Children's Institute and I will be starting the process of securing my adult internship for Summer '14. I will also start the process of securing my child internship for Fall '14. I have ideas of where I would like to be placed for both internships and it will be exciting to find out where I will end up!<br />
<br />
Here's to being another step further along in my journey from an #slp2b to an #slpeep :)rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-2046192888036822013-11-23T21:14:00.002-05:002013-11-23T21:42:30.298-05:00Clinic 1 almost finished?! How did I survive?<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
My Top 10 Tips for Surviving Clinic<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1. Be prepared to feel like you don’t know what you are
doing… because really, you don’t know what you are doing. You are going to make
mistakes and that’s okay. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2. This needs to be said again: be okay with #1. Or at least know that you will be okay
with #1. We’ve all been there. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And all the C.E.s (clinical educators) have tissues in their
offices for emotional breakdowns. Again, we’ve all been there. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3. Research your client’s communication impairment(s) and
learn all you can about the etiology, assessment and treatment of their
disorder(s). A good place to start is joining <a href="http://speechpathology.com/" target="_blank">speechpathology.com</a>. It is $49
for students for a year membership and it has a wealth of information. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(It’s also a great place to brush up on information from classes you haven’t
had in a while or that too briefly covered a topic area. This site can help when you are preparing
for your internships or even the praxis. I will definitely be using it for both
my internship interviews and praxis study). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
4. The paperwork will take time. SOAPs are not as easy as
they look. Your treatment plans, summary of goals, etc. will require 2, more
likely 3-4 drafts before they are approved. Don’t obsess about it. There comes
a point where you just have to turn it in and get feedback so you know what
needs to be improved.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
5. Go to your weekly clinic meeting prepared with questions.
The C.E.s may not always give you a direct answer, but they will help lead you
in the right direction so you can discover the answer on your own when you give
it more thought. The C.E.s are not there to hold our hand, but they are there
to help. Also go in with a plan about what you want to talk about. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
6. Be open to feedback!! Constructive criticism is hard for
a lot of people, but we are still learning how to do all of this. Whether you agree with them or not, it's <b>not</b> personal, they are trying to help us become better clinicians.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7. Share your research with your C.E.s. It shows that you
are committed to your client and also you might even be sharing something new
with your C.E. that they didn’t know previously.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
8. Talk to your clinic classmates!! We are all in the same
boat and are all struggling with the same sort of issues/stress. Share ideas
and look at each other’s materials. Share anxieties. Share both the good and the bad. It
really helps to know that you are not alone in this. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
9. Materials… there are TONS of resources out there to save you time with pre-made materials and materials you can adapt:
<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/" target="_blank">teachers pay teachers</a>; <a href="http://lessonpix.com/" target="_blank">lesson pix</a>; SLP blogs (there are sooo many blogs by speechies who post activity ideas); pinterest. Some are free, some have a
membership fee. I belong to both teachers pay teachers (free materials as well
as materials that you have to pay for) and lesson pix (yearly fee). Well worth
the investment in my opinion. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
10. Clinic is a HUGE
time commitment. I knew I was going to be busy, but I didn’t realize that I
would be this busy. It’s hard not to forget your other classes because you are
spending all of your available energy on clinic. You definitely have to
prioritize and use those time management skills. More importantly for your
sanity, you can’t forget to find time to RELAX too!! Read a book for fun. Go outside every once in a
while. There is a world outside of clinic. ;)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
I definitely feel like I've come a looong way since the beginning of this semester when I was <a href="http://shaghala.blogspot.com/2013/09/anxious-in-east-michigan.html" target="_blank">Anxious in East Michigan</a>. And I'm sure I will have a bit of anxiety again when I get an adult client along with my other client for clinic 2, but I feel better prepared to handle that stress... at least I hope I am better prepared, but just in case, wish me luck! :)<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-8286770036320274642013-09-21T14:48:00.001-04:002013-09-22T09:12:22.424-04:00Anxious in East Michigan...So my semester has been off and running for almost 3 weeks now and I am feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and have had a lot of self-doubt creep in. The self-doubt has been there for a while, but has been only a small little voice whispering in my ear... now it's in full shout mode. Part of it has to do with the amount of time I have to commit to my grad assistant position and being able to manage my time effectively. The other part has to do with being in clinic this semester. Clinic is all consuming and I sometimes forget that I have 2 other classes that need my attention too. <br />
<br />
I started off this semester feeling excited with only a slight case of nerves... and then I had my first diagnostic session with my (adorable!!) client this past week and it was a slightly chaotic blur where I attempted to take <br />
<a name='more'></a>data (kinda failed at that) on the various informal and formal assessments I administered. By the end of it, I felt more incompetent and anxious, and not as excited... and don't get me started on the paperwork I had to whip out that was due an hour after my session ended. I know I didn't turn in quality work, not even close and I'm supposed to meet with my clinical supervisor about it preferably before Tuesday... but because of work, I can't. So yeah, feeling a bit down on myself this weekend.<br />
<br />
BUT I have to remember that I am not alone. I'm not the only SLP grad student to have ever felt this way about clinic or even grad school in general. I have only had one session and I think it took me by complete surprise how crazy fast and hard this all just hit me... I need to chill the heck out and remember I'm still learning!! It was my first session! It was my first time turning in a real SOAP note and the fact that I turned in anything at all within an hour is amazing in itself!<br />
<br />
So, I did a search and came up with some great quotes from SLP students who have experienced the same self-doubt (<a href="http://speechpathology.livejournal.com/314894.html" target="_blank">slp livejournal</a>):<br />
<br />
<i>“I really sat down and thought about why I have been so anxious, and I came to realize it really boiled down to I don't like the feeling of being incompetent. It's at these moments that I need to remind myself to re-focus. I CAN tell you that these moments of self-doubt get less and less frequent over time.”</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>“You're not supposed to be a great therapist right now. You WILL be one, someday. Give yourself time.”</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>“It's not uncommon to feel overwhelmed, anxious, or ready to give up. I know that it's hard, but you CAN do it!”</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>“Don't sweat the small stuff. Find your niche, find out why you're feeling incompetent in clinic. Why do you "suck?" Also, SOAP notes are hard for a lot more clinicians than you think. Report writing is even harder.”</i><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And of course this great blog post by Speechy Musings: <a href="http://you%20know%20you%20are%20in%20slp%20graduate%20school%20when.../" target="_blank">You know you are in SLP graduate school when... </a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Just breathe... </div>
rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-77535932185876203212013-08-26T16:19:00.000-04:002013-08-26T16:19:34.778-04:00August is almost gone gone gone...It's been GREAT having all of this time off of school, but I am definitely ready to go back after Labor Day. <div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Stay tuned for blog posts to start back soon. :) </div>
rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-38406996492599447592013-07-11T20:46:00.001-04:002013-07-11T20:53:15.158-04:00Follow my blog with BloglovinJust started using Bloglovin to follow all of my speechie blogs! It's going to be nice to have them all in one place. :)rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-73753140437952195082013-06-28T11:06:00.000-04:002013-08-14T21:49:06.292-04:00#summabreak13Summer plans are in the works and it's going to be a nice one! July is already becoming packed with things to do including a roadtrip to the other side of the state for a long weekend, a week-long trip up to the U.P. (upper peninsula of Michigan), and taking online continuing education courses through <a href="http://www.speechpathology.com/slp-ceus/all/" target="_blank">speechpathology.com </a> through the <a href="http://www.speechpathology.com/studentunion/" target="_blank">StudentUnion</a>.<br />
<br />
I've signed up for a bunch of dysphagia related courses to start off with:<br />
<br />
-Performing a Clinical Swallow Evaluation<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-Putting the Pieces Together: From research to practice in
dysphagia management <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-Cultural Sensitivity and Dysphagia: A Good Blend? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-Through Thick and Thin...Liquids <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-Clinical Excellence in Dementia-Dysphagia Management <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-Swallowing Issues in Individuals with Tracheostomy,
Ventilator, and Respiratory Compromise Swallow Screening: How and Why <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-Dysphagia in Patients at the End of Life<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They are all video courses, all an hour long, and there are handouts that go along with most of them that consist of at least a pdf of the powerpoint though a few have checklists, resources lists, and/or other <br />
<a name='more'></a>handouts too. When you feel like you are comfortable with the material, you take an exam and then the grade is posted to your account's transcript so you can keep track. Will see how it goes! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have lots of other things planned for this summer, but really most of my summer days will be spent at work. I start my summer schedule at the Children's Institute next week and was scheduled more hours than I expected, but they are all in the classroom where I will be the graduate assistant in the Fall so I am happy not to be bouncing around from class to class. And speaking of being a graduate assistant, I finally was able to officially apply for that position yesterday! I am really excited and thankful that they offered me the position. I really love the classroom I work in and other than a bump in hours as well as a few extra duties, the job won't change much and should work well with clinic hours and class commitments. The big bonus comes in the form of 16-18 credits of tuition paid for between the Fall and Winter semesters so that means about $14,000 less in school loans that I will have to take out next year! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Ahhhh, I love summer. :)</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2N1QYkaN1SKORNuOIOW0Nzhf2vBO7p5UkqALi277SFxwirXQ9wmqebrFgehGOS9mGMJtHFUy75OhadHyga6-RQ0xh7KHlifOu5uJC5Kyin8hko-Jspn7HiBmPWmjT0PPZbDJ_S6876guy/s720/185466_10150274928602378_3927674_n+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2N1QYkaN1SKORNuOIOW0Nzhf2vBO7p5UkqALi277SFxwirXQ9wmqebrFgehGOS9mGMJtHFUy75OhadHyga6-RQ0xh7KHlifOu5uJC5Kyin8hko-Jspn7HiBmPWmjT0PPZbDJ_S6876guy/s200/185466_10150274928602378_3927674_n+(1).jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-71823562150108264932013-06-17T15:25:00.000-04:002014-12-09T15:54:32.114-05:00Already Finished?! Spring '13 and Summa Time Freedom<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Six weeks flies by way too fast! I've just finished up my (very) short spring classes today and I have to say, I fell in love with my Dysphagia class. Six weeks was not long enough for that class and I would've happily taken it over the entire summer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There were many things I really enjoyed learning about in this class, but I want to highlight the class project for dysphagia which was to collaborate with a classmate and develop an educational material for either SLPs, other medical staff, patients/clients, teachers, or anyone we could think of (one group designed a dysphagia book for children!). My partner and I decided to research pre-treatment swallowing exercises for patients undergoing chemo-radiation for head and neck cancer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we started to go through the literature we found some support for these exercises, but not much that would be considered <a href="http://www.asha.org/members/ebp/assessing.htm" target="_blank">Level I EBP</a>. Only a few were randomized-control studies and many of those journal articles we found cited sample small sizes as the biggest limiting factor to definitively supporting pre-treatment swallowing exercises. A few others that we found only performed a retrospective review of case files which is at a level III EBP, and those studies tended to show that pre-treatment exercises were more useful than not. I am discovering that case file reviews are used quite often as well as small sample sizes and not enough randomized-control studies are often the norm in our profession. A quote from an SLP who sent me some information for this project sums up the problem quite nicely, <span style="background-color: white;"> "</span><span style="background-color: white;">I think this topic really gets at what Rosenbek refers to as 'the tyranny of the randomized control trial'. In our profession (which lacks such evidence on most topics) it would be easy to do nothing because we don't have level 1 evidence for it."</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm keeping an eye on a study currently underway at the University of Alabama that is looking to determine if </span><a href="http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00584129" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">pre-treatment swallowing exercises</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> can improve</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> post-treatment swallowing function. SLPs that I've contacted in the field definitely back this up and it would be great if research came out that definitively supported it as well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is really great is that EBP is more than just external scientific evidence, though that is a very important part of it. We also have to take into consideration clinical expertise and client/patient/caregiver perspectives. I wanted to explore the clinical expertise aspect of EBP so I posted on an SLP facebook group called <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/102453736503465/" target="_blank">Dysphagia Therapy</a> and asked SLPs in the field if they recommend these exercises for their patients. I received many responses from SLPs all over the states who gave me a definite "YES!" and the overall consensus was "use it or lose it!" It was really great to discuss this with a large group of SLPs, so a big thank you to all who took the time to reply to my post on facebook. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also want to send out a HUGE thank you to Cyndee Bowen <a href="https://twitter.com/BowenSpeech" target="_blank">@BowenSpeech</a>, Tiffani Wallace <a href="https://twitter.com/dysphagiarmblng" target="_blank">@dysphagiarambling</a>, and also Tiffani Mason, who I observed during my post-bacc observation hours. I really appreciate the time you all took to look over our project and give us feedback.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aaaand with all of that said, here is our <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/148231902/Pre-Treatment-Swallowing-Exercises" target="_blank">final product.</a> I really enjoyed working on this and I'm grateful to be able to use social media to get feedback on it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also took Motor Speech Disorders this semester and though this post is giving a lot of love to dysphagia, motor speech is another area I would like to explore further. Six weeks was definitely not enough time for either class so I am exploring some possible CEUs (which unfortunately won't count since I am still as student and not licensed yet) that I could take on dysphagia and motor speech. <a href="http://speechpathology.com/" target="_blank">Speechpathology.com</a> is one site I am looking into and I've seen a few posts on SLP facebook groups that say it is a great site for continuing education.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So my classes are finished for the next 2+ months and like I said I plan on looking into some CEUs, but I am also going to set up a couple of observation days with SLPs in the area. I'm going to be working at the Children's Institute this summer, but won't have a ton of hours. Other plans include netflix marathons, reading for fun, EXERCISING (seriously, the "freshman 15" has nothing on the "grad school 25"), and exploring the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti/Detroit area a bit more. There will also be a road trip or two... ahhh, I miss traveling.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It should definitely be a very "<a href="http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/6hih/" target="_blank">schwa</a>" summer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Random SLP geek out moment: ASHA tweeted a link to my blog post on <a href="https://twitter.com/ASHAWeb/status/339441641981083648" target="_blank">Social Media and SLP</a>!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmcqlZ35SlaTTRXa6gNFFEpiZbq21OSGM56lNA2JQD2ZGbVePfDlRM8-s9fDmcF1cPct9LTHhYTld6lbRga50tcy9IlXgyqN8y6adfo5cJPNTZ5leItlT-cTbOUAkpSylGXXk1Ks7jdeV_/s1600/schwa.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmcqlZ35SlaTTRXa6gNFFEpiZbq21OSGM56lNA2JQD2ZGbVePfDlRM8-s9fDmcF1cPct9LTHhYTld6lbRga50tcy9IlXgyqN8y6adfo5cJPNTZ5leItlT-cTbOUAkpSylGXXk1Ks7jdeV_/s1600/schwa.gif" /></span></a></div>
