Wherein Ela remembers how much she likes a schedule.

Good evening friends!

It hasn't been too long since the last post (about 2 weeks, maybe?), but SO MUCH has happened! I spent days following my last post wrapping up clinic (hectic), CUP (enjoyable - I love presenting at the workshop*), and thesis ethics (currently being edited). I then spent the weekend organizing my stuff, and Sunday evening I headed out on the highway.

I'm back in my old bedroom, but my mum has completely redone it, and it's lovely. My parents were so cute my first night here... mum was bringing me towels (I do happen to know where they are, I did live here for 18 years!), and dad was telling me again and again to just help myself to whatever I want. He also reminded me of the one house rule: You can have whatever you want, but if it's the last one, make sure you write it on the list. Living with my folks is working out really well. It doesn't hurt that they're spoiling me rotten - my laundry miraculously gets done, dinner is on the table about 1/2 an hour after I get home, and if I write what I want on this little piece of paper by the phone, it shows up in the fridge a day or two later. It's like magic!

Aside from all of the spoiling, it's really nice to spend some time with my parents and grandparents. They're all pretty neat people, and I'm really enjoying being able to see them all a little more often.

Another nice thing is that I'm back on a strict schedule, and I'd forgotten how much I love it. Last semester was sort of all over the place, time wise (Monday and Wednesday at CUP, Tuesday and Thursday at clinic, Wednesday afternoon and Friday off...), and I didn't realize how tough that was for me. Now....

Monday- Thursday: I get up at about 6.15. I get dressed, go for a 30 minute run (I can run ALL THE WAY across Wetaskiwin in 15 minutes. That boggles my mind. I can't get ANYWHERE in Edmonton in that short a time!), come home, clean up, eat breakfast, make my lunch, and go to work. I come home from work, eat supper, do the dishes, do 40 minutes of toning with weights, watch some TV, talk to Jason on the phone, surf the 'net, etc. At 10.00 I get into bed. I read for 30 minutes. Then I turn out the light, and go to sleep. I like it!

Friday: Pretty similar to M-R, except that after work I drive to Edmonton. I eat dinner with Jason, I don't do any weights, and I probably stay up later than I should.

Saturday: I do as little as possible. No run, no weights, no work. It's nice. :) This will change when my ethics edits get back...

Sunday: Get up, go to church, hang out, drive back to Wetaskiwin at about 7, do my weights, get ready for Monday, into bed at 10, read for half an hour... :D

But the REALLY COOL thing is that stuff that happens in-between eating breakfast and coming home for supper: my placement.

Let me just say this: I LOVE MY PLACEMENT.

Today, I had one little guy from about 9-10. After lunch, I was walking through the halls to another child's classroom, and he spotted me.

"Are you coming to pull me out?" he asked hopefully.

"No, but you get to come and see me again on Friday," I told him.

"Friday?" he asked sadly. "That's a long way away."

I never thought I'd love pre-school/school-age treatment this much. But it isn't just the kids, as wonderful as they are. I have an amazing supervisor, who totally *gets* how independent I am, and who lets me run my own show. Nevertheless, she's incredibly supportive and is always willing to give me advice, or to jump in when what I'm doing isn't working. She is just FANTASTIC. And the Wetaskiwin SLP materials room is just awesome. They have every game, every book, every resource... all organized, all in good condition. I love going in there and poking around - you just never know what you might find!

My caseload is exciting and varied - from kids who are struggling with just one sound to toddlers who aren't making good eye contact to a stuttering case. I'm getting to see it all, and I couldn't be happier.

Great and varied clients + Excellent materials and resources + Superb clinical supervisor = one heck of a practicum. I love it.

Ela

*One participant told me that I was obviously very comfortable with my material, and that I had a great presentation style. "You didn't say 'um' or 'like' once!" It was such a nice compliment.

Just the blahs

Hello friends!

It is yet ANOTHER glorious day here in Edmonton (5*C and beautifully sunny!). I have had a lovely day. Which I especially appreciate given how 'blah' I had been feeling earlier in the month.

In fact, my lack of motivation, hypersomnia, changes in appetite, and general 'Debbie Downer' mood had me a little bit concerned that perhaps I was depressed. Jason told me that I really wasn't being myself, and wondered if I shouldn't be seeing the doctor about it. Kathie suggested maybe it was just the February blahs. I really didn't know. I didn't feel really 'sad,' so depression seemed a bit much. Yet it hadn't been a particulary grey or gloomy month either, so the 'blahs' didn't really fit either.

