The Pressure Cooker

And 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.

So, what made this semester so difficult? All of my spare time was devoted to clinic and my clients. My other

Phew! Looking Back Winter '13

Winter 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.

Favorite things this semester:

Audiometrics -
*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.

Aphasia -
*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. :)

Diagnostics -
*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!
*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.)

Early Intervention Language Disorders -
*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

#springbreak13

So 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.

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.

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

On the Path to Awesome!

You've just been pepped-talked. :)