<br />
<br />rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-33719636071761287032013-05-24T23:17:00.000-04:002013-07-11T21:53:56.836-04:00Social Media and SLPIf you aren't a part of the <a href="https://twitter.com/search/realtime?q=%23slpeeps&src=typd" target="_blank">#slpeeps</a> community on Twitter, following SLP related boards on pinterest, or one of the many SLP facebook groups, it's definitely something you should consider participating in. These social media tools connect you with SLPs and SLP students all over the country as well as all over the world.<br />
<br />
Here is a blog hop I found that sums up all of the benefits of joining this vast online community of SLPeeps: <a href="http://www.speechykeenslp.com/blog/blog-hop-essential-social-media-tools-for-slps-twitter/" target="_blank">Blog Hop: Essential Social Media Tools for SLPs</a> and you can "hop" to other posts about the different social media platforms that SLPs can use. I'm starting you off with Twitter, which is a personal favorite. Facebook <br />
<a name='more'></a>groups are not really touched upon much in this series of blog posts other than <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/191796874188184/" target="_blank">SLPeeps</a> and SLP fan/community pages such as <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pediastaff?ref=s" target="_blank">PediaStaff Inc.</a>, but here are some of the really useful groups that I belong to:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/102453736503465/" target="_blank">Dysphagia Therapy</a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/adultrehabspeechtherapy/" target="_blank">Adult Rehab Speech Therapy</a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/2223132939/" target="_blank">Future SLPs</a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/2212002912/" target="_blank">Speech Pathologists at Large </a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/110793149009956/" target="_blank">IMAGAS (Insight, Mentoring, And Guidance for Aspiring SLPs)</a><br />
<br />
and some of the SLP fan/community pages I like:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dysphagia-Cafe/412744208803441?fref=ts" target="_blank">Dysphagia Cafe</a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/tactustherapy" target="_blank">Tactus Therapy Solutions</a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/MedSLP" target="_blank">MedSLP</a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheSLPstudent" target="_blank">The SLP Student</a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/avocadotech" target="_blank">Avocado Technologies</a><br />
<br />
Neither of the above lists are exhaustive. I've used both facebook groups and twitter often to ask questions, get feedback, and make comments and the interaction has been great!<br />
<br />
Another online community tool that I have just joined is the <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/110817588866965291965" target="_blank">Speech and Language Therapy</a> group on Google+. I haven't explored it much yet, but it looks like it will also be a great resource. And of course there are many, many SLP blogs from SLP students and SLPs in school settings as well as medical settings. You can see many of the blogs I follow on my homepage.<br />
<br />
What I really love most about using social media is that as a student, I can connect with other SLP students as well as current SLPs from all over the world on a daily basis. I'm excited to be a part of this dynamic community and proud to be an #SLP2B.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnanK5SQrnO7gHMFDaYLdWP00xnpmN2M-6T_dJJnQszU0tKO9mF3O8zh5ZOVXBpNaJvNnu_YQjd3AtpFA4k4ZdGJqZJSKqkAtpzkZDqP-gjvyXMgIKHhhdIeU5oiBxpOO3uJBDkGErVK9z/s1600/social-media-guidelines.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnanK5SQrnO7gHMFDaYLdWP00xnpmN2M-6T_dJJnQszU0tKO9mF3O8zh5ZOVXBpNaJvNnu_YQjd3AtpFA4k4ZdGJqZJSKqkAtpzkZDqP-gjvyXMgIKHhhdIeU5oiBxpOO3uJBDkGErVK9z/s200/social-media-guidelines.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://edudemic.com/social-media/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-small;">source</span></a></div>
<br />rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-27705604311818355772013-05-06T11:11:00.000-04:002013-05-06T11:51:51.086-04:00SLP and the Great Dysphagia SearchIt's back to class time and today I start my dysphagia class. Since I am leaning more towards the medical side of SLP, this is a key class and I can't wait to learn more about it. We have to track down a VFSS (videofluoroscopic swallow study) observation site and I've already hit the ground running with about 7 emails sent out so far, phone calls are next.<br />
<br />
I saw a VFSS during my post-bacc SLP job shadowing and it was pretty interesting. Too bad I wasn't closer to that observation site or I'd just go back there!<br />
<br />
Here's to hoping I can pin down a site... let another search begin! :)<br />
<br />
**UPDATE<br />
<br />
The above SLP I observed a VFSS with (and who also graduated from EMU) just emailed me a contact who is willing to let me observe! She is a ROCKSTAR!!rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-47626328915988639992013-04-25T16:05:00.002-04:002013-07-11T21:51:55.497-04:00Phew! Looking Back Winter '13Winter semester (otherwise know as the semester of a million group projects) was a busy one! I think the hardest thing this semester has been coordinating everyone's schedules to meet and get things get done.<br />
<br />
Favorite things this semester:<br />
<br />
Audiometrics -<br />
*Presenting hearing conservation and ear anatomy to a 1st grade class. They were AWESOME!! I loved this experience so much and the kids loved it too.<br />
<br />
Aphasia -<br />
*Ummm... pretty much the whole darn class, but if I had to pick a couple of favorites I'd go with the aphasia observation that I did in Royal Oak and the AAC assignment I did at the Apple Store. I can't rave enough about this class. The prof of this class is a great teacher and I've learned a lot in this class. This is definitely emerging as an area of interest. :)<br />
<br />
Diagnostics -<br />
*Though scheduling has been a big issue with our clinic diagnostic, I really enjoyed this experience a lot. It was great to finally get some hands-on experience with standardized tests and work with a client!<br />
*My observation at the Autism Collaborative Center - the SLP there is a graduate of EMU's SLP grad program and it was great to observe another alumni from my school out in the field. (First EMU alum I observed was up in the U.P. at Marquette General Hospital for some of my 25 hours of observation for my post-bacc.)<br />
<br />
Early Intervention Language Disorders -<br />
*This class has spent a lot of time on the back burner and has felt like a lot of review, but I've enjoyed some<br />
<a name='more'></a> of the discussions in the class. Not my area of interest at the moment, but it was good to have a class this semester that was not as demanding as the others!<br />
<br />
Overall, it's been another great semester and definitely much more intense than last semester. I'm really looking forward to diving into my Spring/Summer classes, but to be perfectly honest I am really looking forward to just working (and maybe a little bit of traveling - ROAD TRIP!!) during the second half of summer. No classes from June 18th - Sept. 3rd!<br />
<br />
I've been in a odd place the last couple of weeks of this semester... I'm tired, burnt out, and there's been a little self-doubt starting to creep in. I know I want to be an SLP and I know it will take time to feel confident in what I am doing but right now it's kind of hard to remember that. Just got to remember to breathe, take it all in, and enjoy the crazy-wild-stress-filled ride that is SLP grad school.<br />
<br />
It will be good to recharge this summer to help me to get back on track.<br />
<br />
I am where I want to be.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwbJe6gLoiVzBZagz2fdNyeSMOVQJsLpw4a2_JwmViSAXw1MMzMJY1aEo0MjRkQQ5DOBOtwN-sXcZd96u-3pTfT0gZxVOXaubgNqa2oemMuVSSFLo_uw_8mD51Oft_H7m0F45lgLCCefKf/s1600/sunset.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwbJe6gLoiVzBZagz2fdNyeSMOVQJsLpw4a2_JwmViSAXw1MMzMJY1aEo0MjRkQQ5DOBOtwN-sXcZd96u-3pTfT0gZxVOXaubgNqa2oemMuVSSFLo_uw_8mD51Oft_H7m0F45lgLCCefKf/s320/sunset.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
"Little by little, the container is filled."</div>
<br />
<br />rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-84952637464366712382013-03-20T22:12:00.003-04:002013-07-11T21:55:37.354-04:00Summer '13 and Fall '13Signed up for classes today and I'm already excited to dive into all new stuff!! The first half of Summer I am taking Dysphagia and Motor Speech Disorders. In the Fall I'm taking Acquired Neurogenic Communication Disorders and Fluency Disorders.<br />
