More earthquakes?

Who needs the scare of a tornado when you have these daily?

3.5 magnitude #earthquake. 35 km from #Guthrie, OK, #UnitedStates http://t.co/dEzYspguYW
— Earthquake Alerts (@QuakesToday) March 30, 2014

Or maybe it was this one?

I seriously just felt aftershocks from something. I'm supposed to be asleep.

Hearing problems for your child?

            Children with hearing loss have the option to use three main systems for communication. First, there are systems emphasizing listening and spoken language (LSL). The most common of these systems include the auditory-oral approach and the auditory verbal approach. Next, there are manual-visual systems for communication. Manual-visual systems include American Sign Language (ASL) and Signing Exact English (SEE). These are non-verbal systems that include communication with only visual information present. Finally, there are systems combining visual and auditory information. The most commonly used visual-auditory systems include the Total Communication approach (TC) and the Cued Speech approach. There are many similarities and differences between the three communication methods for children with hearing loss. The following will define these approaches as well as explain the similarities and differences between them (Schow & Nerbonne, 2013). 

              In order for a child to use a listening and spoken language system, he or she must have some residual hearing left. These systems use hearing aids, cochlear implants, and FM systems to maximize language development and establish spoken language in the child. A child that receives therapy using an auditory-oral approach will be educated with other children with hearing loss and therapy will target speech, language, and hearing development while parents are given activities to do at home for more practice with their child. Speech reading is not emphasized during an auditory-oral approach (Schow & Nerbonne, 2013). An auditory-verbal approach is similar to an auditory-oral approach in that they both rely on the use of residual hearing, hearing aids, cochlear implants, and amplification systems. However, auditory-verbal approaches focus more on auditory skills instead of visual cues. An auditory-verbal approach will teach parents how to incorporate spoken language activities into daily life (Schow & Nerbonne, 2013).

              In a manual-visual system, only visual cues are used. American Sign Language (ASL) and Signing Exact English (SEE) are most effective with at least one parent that signs in the home to ensure carryover and practice. In order to implement these systems, ASL must first be established as the first language in the home (Schow & Nerbonne, 2013). The child must maintain access to fluent speakers of ASL and the use of amplification when using this is optional since few auditory cues will be used. English is often developed later after ASL has been established and the child becomes fluent in the signing system (Schow & Nerbonne, 2013).

              Systems combining visual and auditory information include the Total Communication (TC) approach and the Cued Speech approach. Total Communication uses manually coded English (SEE), fingerspelling and gestures in addition to residual hearing and speech to maximize language learning for children with a hearing impairment (Schow & Nerbonne, 2013). Like LSL approaches, the use of amplification and hearing aids or cochlear implants is encouraged during a Total Communication approach. During a Total Communication approach, adults that work with the hearing impaired child would use speech at the same time as they use manually coded English and fingerspelling (Schow & Nerbonne, 2013). The Cued Speech is similar to the Total Communication approach in that visual cueing and speech happens simultaneously. They are also similar in that they maximize the use of residual hearing. However, adults that use this approach with hearing impaired children use a set of hand shapes and movements that they learn previously to working with the child. The hand shapes are used to differentiate sounds that look similar when coming from the lips (Schow & Nerbonne, 2013). Both of these approaches require commitment from the family to help carry over what has been learned from the therapist and at the child’s school.

              Over 90% of babies born with hearing loss are born to hearing parents that don’t consider themselves culturally Deaf or part of the Deaf community (Schow & Nerbonne, 2013). Because of this, many families are likely to include an approach that emphasizes spoken language. It’s also important that families be realistic in their expectations for their child and their own language-learning abilities. If ASL is not going to be used in the home it will only negatively affect a child with hearing loss. However, if a child does not have any residual hearing and must rely on visual cues for communication, it is essential that someone in the family learn a manually coded system so that the child doesn’t fall further and further behind in his or her language development. The approach chosen should really be a decision of comfort, ease of use, and what is the right fit for the child.

Source: Schow, R.L., & Nerbonne M.A. (2013). Introduction to Audiologic Rehabilitation. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Week 8 Down

I GOT THIS. 

8 weeks of the semester down and I feel like I'm coasting into another semester done. May be switching schools in in the fall, may not. It all depends. I will keep you posted. 

Good times with the family I live with and the kids I babysit. They continue to amaze me every day. I continue to think about my future and what it will hold. 

Miss the boyfriend like crazy, but try not to think about that too much. 

Not much else here to report. Class tomorrow, turning in a paper that is half done but will be done by noon tomorrow. Nothing like the last minute to light a fire under your ass. I thrive under pressure. I totally do. 

Clinical Methods Journal Entry 1 Draft

     I received my assignment, clinician, client, and supervisor and can honestly say that I am excited to begin this leg of my journey as a speech language pathology student. It will be exciting to take a step back from my position as a graduate clinician with virtually no preparation into a role where I can watch and learn while doing. My assignment is a 47-year-old male with a diagnosis of anomic aphasia and dysarthria. I immediately start thinking about my neural bases of speech and language course last semester and everything I learned about upper motor neurons and damage to the brain. I want to know so much about how this was sustained, if there was a stroke involved and how long this individual has been in therapy. I learned from reading the file that this is an individual who lives independently in Stillwater. He has been in therapy at the university clinic for eight semesters and. He is a Korean man adopted at age 7 to American parents. I instantly thought about culture and wanted to ask so many questions about culture and background without sounding “nosy.” After all, it is a part of my professional duties. I learned from chatting with my graduate clinician, Kristin Van Ostran, that he doesn’t retain much of the Korean culture because American parents in Oklahoma raised him. I learned that he was a product of the special education system as a youth and has learned how to cope with being an adult and thrive on the job (he works as a bus boy at the country club in Stillwater). On the day of my first observation I meet Ms. Payne in the observation room and she is always so encouraging. She mentions that this client will be a good one for me to work with and will give me many new experiences.

Love it

Warning: Speech nerd post ahead! 

Therapy notes, not necessarily data -- subjective

I need to get better about cuing; I know this. It seems so easy yet so difficult in practice. I know exactly what I am going to say in my head yet it comes out so so wrong out loud. Either that or its the confidence factor. Cognitive therapy isn't hard, but it's hard knowing when to cue and when to shut your mouth as a clinician and let the client think about what he wants to say. Because you know he has it in there somewhere and you know it will get up and out eventually but you only have 50 minutes a session. The clinician I am working with is super at it, either that or she seems super. I just tie myself in knots with the decisions I make in the spur of the moment and then invalidate my data because I didn't think that my cueing was accurate. If it doesn't make sense, then I can't count it wrong, right? This seems silly and maybe I am over-thinking it too much. I do like working with the older population and do enjoy cognitive therapy. I do enjoy research too. So maybe, I was thinking, I need to do the route of an SLP-A that works in a university and does research? Is that a thing?

Humor for the AM in a less than ideal situation

My mother has been up all night with my grandmother who needs emergency surgery. Naturally, being in grad school I said "welcome to my world" and "I bet this is bringing back memories for you." Her response was "never pulled an all-nighter in grad school because I always had two kids to get up and out to school in the morning." Touche. Well-played, I know where I stand now.