The Picture

  I don't know why, but suddenly the picture wanted to upload.  So, anyway, this is a picture of some red delicious apples taken with my phone.  It was a perfect day for apple picking.  If anything, it could have been a few degrees cooler.  But, I'm not complaining about warm weather.  Soon enough we will have nothing but snow and wind.

All the best intentions and Technical Problems

So, I was going to post earlier, but due to technical difficulties I was unable to post a picture I wanted to post.  So, I am going to try again, but if it doesn't work then oh well.

So anyway, last week Theresa, Emily, Emily's brother (Bill) and I went apple picking.  Great fun.  We still have lots of apples.  I don't really remember if there was anything else I wanted to say.  The picture I was going to post was of a tree with apples in it (so Justin and Natalie could look longingly at Michigan apples).

Anyway, Tuesday was a good day. My supervisor was sick, so I got the day off too!  I began the day having breakfast with Theresa at her office hours for Sigma Tau Delta.  I don't really know why they have office hours, but I got to eat breakfast with Theresa because of them, so that's cool.  Then I spent the remainder of the day looking for (new) flights to Boston in November, and working on my thesis.  

The flights for Boston are (new) because we had booked flights in March, and then Spirit airlines decided that they were no longer flying from Detroit to Boston, and so they 'graciously' gave us our money back.  Needless to say I was less than pleased.  I was raving mad.  I called, emailed, wrote them letters, and did not receive a response.  Therefore, I am being true to my word: I cannot recommend Spirit Airlines for your travel plans, they are unable to guarantee the flight you book will be there, and they apparently are not willing to make adequate compensation (find another flight for you on another airline).  So, never fly Spirit Airlines.

So anyway, I found a flight on Northwest, but we are flying into Providence, RI and then taking the train up to Boston.  This was cheaper than flying into Boston.  Well, flying from Chicago to Boston was the same price, so either way we will have a 2 hour drive, a 1 hour train ride and a 2-3 hour flight.  

That night Diane Rehm (from NPR) spoke at the Bernhard Center.  I went and watched her.  She made a really good presentation.  One of my favorite parts was when my classmate, Colleen, asked her about her life with spasmodic dysphonia (that's the disorder she has that makes her voice sound strained/strangled).  Other then that, the primary message of her speech was: listen.  People should listen more and talk less.

The rest of the week when by uneventfully.  I had a thesis meeting with Dr. Tasko yesterday.  We met at Waterstreet Coffee Joint (on Oakland Dr.) and he bought be coffee.  It was great.  While he was tearing apart my writing (it wasn't that bad) be said that my writing style was better than a lot of my peers (if you're one of my peers, I'm sure he didn't mean you).  So, I felt good about my writing, even though it was completely altered.  Anyway, we're having another meeting on Monday morning, so I've got a lot of work to do this weekend.  I summarized another article, and I've got two more plus the edits we outlines yesterday to finish.  It should be a busy day.

Other than that, life is pretty boring.   I've got a sinus infection.  (my first one in several years).  It's not bad.  It consists of a runny nose and that 'stuffed head' feeling.  There's not much of a headache, and I really hope I don't develop one.

Anyway.  I better go - may battery is about to die.

The picture didn't work.

Grumble, rant, grumble

Sorry, I promise I will not use this blog to rant and rave against 'the man' or anyone else for that matter ... but I am a little bit frustrated today.  I went to the library to get some articles for my thesis.  They were archived journals, so they are not for circulation.  Anyway, I forgot my copy card (mistake #1), then I forgot to bring cash to buy another one (mistake #2).  I really didn't want to buy another one (I have two already).  So, then I asked an aide if the library had any scanners I could use.  Of course they do not.  The computer lab, which is connected to the library, has some, but the librarians would not allow me to take the journals out of the library.  I would have left them my ID and/or my license ... ah but to no avail.  So I politely requested the library invest in getting some scanners.

In other news:

I forgot how awful giving standardized tests are.  I evaluated a boy at my internship today (the PLS4 - Preschool Language Scale 4th edition).  Even though I've given it several times, I always forget how awful it is to give.  You want the kid to do well, yet the better the kid does the more torture you are put through.  Today was especially difficult - in order to end the test you have to establish a ceiling (6 wrong answers in a row) - anyway the boy I was testing got 5 wrong in a row - and then got the 6th one right - which means we have to start establishing a ceiling all over again.  Which means he got 11 of the last 12 questions wrong.  The poor guy.

Side note: the office assistant from my old job (the Civic theatre) just walked into the coffee shop I'm in - I don't think she recognized me.