<br />
I am also supposed to take Clinic I over the whole Summer semester, but now it looks like I will be taking it in the Fall instead. It's the only class I haven't signed up for yet and I will find out for sure on Monday if I am taking it this Summer or if I am taking it in the Fall. Taking it in the Fall won't affect my graduation date and though I can't wait to dive right into clinic and get a client (or two!), at the same time it would be soooo nice to have half of the summer off. Kind of a last big break before pushing through to the end. **UPDATE - I'm definitely taking Clinic I in the Fall so that means I will have the second half of the summer OFF! I will be <br />
<a name='more'></a>working, but I hope to take a couple of road-trips this summer too. :)<br />
<br />
Just over a month left this semester!<br />
<br />
Random bits and pieces -<br />
I passed the CRT (clinical readiness test) with flying colors! Woot!<br />
<br />
My first audiometrics exam, however, definitely was not a grade to be proud of but I can recover from it.<br />
<br />
The day I observed an aphasia treatment session in Royal Oak, I also observed a diagnostic at the Autism Collaborative Center (ACC) at Eastern Mich. That was a GREAT day. :)<br />
<br />
I found out that I could possibly get a client at the ACC and complete some of my clinic hours there during Clinic II. I will find out more about this on Monday.<br />
<br />
Also this coming Monday I (as well as 2 classmates) will be going about an hour north of Ypsi to a first grade class to give a presentation on hearing conservation. This will either be really, really fun or... ?!! rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-82303002500861621792013-03-06T22:15:00.003-05:002014-06-15T10:27:58.382-04:00What If... I was looking at the stats of my blog today and saw this under search keywords: "what if I don't get into slp grad school". Well, it's that time of year again and I've seen many "what if... " posts on facebook and I wanted to explore what you can do if you don't get into SLP grad school this time around.<br />
<br />
I remember <strike>obsessing</strike> thinking about this a lot around this time last year. I had 3 grad school apps in and the waiting game was killing me. I thought a lot about what I was going to do if I didn't get in... there were so many "what if's" zooming around in my head!<br />
<br />
So, what do you do if you don't get in this year? First off, don't give up!! If this is what you really want to do with your life, you should not give up on it just yet. There so are many things you can do!<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>You could start with looking into programs that offer spring admissions. Cohorts tend to be smaller, but it <i>may</i> be less competitive because most apply for the Fall. <a href="http://www.emich.edu/coe/slp/admissions/graduate.html" target="_blank">Eastern Michigan University</a> is one such school and here are a few others: <a href="http://www.colorado.edu/admissions/graduate/programs/slhs" target="_blank">University of Colorado - Boulder</a>, <a href="http://communications.fullerton.edu/departments/hcomm/hcomm-cd-ma-requirements.asp#procedures" target="_blank">California State University - Fullerton</a>, <a href="http://www2.cohpa.ucf.edu/comdis/ma.cfm" target="_blank">University of Central Florida</a>, <a href="http://www.strose.edu/academics/schoolofeducation/communication_sciences_disorders/communicationsciencesdisordersgraduateprogram/admission_requirements" target="_blank">The College of Saint Rose</a>. There are more universities out there with spring admissions and even a few with summer, <a href="http://www.asha.org/edfind/" target="_blank">EdFind</a> is a good place to start looking for others.<br />
<br />
Then there's the GRE. Yeah, that test sucked and should be abolished, but apparently many grad schools believe that if you do well on the GRE you will do well in grad school (and of course it's the deciding factor between two very similar applicants). If your scores are not up to at least the minimum standards of the schools you want to apply to, then it might be a good idea to retake that dreadful test. I took the GRE twice (the old version and then the new, current version) and I'm glad I did. I don't think I would have gotten into grad school with my first test scores.<br />
<br />
You could also look for schools that don't require the GRE or will accept the MAT in its place. Here is a list I found on the <a href="http://speechpathology.livejournal.com/165987.html" target="_blank">Speech and Language Pathology</a> Live Journal board.<br />
<br />
Other things you could do to strengthen your application for next year is to retake any classes with lower grades either through your undergrad program or look into a post-bacc program like <a href="http://comd.usu.edu/" target="_blank">USU</a> and <a href="http://www.lasalle.edu/schools/cpcs/content.php?section=post_bac_certificates&group=preslp&page=index" target="_blank">La Salle University</a>. There is no reason you shouldn't retake classes to raise your gpa. Both of the old and new grades will show up on your transcripts, but this can show the admissions committee that you are trying to do everything possible to improve your grades.<br />
<br />
Look into post-bacc programs and certificates or see if you can take graduate classes as a non-matriculated student in areas that complement SLP. I was looking at Central Michigan University's graduate certificate in <a href="http://www.cmich.edu/academics/educ_humanservices/human_env_studies/gerontology/Pages/gradcertificate.aspx" target="_blank">gerontology</a> as one of my back-up plans.<br />
<br />
Become a volunteer and get involved in community service. There is so much you can do here to strengthen your application: volunteer at a day care, youth home, adult day care, an SNF or nursing home, hospital; get involved with a reading and literacy program; become an English tutor for ESL students or just become involved with other types of tutoring; become a mentor, a Big Brother or a Big Sister... there are so many possibilities and opportunities for volunteering and community service that can be related to SLP and look great on a grad school application.<br />
<br />
There's also job shadowing and observing. Scope out the SLPs and AuDs in your community who are willing to let you job shadow them for a day or two. Most of us had to complete 25 hours of job shadowing as undergrads, but why not gain more observation opportunities in as many different settings as possible. See if you can sit in and observe different support groups (double check to make sure that this is okay first!!), like an aphasia support group or a stuttering group. These are great experiences to write about in your SOP.<br />
<br />
Try to find an SLPA job and gain some hands-on experience in the field. One of the people in my cohort worked as an SLPA in the <a href="http://www.asha.org/Advocacy/state/info/IN/Indiana-Support-Personnel-Requirements/" target="_blank">Indiana</a> school system for a year before reapplying to grad school. <a href="http://www.asha.org/Advocacy/state/info/AZ/Arizona-Support-Personnel-Requirements/" target="_blank">Arizona</a>, <a href="http://www.asha.org/Advocacy/state/info/CO/Colorado-Support-Personnel-Requirements/" target="_blank">Colorado</a>, and <a href="http://www.asha.org/Advocacy/state/info/MN/Minnesota-Support-Personnel-Requirements/" target="_blank">Minnesota</a> are some other states that use SLPAs. You can go on ASHA to see if your state uses <a href="http://www.asha.org/advocacy/state/" target="_blank">support personnel</a> like SLPAs and what the requirements are.<br />
<span style="color: red;"><br /></span>You can find a job in a field that is somewhat related to SLP. Work in a day care, a preschool, be a teacher's aid/para-pro, babysit. Become a CNA (certified nursing assistant) in a SNF. Many CNA programs only take a month or two to complete. <br />
<br />
Go overseas and teach English! There are a few people in my cohort who did this. One of my classmates taught in South Korea for a year, another spent some time Chile, and another one in Mexico. I taught English for 5 years in South Korea and I loved it! This was of course before I discovered my love for speech-language pathology. If you do go this route, do your research!! Talk to current teachers, find out which recruiters to use (my advice, if you have to pay for a recruiter, don't use them), and again research, research, research. A great place to start is with the job and message boards on <a href="http://www.eslcafe.com/" target="_blank">Dave's ESL Cafe</a>. Here are the direct links to the <a href="http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/" target="_blank">international job forums</a> and the <a href="http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/" target="_blank">Korean job forums</a>. Teaching English in another country is a great experience and it looks great on an application. <br />
<br />
Apply to more schools next time. I only applied to 3 schools and in the midst of my "ZOMG I'm not going to get into grad school, why did I only apply to 3 schools whatwasIthinking?!!" multiple panic attacks, I knew that if I had to reapply I was going to apply to at least a dozen the second time around! If you can afford it and you are flexible on locations, apply far and wide. Look closely at the stats of each school and see if your stats match up or are at least close.<br />