It must have been the blahs. The temperature has risen, the sun has been out every day, and I've been feeling like a new person. Yesterday I ran outside for the first time in (I'm embarassed to say) months. It was more of a walk than a run, and I had an asthma attack, but I was out there giving my best and it felt really good. I ran again today and had a much better time of it. Short-ish - only 20 minutes - but that's still better than being a lump of lard on the couch! So I'm celebrating being active and enjoying the sun, and I'm looking forward to more days where I can chug down the sidewalk listening to some of my favorite songs.*

I now have a new snowboard, so tonight I'm going to put my bindings (peeing men and all!) on it. Tomorrow I'll head over to Snow Valley and practice up some more - hopefully a shorter board will help me to feel more in control, and I'll be able to figure this turning thing out. Let's just say I'm hopeful, if not expectant. ;)

My clinic partner has been gone this week, and I've therefore had 2 solo sessions. Tuesday's was excellent - I was working with just 1 of the 3 girls, and she achieved some good things. I also made progress on some of my personal goals (like accurately taking data and being really enthusiastic and responsive to her accurate productions). Today's session... well, I was nervous. And I rarely get nervous. I'm very confident in my abilities as a student SLP. I know my strengths, I know my weaknesses, and I can work with them. But today I had a parent observing.

In my heart of hearts, I am an old-school, directive SLP. I do my thing in my room, then send the child home, and the parents are excited about the progress. I write them reports, they read them, maybe we conference... but I'm in charge, and clinic is separate from home. If I had no guidance, this is how I would run treatment. This is NOT the best way to do speech/language therapy. I, as the clinician, see the client for maybe an hour a week. They, as the parents, see the child... well, lots more. Treatment is most effective when the SLP can coach the parents so that they can provide the treatment at home. The SLP brings the speech/language expertise, but the family brings the 'child' expertise. They know their kid. They know what motivates him, what frustrates him, what works for him. You help them figure out tasks that move the child towards his goal, and then they work on them at home as well. You coach, facilitate, advise... and work yourself out of the picture. The ideal SLP is the one who winds up making herself obsolete to each client.

So having a parent in the room is a challenge for me. I feel a bit intimidated, and a LOT overwhelmed. Now I have to run the session, manage behavior, take data, AND include a parent. That means explaining what I'm doing in each task and WHY (vital! vital! Otherwise people think that all you're doing is coloring. Or climbing stairs. Or making a cow 'moo.' They don't see that each task also has a communicative component), and providing the parent with a role for each task. It's so great if you can include a parent, demonstrate the task, and then let her take over. You also want to ask for her input about her child. Does this task suit her child? Can she think of something that might work better? Can she see herself trying something similar at home? Does she have questions, comments, concerns, or advice? Including a parent in a session goes beyond having her watch - it's a chance for EVERYONE to learn. The child at the activity, the parent from the coaching, and the SLP from the parent's expertise.

I was therefore very pleased to sit down with my supervisor afterwards and have her tell me that I did an excellent job. I missed a few things, of course, and would love a second opportunity to go further in talking with mum than I did, but I did a solidly good job of having mum in the room. I successfully explained the rationale for our activities, talked with her about things her daughter finds motivating and frustrating, shared stories about her daughter's previous sessions, and invited her to provide any feedback she wanted, either today in person, or in the future through a communication book. It went really well. Yay!! I was so pleased.

So pleased that I went to the knitting store and bought the supplies for a new afghan!** It's going to be dark purple with wide turquoise bands and narrow lime green stripes. So cute. The lady at the store told me that she "likes people who are adventurous with colour." That's me! :D I'm excited to get started on it, so I'm going to go and get started.

I'm so glad it was just the blahs... it's so much better to be excited and loving life!

Elizabeth


*The Killers - All these things that I've done
SheDaisy - Don't worry 'bout a thing
Lily Allen - Alfie
Usher - Yeah


**Yes, I have one that's almost done. It's currently in Wetaskiwin. As soon as I get it, I'll put this new one on hold and finish the old one. But for now... it's all about the casting on.

Baby it's cold outside...

Yuck. The weather has been so yucky lately. I know that I live in Edmonton, and I know that comes with some chilliness, but -47*C (-53*F) with the windchill is a little much. "My" car (as in Jason's car that I drive) won't start and doesn't have a blockheater, so I'm carless again. Oh, ETS - how I didn't miss you. At all. On the other hand, I'd forgotten how fun it is to wear ski pants (*vwip vwip, vwip vwip* all the way to school), and how neat it feels when your eyelashes freeze together. Luckily, it's warming up, so I don't have to worry about freezing any exposed skin in less than a minute!

In other news, everything else is going really well. Clinic continues to be both fun and challenging, work is interesting and enjoyable, and I'm getting work done on my thesis (ethics application and presentation for my proposal defence). These things are what the majoirty of my life is based around right now, and that's Ok by me. I'm finding this term to be just the right amount of work, and I'm feeling pretty balanced. (A little more exercise is needed, but once it warms up a bit more I'll get back to the gym with B.).