Anyway.  It's almost 7 I think it's time for dinner.

Pinky and the Brain

So, I began the day with an exciting hour in the anatomy lab! I just love the smell of formeldahyde in the morning, don't you?

Anyway, we were examining human brains. It was incredibly interesting. The brain is such a complex organ. I know a fair bit of neurological anatomy, yet I still felt completely inadequate after leaving the lab. There is so much I don't know, and we were just labeling things. We were not diving into what brain areas control what. We got into a little bit of that in the basal ganglia and cerebellum - but both of those are part of the secondary motor pathways.

Anyway - I saw several human brains today! I know not everyone gets excited about that, but I do. I have a greater understanding about the brain as a whole, but also the arteriole circulation to the brain (we have never really talked about venious venting of the brain, but from what I understand the veins are really boring. And if anything vascular is going to happen to the brain it is going to arrise from the arteries. I suppose aneurisms could stem from veins, I don't really know ... but the blood pressure would be less great in veins, so specifically aneurisms would be more likely in the arteries. Sorry, thinking "out loud" again.)

Anyway ... not much else ...

Internship Day 3

Today was a good day.  We started off doing group therapy.  However, in our first group 2 of our 4 students were not ready, so we just did therapy with the two that were ready, then we did therapy with the other two.  It actually worked really well.  Anyway, but that's not the important item of the day.

In the afternoon we attempted to do some evaluation of an older student - essentially we were wondering: "Can he operate a switch" (by switch we mean button he can push).  We aren't really sure weather he can or not.  We didn't get reliable results.  Once again, this is not the important item of the day.

And the important item of the day:

We did a home visit today.  We went to the home of a child who has a neurological tumor.  The tumor has progressed so much that it is affecting his sensation and motor movements.  We visited him to give him some 'independence'.  Independence is in quotes because he is dependent on his care givers for virtually everything.  This was only our assessment, but we were able to give him some control over his computer experiences.  He gets a lot of enjoyment out of pressing buttons, so we added a USB switch to the computer, so when the mouse cursor hovers above an icon he can use the switch and start a song, open a program, etc.  We didn't do anything amazing, by any stretch of the imagination, but we did allow him to regain a little bit of the independence he lost as a result of the progressive tumor.

Also, he really likes Billy Joel ... and he happened to like the Piano Man ... and there happened to be a piano in the room ... and I happen to know how to play the Piano Man ... so I played it and we sang along - it was great fun.

One thing I have noticed: children with severe cognitive impairments can show such immense joy.  (Granted, an unfamiliar observer may not interpret their actions as joyful, but to those of us who have spent a little bit of time with them their joy is clearly evident).  When the child we visited heard a computer program he had not used in several weeks on his home computer, he was ecstatic.  Hearing his laughter (at something so simple as a song) was great.

Anyway, I better go now...

Inside Looking Out

WMU is a fairly large university. As such, campus tours are a regularity around here. As I walked into the library this morning (from where I am writing this blog) I encountered two such campus tours. I am always amused when I see them, because I feel like I imagine animals at a zoo feel when patrons to the zoo stroll past the animal's exhibit. The animal is just living life while these weird bipedal, virtually hairless mammals oogle and gawk at the poor, bored-out-of-their-mind animals.

This is how I feel: here I am going to the library to catch up on some reading for my Advanced Speech Science class and I run into high school seniors and their parents touring the campus with the aid of a representative of the student body. So, let me let you in on my thought processes. I often think that these prospective students and parents might think ...

The collective mind of the alien people: "Ooo, look! There's one of those college students in his natural habitat. He's going to the library, I wonder what he's going to do now. Let's watch him. Oh no, he's coming straight for me, I hope he doesn't hurt me or something. Phew, he only went in the door next to me. I wonder what he's going to do. Maybe he's doing some reading for a class. I wonder how much homework he has for class. ..."

And within that collective though process, individual thought processes would also be occurring:

Parent #1 "Well, here's a nice boy. No tattoos or piercings. And oh! He's going to the library. I hope my Johnny stays as well balanced as this boy has."

Male Student #1 "Punk."

Parent #2 "There's a normal looking one. After seeing that other kid with the pink hair and multiple facial piercings I was about to lock Mary in her room and never let her out. Maybe college boy aren't all weird."

Female Student #1 "I wonder if he has a girlfriend."

Parent #3 "Orange sunglasses, humph. I bet he fails every class."


Anyway, that is just a taste of my internal monologue as I ascended the stairs to the computer lab in the library. Nothing profound, not even remotely 'normal', in fact, probably really odd. But call it what you want it ... I'm only a college student in my natural habitat.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC).  It is one of my classes this semester.  To sum the class up in a nut shell, we explore and implement different avenues of communication clients can use on a daily basis.