<br />
Also, apply to <a href="http://shaghala.blogspot.com/2012/12/on-hunt-for-online-slp-grad-school.html" target="_blank">online programs</a>. This is a good option if you don't have many SLP grad schools near you and you can't move because of other commitments. You could also mix applications to online grad programs with traditional programs to help broaden your chances.<br />
<br />
You could apply to schools overseas! ASHA's Mutual Recognition Agreement recognizes the certification programs of speech-language pathology in five countries: <a href="http://www.caslpa.ca/" target="_blank">Canada</a>, <a href="http://www.rcslt.org/" target="_blank">the U.K</a>., <a href="http://www.iaslt.ie/" target="_blank">Ireland</a>, <a href="http://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/" target="_blank">Australia</a>, and <a href="http://www.speechtherapy.org.nz/" target="_blank">New Zealand</a>.<br />
<br />
It ain't over 'til it's over and only you can decide when that is.<br />
<br />
I posted this question on a couple of SLP facebook groups and here are some of the responses I got:<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; line-height: 12.727272033691406px;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I applied TWICE to the same school where I received my undergrad degree because I didn't want to go out of state or have to travel far from my home. Didn't get in either time because it was "implied" that they like to diversify their program with candidates from other programs. But I was accepted to an AWESOME online program that turned out to be the perfect fit for me, so it all worked out.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 12.727272033691406px;">I didn't get into grad school the first time so I took a year to work as an SLP-A before re-applying. I think this strengthened my application significantly and gave me valuable experience now as a grad student!</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span id=".reactRoot[590].[1][2][1]{comment546285625405972_546315558736312}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]" style="color: #333333; line-height: 12.727272033691406px;"><span id=".reactRoot[590].[1][2][1]{comment546285625405972_546315558736312}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0].[0]">I applied for I think it was 4 years.. The second last year, I tried an american university (all previous years I tried canadian ones, of which there are only 6 english speaking, 2 of which were 3-year programmes). They messed up my application so acce</span></span><span id=".reactRoot[590].[1][2][1]{comment546285625405972_546315558736312}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[3]" style="color: #333333; line-height: 12.727272033691406px;"><span id=".reactRoot[590].[1][2][1]{comment546285625405972_546315558736312}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[3].0"><span id=".reactRoot[590].[1][2][1]{comment546285625405972_546315558736312}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[3].0.[0]">pted me for the following year. If I'd known I could have gotten straight into it, I would have just done that! Was nice to get the work experience as a CDA (like an SLPA but more training and for both SLP and audiology) for 2 years. T</span></span></span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 12.727272033691406px;">o further my application, I took more courses that were prerequisites for more of the canadian programmes so I could apply to more of them, as well as getting my CDA certificate and working as a CDA in both audiology and SLP.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 12.727272033691406px;">I didn't get into grad school the first time. I only applied to two schools the first time and only one the second time and luckily got in. I retook my GREs and I think that made the difference because I already had a 3.9 GPA!</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 12.727272033691406px;">I wasn't accepted to my first choice school and was put on the wait list at the school where I received my undergrad. Was told that I didn't spend enough extra time in the clinic and it was seen as my not being serious about my degree. Didn't matter that I also worked 30 hours a week while taking classes. I later was accepted to a program and the state education department paid for many of my grad classes.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 12.727272033691406px;">I took graduate classes as a non-matriculated student for a year then applied and was accepted into an AWESOME online program.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 12.727272033691406px;">I took my elective grad class as non matric student and studied like crazy to bump up my GRE's and got in second time around!</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 12.727272033691406px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; line-height: 12.727272033691406px;">I applied twice and didn't get it. It was very disappointing however I didn't give up, I just applied to Australia. There are so many internationals studying Speech-Language Pathology here b/c it's easy for us to get in.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; line-height: 15.454545021057129px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I applied to graduate school three semesters in a row. The first time I applied it was sort of rushed because I was graduating with my Bachelor's in 3 years, which I thought would show schools I was more motivated and determined to get into graduate school. That backfired. Then, I applied in the Spring semester and at least got an interview! I thought for sure I would be admitted after the interview, unfortunately, I was wrong again. After that, I had considered changing my major, I was absolutely devastated. But, with the support from my family and friends, I changed my statement of purpose, researched schools that I actually had a chance of getting into, and applied a third time. I received an interview, but it was over the phone due to distance and short notice. It really worried me that it would skew my chances of getting in. But, I FINALLY got in! It was the best feeling in the world and it made me realize that if I hadn't applied again, I would be so unhappy with that decision. I am in my second semester of graduate school now, and in my first clinical experience and I can't see myself doing anything else. The application process was long and stressful, but my motivation paid off in the end! </span></span></span><br />
<br />
A last piece of advice for those who are still waiting to hear from schools, follow up on your applications! Email, call, and let them know that you are interested! I am really glad I did, because I was about to be put on the rejection pile at Eastern due to my poor gpa from my first undergrad. I played a bit of phone tag with the head of the department, but finally she left a message for me to email her and explain my 1st gpa. I sent off an impassioned explanation for that gpa and I emphasized my life experiences, my USU post-bacc gpa, and my love for SLP. I was put on the waiting list and then a month later, I was accepted to Eastern Michigan University.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrABCxwUOg3R22vY_q6YTBH7TnIKizwMdEjgl8AIaQBQ7KVCC_-IfpuFoqu9dQMBH3JAJnFTIXaUlabV4B9FulzKtQ4uIE3JSW3FJhzCtY9IWXcuF02jj0sUFtqxbag6pWx5Imfn5syTlJ/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrABCxwUOg3R22vY_q6YTBH7TnIKizwMdEjgl8AIaQBQ7KVCC_-IfpuFoqu9dQMBH3JAJnFTIXaUlabV4B9FulzKtQ4uIE3JSW3FJhzCtY9IWXcuF02jj0sUFtqxbag6pWx5Imfn5syTlJ/s200/images.jpg" height="200" width="196" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<br />rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-47974624986916725702013-03-03T11:57:00.002-05:002013-07-11T21:54:47.510-04:00#springbreak13So it's my spring break... it officially started Thursday night after work at 1pm and so far it's involved a lot of sleeping in, netflix and retail therapy, but that's about to change. Starting today, this is my opportunity to get a crapload of stuff done! I am continuing my crazy busy February into a crazy busy March, but things will slow down again after the 13th. The week after spring break is ridiculous: 2 exams, 1 group presentation, possible retake of the clinical readiness test, 2nd half of my group diagnostic with report write-ups and assessment scorings that go along with it. After the 13th I can breath again.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
First up this week, I have two exams to study for that will happen the Monday and Tuesday after we get back from break (thank you professors!) and I have twelve chapters to read for one of those exams... yikes! Quizlets and study guides will be my friends this week.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
This week I am also going to Royal Oak for an aphasia observation. It's an aphasia group that has 2 clients with fluent aphasia and 2 with nonfluent aphasia. I only need to observe a fluent aphasia but I am very happy that I will also have the opportunity to observe a nonfluent one as well. I'm really cutting it close with this <br />