Jason and I have been hanging out with our couple friends lately, which is fun. We played Settlers of Catan with Al and her husband two weeks ago, and then we went to Kathie and Brandon's this weekend for dinner and a game of Zombies!!! As gross as it is, I kind of like this game. :D Jason and I also hung out with Jake on Tuesday, which was lots of fun. We played some video games, a round of Zombies!!! (I won!), and then some WoW. Good times were had by all (thank you Minnie Johnson of the Wetaskiwin Times Advertiser). Tish and Larissa have been trying to catch us to go out for wings with them, but we haven't managed to line our schedules up yet. And B. and her boyfriend want togo out for dinner and then learn how to play Settlers, so that's going to happen sometime in the near future too, I think.

It's kind of weird to be in a place in my life where I have couple friends. This weirdness obviously needs to be counteracted with individual friend time! And so, I had breakfast withTegan (whose real name I will use from now on, as she no longer has the same schedule as me, and you cannot stalk her via my blog) last weekend, dinner with Robin and Caitlin the week before that, and dinner with Rachel (the newest friend in my life) last night. All in all, very satisfying.

So that's where things are at right now. Hope you're all keeping warm and drinking loads of cocoa with those little mini-marshmallows.

Love,
Ela

Happy New Year!

Hello friends!

A happy 2008 to you all - it's been good to me so far, and I hope it continues that way.

New Year's Eve in Jasper was a really fun getaway. Our first day, the four of us (Jason, Aaron, and Megs) sat in the hotel room and played the Wii's Big Brain Academy. It was sooo addictive. And it was really funny - As long as the teams were 1 boy and 1 girl (didn't matter which), we were evenly matched. However, girls against the boys meant that the girls lost. :) My one criticism of the game would be the lack of language tests - I think a big brain is one with a good vocabulary! Some definitions, synonym/antonym pairs... things like that would have made it better.

Our second day was the day on the hill... and let's just say I didn't do too well. My inability to carve really bit me in the arse... or more acurately, my quads. Trying to heelside my way down the whole mountain didn't work out so well. The time has come for me to learn to carve, and this will require me to get over my fear. Think I could find a psychological snowboarding coach? :) If it isn't too cold tomorrow, maybe I'll hit the hill again.

Our third day, the boys hit the hill, while we girls lazed about, wandered the town, and relaxed. As it was New Year's Eve, we went out for dinner at the Fiddle River, and it was lovely. I had lobster for the first time - wonderful! We then crashed back at the hotel and watched Hot Fuzz. An excellent film. We had a champagne toast at midnight, and it was such a nice way to ring in 2008 - sitting with good friends, watching a good film, and drinking champagne.

We drove back the next day and attempted to find somewhere to eat some lunch. Not much was open, so I suggested the truck stop in Hinton. Jason says "are you sure they even serve food there?"

"Um yes - see the giant knife and fork on the sign?"

"Well, I've never really eaten at a truck stop. You're such a small town girl!"

Hard to argue with that, really. :)

My semester has been going incredibly well so far. Mondays and Wednesdays I'm at CUP, where I'm working on various projects and am developing an idea for a possible publication. Tuesdays and Thursdays, I'm in clinic, where I'm working with 3 little girls (all under 4) who have language delays. This is different from my client this summer who had speech difficulties, but intact language (can't remember the difference? Look here.) These little girls are darling, and I'm already enjoying working with them. Fridays are free for thesis work.

Some extra nice things? (1) My clinic partner, B, is fabulous. I just love her. She's hard working and efficient, and a complete pleasure to work with. (2) B and I are going to the gym together Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings, which is lovely. (3) My proposal draft is completed, and is under final edits. I'm hoping to defend it by early February, and then get cracking on my actual research. Whee!

One sad thing is that Jason agreed to take social dance classes with me once a week (waltz, foxtrot, etc.)... but the class was full. :( There's only one class a week offerred late in the evening, the only time that Jason is certain to be free... and the wait-list is 6 couples long. Oh well... maybe next semester!

That's my update for now - have a lovely weekend!

Elizabeth

So much with the busy...

Hi all,

apologies for the lack of posts - unfortunately the last 3 weeks have been totally insane, and I just haven't had time to sit down and write anything. Today's post won't be anything brilliant... just a bit of a catch up. :)

Today is the last day of clinic. This summer we had clinic plus two classes: Assessment and Dysphagia (disorders of swallowing). Assessment was pretty closely integrated into our clinic process, so it wasn't so noticeable. Dysphagia was totally independent of clinic, and it was tough. I was so unmotivated to learn that I found it hard to pay attention in class. I wound up teaching myself most of the material the weekend before the final. :) Luckily, that works for me! And dysphagia is a disorder area I'd like to spend at least some time working in some day, so I'm glad I got something out of the class.