Active participation is one of the standards we use to evaluate how an AAC device is working. Is the client actively participating? If not, what do we need to change to increase the function aspects of the device?  Incidentally, that was our discussion in class today.  My professor, Dr. Bedrosian, had a special project for me.  During class my job was the play the part of an individual who was not able to speak.  I had some limited writing ability, but passing papers would not be an option.

Anyway, this class is discussion based, so we are expected to participate in discussions about the literature, and devices etc.  So, when Dr. Bedrosian asked me a question (me the non-speaking individual), I was unable to answer: I couldn't talk, I couldn't write, I didn't have a device to speak for me.  In short, I had no option but to stare at her and shrug my shoulders.  The rest of the class laughed.

So, later on, Dr. Bedrosian passed out some papers.  I wasn't able to receive them, or pass them along.  So, after the papers had sat infront of me for a few minutes my neighbor, Meghan, noticed, gave me one, and passed them along to my other neighbor.  (and then, of course, gave me a quizzical look).  More not talking later, and not participating in class (Meghan turning pages for me etc) Dr. Bedrosian let the rest of the class in on the secret.

When Dr. Bedrosian asked my classmates their internal responses to my behavior I got a lot of funny answers.  

 - "I thought he had finally cracked, broke under the pressure of grad school"

 - "I thought he was having a stroke"

 - "I thought he was really [upset]" (They didn't use the word upset)

Anyway, I thought that was really fun, and you might enjoy it.

Internship, Day 2

Today was fun.  I observed Elizabeth giving therapy and got to step in on some activities.  One of the frustrations Elizabeth has expressed is that while the students are Croyden are learning functional tasks in their classrooms, Croyden is lacking in true academic content.  Granted, these children are going to have a difficult time complete simple academic tasks, but even if the academia is not the goal of the activity it can still be used.  In an attempt to bring a little bit of academics back Elizabeth has decided to use some basic science experiments in our therapy. 

Today we experimented with colors.  We had plastic test tubes (with screw tops - essential) filled with water.  We then prompted the students to choose which color we would add to the water (4 choices - blue, green, red and yellow).  Typically, these students have voice output devices (cursory explanation: the student selects a word from a display and the device produces the word auditorally).   However, only one of the four students currently as his device.  The other three devices are currently being serviced.  So, the other three shared one we were fixing for another student.  Anyway, once all five test tubes had been filled up we added more colors to them to see what colors we could make.  So, the academics were really just a facility with which to prompt conversation, and while we didn't do direct instruction about colors, and the process of mixing colors we were able to give them an opportunity to observe science in action.  Next time we might increase the complexity and mix food coloring with water and vegetable oil, and then mix the water and oil.

Later on in the day we walked around visiting other classrooms (giving me an idea of the variety of students and skill levels present at Croyden).  At the end of the day we help bus the students to their buses.  Elizabeth and I went to a middle-high school aged classroom.  In that classroom there are no male teachers (fairly common, I think there are a total of three male teachers in the school - but in the speech pathology department there are 2 women and 2 men [with me] an equal split never happens - it's usually 80-90% women).  anyway, back on track.  In the classroom one of the girls shook my hand hello, and then grabbed it and held it to her cheek.  One of her teachers jokingly told her that she shouldn't be flirting with someone she just met.  She laughed and smiled.  So, I decided to go with it, I told her I liked her sweater, and her hair etc.  Her laughter was great!  Maybe you had to be there, but seeing and hearing this child with cerebral palsy laugh and engage in a "typical" teenage behavior was remarkable.  Many of these children are destined for a life of being forgotten and neglected, and for that instance this child was the center of attention.  It was a really good experience, and one I think everyone else should have at sometime.  

It's actually really humbling, that 5 minutes of 'flirting' (if you can even call it that) is something she will never get outside of school, and it was the only communicative act occurring at that time.  Typically developing teenagers engage in much more subtle flirting as an overlay of oral communication (they flirt with their eyes and not their words), and don't even stop and think about the complexity of their ability to communicate.  Even my own communication difficulties cannot hold a candle to the difficulties these people live with.  My oral communication may not be as fluid and 'artistic' as a fluent speakers, but I can get a fairly complex message across.

Anyway, off my soap box.  In other news, it was a windy day.  I like windy days.  I saw a blue heron today, and now it's time to go work in my thesis.  I'm reading articles about breathing for speech!