<a name='more'></a>observation date since the write up is due the Tuesday after spring break. Fingers crossed that the weather cooperates!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I am part of three group projects this semester: hearing conservation group, an in-service presentation group (on an audiology related topic), and a conduction aphasia group so this week we are starting to research our topics and organize the information. First up is my hearing conservation group's presentation to our class on the Tuesday after spring break. This is pretty much our practice run-through where we will get feedback from our classmates before we go to a 1st grade elementary class in Ypsilanti and educate them on hearing safety. I love that we get to present to a 1st grade class. :) </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
For the in-service presentation, my partner and I are hoping to write and present on unilateral hearing loss in children and educational outcomes. We've found tons of journal articles already but don't want to go any further until the topic is approved by our prof. We have an outline set and ready to be emailed after we get back from spring break. Here's to hoping it gets approved quickly. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
My last group project/presentation is on conduction aphasia. When we were told that we needed to find aphasia observation sites, we were also told that we should try to find a site with our specific aphasia... conduction aphasia is a very rare aphasia in the rare category of fluent aphasias. Thank goodness we were also told that if we could not find our specific aphasia to observe, that we could observe any aphasia in the same category as our assigned aphasia (fluent vs nonfluent). I knew conduction aphasia would be pretty hard to find, but I didn't realize that fluent aphasia is pretty rare in comparison to nonfluent aphasia. I found about a half dozen nonfluent sites to observe at quickly, but it took me much longer to pin down a fluent one. Again, fingers crossed that the weather is nice this Thursday! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Anyway, back to the group project/presentation on conduction aphasia - we have to come up with a brochure/handout on our specific aphasia that would be useful to educate a specific group (healthcare professionals, family members, caregivers, etc.) that includes communication strategies, treatment plan, and activities. We then have to present to our class in a mock educational session that also involves answering the questions of our target population. Even though I am still not comfortable presenting in front of my classmates, I am excited to work on this project. <br />
<br /></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
So, as if I wasn't busy enough this spring break, I also picked up two shifts at work. Spring break at the Children's Institute is an optional week and I am poor, so off to work I go on Monday and Tuesday this week. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'm glad I lazed about these past couple of days, but it's been hard to resist diving in and tackling all of the above. Today is go day and I'm not stopping much until the 13th... I do have to say that though I am much busier this semester, I am loving all that I am learning and I'm glad to be an slp2b. :)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
</div>
rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-69132959762762353022013-02-09T18:38:00.002-05:002013-07-11T21:56:26.665-04:00Full Speed Ahead!!February has been BUSY so far and it doesn't look like it will slow down for a long while yet. Just had my first exam in aphasia and though it was a bit challenging, I think (I hope!!) I rocked it. Will find out for sure on Tuesday. This is definitely my favorite class this semester and I'm learning a lot. I'll have another exam in aphasia at the end of this month... only 2 weeks of lecture on that one! <br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Next up is my clinical readiness test (CRT) on Monday, which is a test I need to pass with an 85% or above in order to take clinic this summer. It's offered twice, so if I don't pass it the first time I have a chance to re-take it again next month. Here's to hoping I pass it the first time! I've been studying for it over the past couple of days and have been neglecting studying for my 1st audiometrics exam which is the day after I take the CRT. I will be power cramming for that exam after I take the CRT... can I do it?! I can dooo it! Also this month in audiometrics, I will get to bring in J and practice a hearing screening on him as well as immitance <br />
<a name='more'></a>testing and an otoscopic exam. He will be my first hearing screen "victim"! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Also working on my first diagnostic over the next couple of weeks. I'm in a group of two other students and we have to come up with a diagnostic plan and carry it out under the supervision of a faculty member. I'm really excited about this as well as nervous. This will be my first real hands-on experience! We have to come up with a diagnostic plan by this Weds., meet with our faculty supervisor on Friday to go over our plan, and will be assessing our client on the 22nd of this month. It will be interesting to see how it will all go especially since there will be three of us participating in addition to the client. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'm still working on setting up observations for both my aphasia class and my diagnostics class, though I think I have a location set for aphasia at U of M... I just have to confirm it at the end of the month. I'm planning on setting up my observations for my spring break because between work and school, spring break will be the only time I will have to schedule things! May try to squeeze in some shadowing one day over spring break at the Ann Arbor VA if the SLP is willing to let me. Gotta schedule the observations for my classes first before scheduling a shadow time. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'm hoping that by the time I come back from spring break that I can start volunteering with the SLP at the Autism Collaborative Center on campus. I turned in my paperwork last week, but since they just hired the SLP, she will need some time to "settle in" before taking on a volunteer. Maybe things will be a bit more settled down for me as well. Either way, I am looking forward to volunteering and learning while doing so. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So yeah, pretty busy at the moment and not looking like it will slow down much until... I don't know when! Until then, full speed ahead. :) </div>
rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-62293702439913811512013-01-30T09:49:00.000-05:002013-01-30T09:49:13.062-05:00On the Path to Awesome!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/l-gQLqv9f4o?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />
You've just been pepped-talked. :)rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-9655183284075028002013-01-23T20:26:00.004-05:002013-01-23T20:30:07.253-05:00SLP and the Great Aphasia SearchI'm taking aphasia this semester and it has captured my attention completely. One of our class assignments is to complete an observation of either a treatment session (individual or group) or attend a meeting of an aphasia support group. I love that we have to do this and have begun the process of tracking down SLPs in my general vicinity who work with clients who have aphasia. A great resource I'm starting off with is <a href="http://www.asha.org/findpro/" target="_blank">Find a Professional with ASHA's ProSearch</a>. I've already sent off about 6 emails today and I've heard back from 4 SLPs, though no sites secured as of yet... just one possibility (no patients with aphasia on her caseload atm but keeping my contact info and will let me know if that changes) and a lead from an SLP to a site that she observed at when she took this class (Emich alum!). I still have a bit of time and I can expand my search area, but I'm off to a good start!rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-41752413608182901182013-01-08T22:33:00.002-05:002015-04-03T15:00:13.886-04:00USU <b><br /></b>
<b>UPDATE</b> - 3/11/2015: It's been almost 3 years since I graduated in May of 2012 from USU's online post-bacc program so the information I have on the program is waaaaay out of date! I've heard that there have been a few professor changes and tuition changes so I will only be able to answer <b>very general questions</b> about attending school online.<br />
<br />
The best places to get the most up to date information about attending USU and the classes are the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/109935279077833/" target="_blank">Utah State Online COMD Group!</a> to talk to current students and <a href="http://comd.usu.edu/htm/online-programs/communicative-disorders-2nd" target="_blank">USU's online post-bacc</a> page to get info straight from the program.<br />
<br />
Related post by <a href="https://twitter.com/SLP_Echo" target="_blank">@SLP_Echo</a>: <a href="http://slpecho.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/the-slp-post-baccalaureate-plunge/#comment-842" target="_blank">The SLP Post-baccalaureate Plunge</a>. She has compiled a list of other post-bacc programs, so there are more options to explore besides USU!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<h1 class="single-title" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; color: #4e4e4e; font-family: 'Myriad Pro', 'Trebuchet MS', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 32px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0.3em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</h1>
rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-25460206695638107242013-01-08T22:29:00.002-05:002013-01-08T22:29:06.659-05:00First Week - Finished!It's Tuesday night and I am finished for classes for the week. Yep, you read that right... I have one class on Mondays, three classes on Tuesday and then I am finished for the week. Good thing though, is that almost all of my classes have a few outside of class components besides homework and studying for exams. <br />
<br />
For my diagnostics class, we are being broken up into pairs and will be matched with a faculty member to perform a diagnostic in our university clinic. We also have to set up an observation with a local SLP to observe (or participate in - if the SLP is comfortable with that) a speech and language evaluation of either a child or an adult. For our aphasia class, we have to set up an observation of a treatment session (either individual or group) or attend a meeting of an aphasia support group. Then for our audiometric disorders class, we are putting together a hearing conservation project, then going out into the community to a class (1st grade classroom or a middle school classroom, etc.) teach them about the anatomy and physiology of the ear, the loudness scale, hair cells damage, and hearing conservation. <br />
<br />
There are also a lot more presentations this semester in comparison to last semester... I definitely need practice with public speaking so I am glad we will have many opportunities to do so. My goal is to not use note cards at all since I tend to over-rely on them. This semester I'm also going to set up some volunteer hours with the SLP at the Autism Collaborative Center on campus. It's definitely going to be much busier this semester compared to last! <br />
<br />
Overall I am really excited about this semester. I love that we will go out into the community to observe and to teach. Going off of first impressions of first days in classes, my favorite so far is diagnostics and aphasia as a close second!<br />
<br />
Oh! Another cool thing about today - I met someone who also did the Utah State University online post bachelor's in communicative disorders and deaf education! We overlapped by three semesters so we probably had a class or two together but didn't know each other then. She's in two of my classes this semester and happened to mention that she attended USU online. I've only "met" my former classmates online and not in person, so it was great to finally meet someone IRL. Definitely made my day! rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-81696582186489484132013-01-07T09:18:00.004-05:002013-04-05T13:27:56.332-04:00Ready... Set... I'm excited to get back into the grad school groove, but I have to admit I wouldn't have minded another week off before starting. I had a great winter break! I went on road trips to see family in WI and upper MI, I overindulged in lots of delicious food (my mom and J's mom are superb cooks!), and indulged in lots of sleepsleepsleep. There were also many netflix marathons and of course a lot of time <strike>wasted</strike> spent on facebook, twitter, and pinterest. A lot of laziness all around! <br />
<br />
And speaking of laziness, after the new year I decided to get more active and participate in the <a href="http://lexicallinguist.wordpress.com/2013/01/02/ashafit13-faq/" target="_blank">#ASHAFit13 challenge</a> and incorporate other exercises into my daily routine. I have been so focused on school and studying these past couple of years that I have been completely neglecting my body... and it's starting to show. I've never been a super active person to begin with, but while living overseas I walked EVERYWHERE... now, it's get into my car and go. And when I have any down time from school and studying, I have DOWN TIME. <br />
<br />
When I saw the #ASHAFit13 challenge on twitter, I became motivated and today was my 6th day of getting my arse into shape. I've been pretty sore since starting, but once I get moving and I've done a workout I feel AWESOME! I'm glad I started this before I went back to school... I <u>will</u> stay focused. Exercise is supposed to be good for the mind too!<br />
<br />
Now it's back to school time so there will be no more exercise talk on this blog beyond this post.<br />
<br />
<u><b>No more excuses</b></u>. <br />
<br />
I'm off to my first class of Winter '13 so... ready... set... goooooooo! <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio0CxRFyqPIyaEQ2PeVjVK64xad8tYCRh2AVWzpJqyc356QQOGirwWQwmhSQjZbI3DbbAiOoLXwpAZGQElL8beK50B7E_peH7dwAKvAevIK3M2KG_tbKVDKhDoK0vuFy_CfsdlZ2Bu5qyE/s1600/377317275000435097_2bhAjw6l_c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio0CxRFyqPIyaEQ2PeVjVK64xad8tYCRh2AVWzpJqyc356QQOGirwWQwmhSQjZbI3DbbAiOoLXwpAZGQElL8beK50B7E_peH7dwAKvAevIK3M2KG_tbKVDKhDoK0vuFy_CfsdlZ2Bu5qyE/s200/377317275000435097_2bhAjw6l_c.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/497647827544266260/" target="_blank">source</a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-26072507610644853162012-12-20T14:32:00.001-05:002013-07-11T21:58:15.564-04:00Looking Back: Fall '12 <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I survived my first semester as an speech-language pathology graduate student!! There were a few moments around finals that I wasn't so sure I was going to make it, but I did. :) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Looking back on my first semester in SLP grad school, I thought I would focus on all the positives and here are all the good things that have come out of going to Eastern Michigan University so far:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-My clinical methods class: I learned so much in that class. The prof. had many relevant personal examples about working with various clients in different settings. He really explained things well and helped us analyze our mistakes. He also gave us many opportunities for "hands on" practice with case studies, videos, and developing goals in small groups collaboratively as well as working individually on our own. My favorite class this semester and it has made me</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> more excited about this summer when I get my first clients!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-Two things from my artic/phono impairments class:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> -putting together my oral periph kit for articulation. We only used it once in class, but it's great to have it all set and ready when we get into clinic.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> -putting together my project 3 resource binder of artic/phono resources that's packed full of goodies such as info on different assessments used, different normative charts, phonological processes, techniques and approaches, tangible materials, games, activity ideas, word lists, and word picture cards. It will be a great reference when I (finally) get to clinic. I love this idea so much that I am already planning a language resource binder and an aphasia binder for next semester. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-Neuro: It was <strike>a bit of</strike> a great big challenge tackling this last section we studied, but the brain is FASCINATING. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-Research Methods: though I didn't particularly enjoy my Research Methods class, I do feel like I can approach an article and analyze it for it's clinical usefulness and EBP. It also gave me a bit more direction on what I've been researching informally on my own.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-This is outside of my regular classes, but I've been researching <a href="http://shaghala.blogspot.com/2012/10/pediatric-placement.html" target="_blank">articles</a> that look at the connection between speech and language impairments due to either cancer and/or chemotherapy. I am not looking necessarily at brain or laryngeal cancer, but other cancers such as leukemia and breast cancer. I also found a <a href="http://shaghala.blogspot.com/2012/11/research-for-child-placement.html" target="_blank">book</a> that I am looking forward to reading when I have more time this winter break. I may even start a binder for this particular area as well!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I became interested in this area after I talked to my aunt who has breast cancer. She was telling me about having word retrieval problems and memory problems due to chemotherapy. I started to think about kids who could be typically developing otherwise, how does chemo affect their language and speech, and how do SLPs work with these children with leukemia and other cancers. I'm hoping to do my (future) child placement in a children's cancer hospital. It's going to be emotionally intense but I think it will be a great learning experience.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-This semester has also given me a great group of friends to study with. We are all so busy with our lives outside of school, but I look forward to when we get together for study sessions... and there have been many study sessions this semester! They've helped keep me on track for assignments and what to study for exams as well as sane when I <strike>obsess</strike> worry about things like my neuro final. I really missed this sort of in-person interaction while I was going online for my post-bacc at Utah State University. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-I love my job at the Children's Institute! I'm hoping that I can get a GA position there for next Fall. Fingers crossed, voodoo, and all that jazz. :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Overall it's been a really great semester... some ups and downs, a little bit of a struggle towards the end, but I am still so thankful I got into grad school and I've been rockin' it! Every step I take brings me closer to becoming an SLP. I really can't wait to feel more competent in what I am learning about and I can't wait to get into clinic!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My favorite quote this semester:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #333333; line-height: 17.999998092651367px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: whitesmoke; line-height: 17.999998092651367px;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><i>"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude."</i> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 17.999998092651367px;">--Maya Angelou</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #333333; line-height: 17.999998092651367px;"><br /></span>