Clinic itself was a weird experience. The 4 45-minute sessions a week were great. I loved being with clients: both working with them and just getting to know them. The rest of the time was more challenging. There was so much group work, and so many overlapping roles with no clear delineation. There was a lot of paperwork, something I really don't mind working on solo, but something that is very challenging to try and complete with another person. Honestly, who writes reports with two people sitting at one computer? Yet this is how our clinic is structured in many ways, and I found it really challenging. Clinic was also hard because everyone is exhausted from the last 2 semesters of school. Tempers are shorter, endurance is a joke, and minor obstacles become frustrating hurdles to leap. If I could make one recommendation to the program, it would be that they give use TWO weeks in between winter and spring term, and only four weeks between summer and fall.

What makes all of the above worthwhile is the little girl who used to be about 25% intelligible, and is now closer to 55%. Her mum is noticing that strangers understand the little girl better, and the little girl isn't giving up so easily when people don't understand. That's pretty rewarding. And don't forget the older gentleman, unable to write more than a single word in May, who is now writing 3 word phrase to communicate his ideas. He's also added 4 words to his spoken repertoire, and his daughter reports that he's much more confident about trying to get his ideas across. That's pretty rewarding, too.

Other things sort of ground to a halt during clinic. My thesis, while not totally stalling out, certainly slowed in its progress. Luckily I've got fantastic supervisors, and they've kept me working on it a bit at a time, so I've got somewhere to go. My plan is to finish the prospectus this August - we'll see how it goes.

I basically quit running for a couple months there, which was a terrible choice. If anything, I should have been running more, to try and better cope with the stress. Instead, I chose to let the long days at school, the homework and the session planning, and my Robert get in the way. :) Now that clinic's winding down, I've had some extra time, and I've tied on my runners twice this week. It's pretty sad how slow I've gotten, and how low my endurance is, but I'm feeling really, REALLY good about getting out there and going. And with the month of August off, I see no reason that I won't be able to re-establish my runs as habit. Rob's also going to pick up a tennis racket, so we can play together. :) He's more into dangerous things, like rollerblading and mountain biking, so we're working on finding things that both of us enjoy that we could do together. So far, we've got tennis. ;)

Tomorrow is Meg's and my shared birthday party. Her birthday was yesterday, and mine's not til August, but she's going away to Africa for the whole month, so now seemed a good time to celebrate. I'm quite excited - she's hosting a semi-formal afternoon of desserts. I think it's going to be wonderful! The only thing is that I actually need a dessert, and baking is not something I'm feeling up for. I may have to check out a couple of the bakeries in the neighborhood, and see what I can find. :)

I applied for a part-time position, and I should hear back next week. The woman I applied to has actually already sent me an email, but it just said that she was heading out on vacation, and would be in touch. The company is called DriveABLE, and they assess people with cognitively impairing medical conditions. These impairments may or may not render someone unfit to drive, and adults suffering from these conditions need to be screened for whether or not they are safe to be on the road. The job that I applied for is one in which I would do the in-office testing. I'm quite nicely qualified for the position, as it requires assisting adults (mostly seniors) in demonstrating their abilities, even if they're language impaired. We'll see what happens, I guess. :)

And that's all that's new at the moment. I'll try and post a bit more regularly once I've got a bit more time. :)

Love you,
Elizabeth

Ugh, Communication

I may be all about the talking, but I'm so over this communicating business. ;) And for those of you who think that's not possible, I'd like to share a few Ela-style definitions with you.

In the world of rehabilitation medicine... Ok, just speech pathology (one of our profs asked a professor in the physical therapy dep't to differentiate these terms, and she couldn't). Anyways. In the world of speech language pathology, linguistics, and some psychology the terms 'speech,' 'language,' and 'communication' all denote different things. Crazy, I know. Let's begin, shall we?

Speech. Speech is the actual, physical mechanism of creating words using your lungs, your larynx, your mouth, and your nose. It is the airstream that is filtered through your vocal folds, mouth and nose.

Language. Language is a little bit more nebulous than speech is. It's all of the planning that happens before the muscles in your torso, neck and head work together to create the speech. Language includes things like grammar/syntax and vocabulary. If you create a sentence that is correct in your head, but don't actually say it out loud, that's language. :) Therefore, there are a variety of ways to use language. For example, writing uses language. So does sign (as in, sign language). Language does not require speech. It does, however, require symbols. So pointing up at the sky to communicate the message of 'up' is not language. That's not a symbol. Assigning arbitrary sounds to an idea is language. Assigning arbitrary scribbles that we call letters to an idea is language. Language must also be neoproductive. It has to allow to communicate an unlimited number of messages.