Bronco Bash

Yesterday, September 7, 2007, was the 27th annual Bronco Bash.  For those of you who don't know, each academic year WMU celebrates with Bronco Bash - a fair type deal - lots of vendors giving away crap college students don't really need but take anyway because it's free.  Throughout my time at WMU I have learned what the good vendors are and which ones are not.  For example, Kalamazoo's metro transit authority (the metro for short) gives umbrellas away each year.  Granted they are not sturdy umbrellas, but one usually lasts me 1-2 years - just in time to grab another one at Bronco Bash.  This year, in addition to handing out umbrellas, the metro handed out rucksacks as well.  I'm not sure if I'll ever use it, but hey I'm sure I'll find a use for it. 

Other spoils of Bronco Bash include:

 - Lots of coupons

 - three plastic cups

 - A popcorn container from the movie theatre (really cool because now I get in for $3 and I get free popcorn too!)

 - Quite a few pens.

 - Anything (and everything) else found its way to the trash can.

While at Bronco Bash I tried an oxygen bar.  Basically they forced air (70% oxygen (o2), 30% atmospheric gases) into a beaker with a flavorful liquid, the higher o2 concentrated air was then forced out into a tube that connected to a nasal oxygen cannula and into my nose.  Therefore, I was breathing in a pleasant smelling, higher o2 concentrated air.  I chose peppermint.  It was good - I'm not sure I'd pay for it, but nevertheless it was a new and different experience. 

At it's most basic level using the oxygen bar does something along the lines of a hyperbaric chamber does (but less efficiently, with a lower concentration of o2, but more cheaply - oh and for non-medical reasons).  The theory goes that a higher concentration of o2 in the atmosphere would improve all vegetative processes of the body (neural function, digestion, cellular absorption of nutrients).  Therefore, when you have brief periods when you are breathing o2 fortified air your brain will work better (you'll do better on tests etc) and you will feel healthier.  I was only on o2 for about 5 minutes, so I didn't get that much.  The employees suggested anywhere from 15-30 minutes.  I didn't notice any significant changes in my ability to process.  Maybe I should design and implement my own research study: have a neutral party study and take tests while on o2 and off o2 and see if there is a difference.  Eh, that would take too much time and effort.  I'll be satisfied with something more practical: knowing that if ever I have a really bad smell in my nose that just will not go away, I can go just off campus and smell some o2 fortified air until the rancid smell is gone. 

Anyway, this is me, signing off.

Internship, Day 1

Welcome to the very first posting of my blog. Hopefully I will be diligent in posting, but you can never know how much time I'll have to post.  

Anyway, Thursday, September 6, 2007 I began my internship at Croyden Avenue School.  For those of you who don't know, Croyden is a center based learning facility for children through the Kalamazoo County School District with severe cognitive and emotional deficits.  My supervisor (Elizabeth) is a speech-language pathologist there.  She is also the assistive technology (AT) coordinator for the district as well - so we will be doing some site visits periodically throughout the semester - to make sure our students have access the the technology they need, and that the technology is functioning as it is intended.

Anyway, we began the day with a tour of the building.  The building itself is an interesting design.  There are two levels, and the upper level is essentially a large circle with arms extending off on several sides.  The downstairs is less organized - I didn't get a good sense of a distinct shape.  I'll talk more about that later.  

Anyway, as we walked through the building we would see students and teachers in the halls.  Every time we meet a student Elizabeth would engage them in some form of communication.  (Which is good - especially because many of these children are poor functional communicators - they have a difficult time communicating everyday needs, let alone complex forms of communication like writing, recounting activities in days past, etc.).  We could not walk 15 steps without meeting another child.  (Croyden is not like your average school, obviously.  There is a great deal of structure, but it's in alternate forms than your typical school. We'll get to this later).

So, when Elizabeth and I finished the tour we went out to lunch with another SLP, Dan.  (The students call him Dan-Dan-the-Speech-Man, more about him later).  After lunch, we were supposed to go to an IEP meeting (Individualized Education Plan Meeting - a requirement for every student who needs 'special' services in schools).  The IEP got cancelled because someone was unable to be there - no one bothered to tell us, or the occupational therapist (OT), so you know. 

Anyway, all in all it was a good day.  I had few interactions with the kids; however, the ones I did have were quite funny.  For instance, there was a little girl, we'll call her Jill.  Jill was certainly my friend.  As soon as she noticed me she reached her hand out to grab mine.  I obliged, and started talking with her.  Unfortunately, she was not verbal (she didn't use words).  She pointed a lot, but it was difficult to understand her message.  

That was a little bit about my day - more to come.