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih1dnn47UGJQW803b83S3KeZyX3Sy5DAD0OnnJmU3S2u776TQQ-MJZXDtM4QPhk1NJf4VjK5ZrXGqHWZTgTZDxlodeJ8lrGgQ50xnhJvc5m9wvlLjiL39uG9vZ-7HZaTauLtrlViF-KgBS/s1600/graduate-school.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih1dnn47UGJQW803b83S3KeZyX3Sy5DAD0OnnJmU3S2u776TQQ-MJZXDtM4QPhk1NJf4VjK5ZrXGqHWZTgTZDxlodeJ8lrGgQ50xnhJvc5m9wvlLjiL39uG9vZ-7HZaTauLtrlViF-KgBS/s320/graduate-school.gif" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: start;">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"> <a href="http://toothpastefordinner.com/">source</a></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: start;">
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: start;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And now it's time to enjoy winter break... see you next semester. :)</span></div>
<span style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #333333; line-height: 17.999998092651367px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-20994766493140524502012-12-17T08:24:00.000-05:002015-12-17T15:12:29.459-05:00On the Hunt for Online SLP Grad School Programs<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You want to find speech-language pathology graduate schools that
offer distance education options, but you don't know where to start. If
you type in SLP online grad school programs into google, you get over 200,000
results and most of them either relate to SLP grad schools (but not online) or
online schools (but not SLP grad programs). You can find a few links here
and there, but it's a lot to go through to find what you are actually looking
for.</span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ASHA EdFind used
to have a more comprehensive search and you could look specifically for </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">online
grad programs, but for some reason when they updated the search engine they dropped that option. </span><a href="http://www.asha.org/edfind/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">EdFind</a><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">is still a useful tool to get a nice
overview of the requirements of a particular </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">program, but networking with
current students and SLPs is the best way to find </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">out what schools are out
there and what the programs are like. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, where do you
connect with current students and SLPs? Message boards, message boards,
message boards! Facebook has many online groups dedicated to SLP:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/2223132939/" target="_blank">Future SLPs (Speech-LanguagePathologists)</a>,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/110793149009956/" target="_blank">IMAGAS (Insight,Mentoring, AND Guidance for Aspiring SLPs)</a>,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/207817285949723/" target="_blank">SLP Grad Applicants -From USU and Beyond</a>, are just a few and this last one is really useful
because most of the members graduated from Utah State University's online
post-bachelor's in communicative disorders and deaf education and many of them
are applying to online grad schools or going to online grad schools in SLP.
It was started by USU post-bacc students, but is open to all graduate
applicants from any university.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Other useful
message boards to post inquiries into online grad programs are: <a href="http://speechpathology.livejournal.com/" target="_blank">Speech and Language PathologyLive Journal</a>,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.slpjob.com/lougne/forum/index.php?showforum=11" target="_blank">SLPJob.comForums</a>, and <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/SLP" target="_blank">RedditSpeech-Language Pathology </a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When you are researching online schools you have to make sure that
the program is CAA Accredited. What is
CAA accreditation? CAA stands for the
Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology
and it is the entity within ASHA authorized to accredit graduate education
programs for the professions of audiology and speech-language pathology. If the school you are interested in is CAA accredited,
then it means that it meets the standards for the accreditation of graduate
education programs that provide entry-level professional preparation in audiology
and speech-language pathology. You can check on <a href="http://www.asha.org/edfind/" target="_blank">EdFind</a> to find out a school's accreditation status. ASHA has a page with <a href="http://www.asha.org/academic/questions/Distance-Education/" target="_blank">resources</a> for both students and faculty about distance education.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="line-height: 115%;">Who goes online? Many (but not all) online grad students are
career-changers, have families, and would be classified as “non-traditional”
students. They are more anchored into their communities and do not have
the option to move to go to grad school. SLP graduate programs are few
and far between so their local universities may not offer SLP at the graduate
level. These online programs are
tailored for the non-traditional student and they tend to be more flexible so students can meet family obligations as
well as continue working while in school.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
It takes a tremendous
amount of discipline to attend SLP graduate school online and these programs
provide an education that is every bit as rigorous as attending classes in a
more traditional university setting… sometimes even more so.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
If you'd like to read more about SLP grad students who decided to go online, then check out SLP_Echo's posts about online SLP Graduate Programs:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://slpecho.wordpress.com/2012/12/17/online-slp-programs-1/" target="_blank">Part 1</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://slpecho.wordpress.com/2012/12/28/online-slp-grad-programs_2/" target="_blank">Part 2</a>.</span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And here is a link to a
list that I've compiled so far of online grad programs and their requirements: <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/115985017/Online-SLP-Grad-School-List" target="_blank">Online Grad School List</a>.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRNSQ_bcvRMAMBDazIXUSBpYOt06x0btT03Qe4V8vH_m2Bv_iU_dy-7Sd-t43K32hqI43gE-Xs7atSwxKNyFVCRsa60rbpUfc_UCP8DWeY8AAVGB1H6r_Cq6fzk4Omv0I4RAKbAP6mUK4k/s320/slp_online-graduate-schools-_-quote.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://slpecho.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Just another SLP in the making</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8528127250232062040.post-89277895730089449442012-12-11T10:43:00.001-05:002012-12-20T14:54:15.130-05:00Gearing up for Finals... <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Remember to breathe...</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Breathe in... breathe out...</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Deep breaths... deep breaths... </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh crap! I'm hyperventilating!</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqgwOOxqUKwdjaRcKtdMKe-Bj2h_3F-IEfi4sAaPrbz8OE7VLls4l8n-f0plnsNfJG__kHawmkmd1V-rc9DfgQmHKdP7KxVwqjWc440du2A2nS3vwOUypajSwrz9Ev_QDCrEVqKo0cwo5O/s1600/keep+calm.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqgwOOxqUKwdjaRcKtdMKe-Bj2h_3F-IEfi4sAaPrbz8OE7VLls4l8n-f0plnsNfJG__kHawmkmd1V-rc9DfgQmHKdP7KxVwqjWc440du2A2nS3vwOUypajSwrz9Ev_QDCrEVqKo0cwo5O/s400/keep+calm.png" width="342" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151120289991933&set=a.10151097178451933.429476.93602576932&type=1&theater" target="_blank">source</a></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />rose38http://www.blogger.com/profile/00712237083833575166noreply@blogger.com0