Communication. Communication is very cool. It doesn't require speech OR language. Infants are very effective communicators - and their tongues completely fill their mouths! How many of us have seen mums listen to their kids cry and say "oh, they're Ok. That's the hungry cry, not the hurt cry." Crying isn't speech. It isn't language. But it's primitive communication (I say primitive because it lacks intention - it's unlikely your 4 month old is thinking "hm, I'm hungry. I shall cry at 800 Hz and 65 dB SPL in order to indicate this). It's an oft quoted tidbit that the words we say make up only 7% of what our listeners hear. The other 93% comes from tone of voice, facial expression, and body language. This is why email and instant messenger can cause so many issues - you can't tell how the person is saying their message.

Anyhoo. I'm all about speech, and I really love language. But lately this communication business has been making me CRAZY!! The automatic assumption is that someone who talks a lot will be good at having difficult conversations. I completely disagree! It's obviously a possibility, but I could talk the hind leg off a hippo, and I stink at having to talk about the serious stuff. :) This is something I'm improving at, though, especially Robert is an excellent communicator, and is really encouraging me to learn to apply that which I already know (the counselling portion of my assessment class taught me a lot of skills).

Wednesday evening both Robert and I were a bit frustrated about a few different things, and my response was to be very quiet and to kind of avoid him. He was having none of that. I was eventually sat down and given a stern talking to about what makes relationships work. :) We managed to talk through most of the things that were bothering us, which was great, if tough for me. All communication-ed out, I was hoping for a quiet-ish Thursday. Instead, my clinical educator and I had a meeting, in which she expressed concern about how quiet I had been in meetings recently. I explained that I've been very tired recently, and that while I'm processing all of the information, I just wasn't sharing very much. She smiled, and informed me that she's the same way. When she gets tired, she gets quiet.

"However," she added "I don't think that your team understands where you're at. I think you need to sit down and communicate with them about how you work, and explain where you're at."

*headdesk*


See? See what I mean?? More communication! :D I am communication-ed out. I did actually sit down with my team and talk with them about how I work (I wish we'd do personality colours in our program. Then I could just say "when I'm tired, I go green."*). They were very pleased that I shared with them; I suspect they thought I was angry or some such thing.

This summer is definitely one of professional growth for me. I now know how to design an assessment, write an assessment plan, plan treatment, plan sessions, take data, and write treatment reports. I'm developing an arsenal of clinical skills on how to shape sounds, support conversation, and drill practice. And all of this is valuable. But all of it pales in comparison to the personal growth that I'm achieving through being pushed to communicate effectively. It might be exhausting, and it damn well might be frustrating, but it is so worth it.

Love you,
E.

Selective Eaters...

"Oh look, a picture of peas! Oh you looked at it! You looked at it and you didn't throw up! High five. "

"Look at this bowl of peas. You don't have to eat them. Just look at them. Hm. They're green. And round. I bet they'd roll if you put them on the table. Good job! You touched them without vomiting! High five."

"Look at this bowl of peas. You don't have to eat them, just look. I wonder what they feel like. Hey you touched them! Good work. Can you squish them? Can you put those squished ones on your cheeks? Ooh, good work. Here's a kleenex and a glass of water. Can you kiss those peas? You can wipe them off if you're feeling sick. You kissed the peas! High give."

And people wonder why speech pathologists are a little quirky. You would be to if the above conversation was a part of your daily life, as it is for the guest lecturer we had yesterday. :)

There's a month left in clinic, and as much as I've enjoyed it, I'm ready to be done. I'm at the point of tired now where I fall asleep on the LRT, I spill slurpees on my laptop (luckily Dexter is Ok), and I break glasses (fortunately I was holding it in a tea towel, so I didn't cut myself). Luckily this weekend is going to be very relaxing. We're definitely going out to the cabin (Robert, Aaron, Megs and myself) to be lazy and play games for most of the weekend. On Monday we're going to go to the Stampede finals, which should be very fun. Chris might meet us there, which would also be cool. I like it when my worlds collide a bit, and friends meet family meet boyfriends, etc. :)

I'm doing my solo adult session today, which means that I'm the only person in the room with my client. I'm feeling pretty good about what I've got planned, if a teensy bit nervous because I'm trying a trivia activity that we've never done before. However, if it doesn't go well, we can always just do some more oral-motor exercises instead. Back up plans are very comforting. :)

That's all that's new, friends.

Love,
Ela

Super Secret Sacks!

This week we're working on the /s/ sound, and so today we're having super secret sacks! These are paper bags filled with paper, and a small /s/ object (e.g., sock, sun, etc.). I was hoping to use shredded paper from the office, but they actually ship their shredding out. So I got creative, and stuffed the bags with toilet paper. :) Our client gets to dig through, find the object, name it, and place it in its spot on a sheet of paper. Some of the objects are extra fun. There's a sucker, a soother (the sour candy kind!), and a sour coke bottle candy. Once she's found all of the objects, and put them in their places, she gets to tell me "silly sentences," and I'll act them out. For example, "put Sam in the sock!" I think it's going to be fun.

I can't quite believe that it's Monday morning already. Friday afternoon, I went to Megs' for dinner, and on the bus there I commented that it felt like the weekend was already going by too quickly. Boy was I ever right. Megs' and I ate dinner (curry - so good!), baked brownies, and watched the rest of Firefly. Then on Saturday, Robert and I went out to his grandparents' cabin at the lake to help them get it ready for the summer. Robert was fixing a bunch of the plumbing, so I mopped up after him. :) Sadly, the plumbing wasn't totally finished by the time we left. We met up with Robert's good friend Aaron (who knows my good friend Elly, weird...), and spent the evening playing random word games and laughing hysterically. :) Sunday morning I taught Jr. Church, then Robert, Megs and I went out for lunch together. The waiter at Julio's was very concerned about Robert's choice of "nuclear" salsa... After lunch, Robert and I headed back out to the cabin, where he finished up the plumbing, and I cleaned the bejeebus out of the bathroom. We also got to spend some time visiting with his grandparents, whom I already love. :) We stopped in at my folks' place on our way back to the city, and he got to meet my grandparents. Highlight of the evening? My grandpa informing Robert that I am very precious to him. :)

And then the weekend was over! I can't believe how quickly it went by, and I also can't believe how ready I am for another. Like right now. Fortunately it's the long weekend this time around, and we've got a lazy one planned. Robert, Megs, possibly Aaron and I are all going out to the cabin, and then to the Ponoka Stampede finals. I think it's going to be a little bit more relaxed than this weekend was!! :D

Ooh, funny story. So, we all know that Shakespeare looooooooves Robert. (Apparently, he even likes him more than I do!). Well, Shakespeare has taken to trying to seduce Robert. The other evening, Robert and I were sitting on the living room floor playing crib. Shakes tried to get Robert's attention, but he was in the middle of playing a hand, so he ignored the cat. Shakes then sat down just out of reach. When Robert reached back to pet him finally, Shakes slid just a little further away. He pointedly looked off into the distance, then glance sultrily over his shoulder at Robert, and THEN he stretched out all luxuriously and sensuously. I think it's a good thing Shakes is going back to Al tomorrow... otherwise I think I'd have to fear for my life. After all, I wouldn't put it past a black cat to kill for love. :P

Ela

Stu, Stanley and Stella

Hey all!

We're working on s-blends with our pediatric client at the moment. Today, two giraffes (Stanley and Stella) have been stolen, and their friend Stu wants our client to help him find them. It's going to be very fun. :)

As you may have guessed, life continues to be ridiculously busy. Clinic is sort of a steady stream of things to do: sessions to plan, reports to write, materials to make. Now we've switched from our assessment class to our dysphagia (delays or deviances in swallowing) class, and it's shaping up to be to hectic, but wonderful. Nothing like starting out your morning with a little purulent sputum. :P We're about halfway through the spring session at this point, and I'm so ready for a holiday. I've gotten to that point where I can fall asleep anywhere, any time. Being in the car is almost impossible for me. Yesterday we drove from Knox to Eaton's City Centre, and I was asleep!

Robert had the unadulterated pleasure of getting to meet my family yesterday. Highlights include:
- my dad telling us about the time when he and his brother were kids, and sawed off the end of a shotgun. They then couldn't decide who would have to shoot it first, in case it blew up. They ultimately tied it to a tree, and pulled the trigger with a string. Don't we all long to date people with fathers who make SAWED OFF SHOTGUNS and fire them with PIECES OF STRING?
- my mother telling Robert that he should probably run now.
- my sister telling him that she and Brandon had basically decided to get married when they'd been dating as long as we have, and that we should really either get a ring or end it
- my mother welcoming Robert into the family after he demonstrated knowledge of a cunning plan involving a turnip.

All in all, it was actually a pretty good time, and I don't think that anyone was too disturbed by anyone else. This is good, right? :) Oh wait... everyone was disturbed when I mentioned our 'lunaversary....' I mean, we haven't been dating for a year, so it can't be an anniversary! But we have been dating for a month, so it's logical. Logical, I say!

Not too much else is new. I've started my new RA-ship, digitizing video clips into .wav files, and it's kind of fun. All the kids in the videos are from the south, and therefore have the cutest accents ever. I love hearing them say 'pie.'

Well, it's time for me to wrap this up, and go make sure Stu, Stanley and Stella are all wearing their nametags. It's a big day for them...

Love,
Ela

Muddled

Time makes no sense anymore. I look at my blog, it's been 10 days since I've posted, it feels like forever, and yet this semester isn't even half over. I'm confused! I'm also somewhat ready for a holiday, and a period of time full of sleeping in. :)

The whole clinic experience is very experiential. It is, in two words, gloriously tolerable. The glorious bits are those moments when your adult client spontaneously says 'hi' to another student clinician in the hallway - something he couldn't do when you first met him. It's glorious when your child client's mum tells you that she asks to come to speech every day. It's glorious when some task you're doing just isn't working, and you throw caution to the wind, try something random and new, and it works. There are many, many glorious moments. There are also a lot of tolerable moments: the long days, the course work, the $70 textbook that's the size of a magazine, the tasks that don't work, the sounds that I don't how to elicit... all tolerable.

I'm learning a ridiculous amount this summer. And it's not just about therapy for aphasia and phonological disorders. I'm learning how to work in a team (something I typically avoid like the plague), how to transfer theoretical goals into practical therapy, and how to counsel. The counselling portion of the course has been amazing. I'm boggled at the simple and practical techniques we can all use in all areas of our lives to improve our relationships. Have a friend that's constantly down in the dumps over everything? Everything is negative in a pervasive, permanent, personal way? "I'm never going to make any friends?" a comment you hear from them? Try reframing: "It's really tough for you to make friends at your new university right now, isn't it?" Without denying what they're saying, you're setting them up to be able to move forward, to feel empowered to make a change.

Anyhoo, it's time to go and brush my teeth and head to the dentist's. I finally caved and found one here in the city... I guess I'm really an Edmontonian now!!

Loves you,
Ela.

Holy cow, where'd the week go?

Hi friends,

I have no idea where this week went. One minute it was the holiday Monday, and I was lazing around playing crib with a friend (whom I skunked!), and the next, it was 6.10 Friday night and our CE meeting was wrapping up.

Clinic is crazy busy, but slowing settling down. You start with doing a session of pre-assessment, then one, two or three session of assessment, and then approximately 10 weeks (20 sessions) of therapy. We're just wrapping up our assessments, and sort of finding our groove. I had the pure pleasure of reading Jillian Jiggs to an adorable four year old. Every time I'd ask her what they were doing in the pictures, she'd say "they making a mess." Not they're flying, they're dressing up, they're being monsters, they're being chickens... just "they making a mess!" *dies from the cuteness*

Friday night I went to Marble Slab with a friend, and then we were at a total loss for what to do next. We decided to check out On the Rocks, a bar that typically has live, local rock bands. This is not something that's usually overly appealing to me, as rock is the one kind of music that I don't usually listen to. However, they had this great cover band playing (Morning Wood), and we stayed for all 3 sets. I didn't get home til after 3am!

Yesterday I slept in, and then was lazy, which was great. I met up with a friend at around 3, and we drove out to the Blackfoot recreation area (by Cooking Lake) and hiked around with his dog for the afternoon. He'd brought a picnic for us, but the mosquitoes were so bad that we had to eat inside!! Luckily, he'd also brought bug spray... but it only held the majority at bay. The few, the proud, the strong... kept biting my legs... (Tangent! When I worked at Hanson's Paint back in high school, one of the contractors - Roger - came up to me one day and said: "I wish I were a mosquito, Elizabeth." "Why?" I asked. "So I could bite your legs." It was a little weird, given that he was in his 50's, and I was 15...)

Today is church, wherein I am teaching the junior church lesson on sharing. Then I'm coming home to try and get a few things done around the flat before it's back to school tomorrow morning. A friend's coming over for supper, and we're going to do some BBQing (provided it doesn't rain), and maybe play some board games. It should be fun!

Cheers,
Elizabeth

Other people say it better...

I've only been in clinic for a week and 2 days now, but I've already learned a lot. I'm so tired by the time I get home, though, that I don't feel particularly lucid or articulate. The following are a few quotes that caught my eye...

We confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no large ones. (Francois de la Rochefoucauld, 1613-1680.)
- Clearly, this man has worked in groups, and groups in the 17th century weren't so different from the ones we have today!! We all (myself included!!) do this: own up to something little ("man, I really stacked a couple of those questions" ) to try and avoid something worse ("man, that interview went badly!").

I am not in this world to live up to other people's expectations, nor do I feel that the world must live up to mine. (Fritz Perls.)
- This is an attitude that I'm still working on! But come on - talk about the ideal way to function in a group!! :D

You probably wouldn't worry about people think of you if you could know how seldom they do. (Olin Miller.)
- Again - the perfect attitude towards group work. :P

The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well. (Joe Ancis.)
- It's true. :) But it's also true that people become much cooler and more interesting as you get to know them.

I wish people who have trouble communicating would just shut up. (Tom Lehrer.)
- No! No, I don't!! I just sniggered when I read this - this speechie's black sense of humour is rearing its head. :)

So. Clinic. It's busy, it's tiring, and it's really, really, REALLY hard for an independent kind of student like me to adapt to having to do everything with a partner or in a group. BUT. The people are amazing. I couldn't have chosen a better group if I'd had the option. Our clients are incredible. The opportunities for this summer are endless. I just might need to be a hermit on the weekends to try and recharge. (Introversion! Ack! And here I thought that I was becoming an extrovert!)

Final quote for the day: She had a pretty gift for quotation, which is a serviceable substitute for wit. (W. Somerset Maugham.)

Ciao bellas,
Ela

Swiper, no swiping!

Recognize the quote in the title? Yeah, me neither. Apparently, it's from Dora the Explorer, an extremely popular TV show for little kids (kind of in the 3-5 range, I think). I also think that it's mostly a girl thing - and therefore something that I missed out on with Jake. The problem? Our little girl in clinic loves Dora. Like, wearing the t-shirt, carrying the back-pack kind of love. And I don't know it! Caillou, Sponge Bob, The Weekenders? Blues Clues? I know the quotes! I know te characters! I can SING THE BLEEDING THEME SONGS! But Dora? Dora, I know not. I may have to rent it this week to get myself caught up... ;)



Also, me and change? Not a good couple. It's like change is a 5'4" guy with halitosis and a momma's boy complex. And he's needy. And has bacne. And, and... did I mention he's short? And skinny! Yeah, real skinny. Anyhoo. Last semester, I was typically done school at about 3. Today, our meeting didn't wrap up til about 6.15. Have y'all heard the term 'hangry' before? It's when you get 'angry' when you're 'hungry.' I had a serious case of the hangry today. Also, a serious case of the "my brain shut off at 3, I kept it going til 4 because I had a client, but now I'm done." I couldn't quite yawning in my meeting with my clinical educator. I felt awful... and am contemplating sending her an email apologizing! Riding my bike home was nice, because it's so sunny, but it was also tough. The wind blows straight down the bike path... and there's a big chunk of it that's uphill. I almost couldn't pass a guy out running... *blush*

I mentioned meeting our pediatric client today - and she's a dolly. So adorable, and you can totally tell she's spunky. I bet my sister was a lot like this little girl when she was small. Willing to cooperate as long as what you're doing is interesting, but lose her attention, and you're in trouble. :) Luckily, Katie is the pro-star with the kiddos, so we're going to have wicked cool sessions. I'm looking forward to it!

So now I'm home, and I should really be doing some strength training, but I can hardly keep my eyes open. I'm thinking that going to bed with a book, or laying on the couch watching poker sounds good. I'll be... strength training... my... eyes. Yeah. THAT'S it. :P

Ok. The horizontal position is calling my name. (Damn right I'm good in bed... I can sleep for days!)

Laters!
e.

Balance

Yeah, yeah, I cut the top of my head off. YOU try and take a picture of yourself standing on one foot. (Please ignore the empty wine bottle and the garbage that needs to go out... I'll be dealing with those later! And yes, my shirt *does* say "does not play well with others." I think that forewarned is forarmed!)

Anyhoo. This is actually not the kind of balance I'm talking about. I just thought it'd be cute. I'm talking about the kind of balance where your life doesn't consist of going to school, cleaning your apartment, watching TV, and reading books. *coughcoughthelifeIlivedayearorsoagocoughcough*. I was running through the river valley on Friday morning when I suddenly realized how much happier I am now than I've ever been before. (This seems to be a theme for this year. It's a good theme. It could stick around for as long as it wanted, and I'd be pleased. Thematically pleasing, that's my life.) And I think a lot of it is just that I'm so much more balanced than I've ever been before.

At heart, I'm an introvert. Being with people uses up my energy; being alone replenishes it. Lovely. Fine. Not a big deal. But I used to spend absolutely obscene amounts of time alone. Sitting next to someone for 50 minutes in a 300 person psych class really doesn't count as time with others. ;) The weirdest part is that, in many ways, I was convinced that I liked spending so much time with me, myself, and I. I have very 'happy' memories of puttering around the apartment for a whole weekend, never really seeing anyone else, except my roommate.

WHAT WAS I THINKING?? I would go INSANE if I spent that much time doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING now. When I think of all the time I wasted in front of the TV... yuck! And I was lonely all the time, because I never spent any time with any people! (Was that sentence good English? I think not. But you get the idea.)

Anyhoo. I was running in the river valley, and I realized that now, even when I'm by myself, I'm a lot happier than I used to be. Now, when I'm alone, I'm usually doing something productive, like running, or reading, or cooking, instead of sitting on the couch, letting my brain cells ooze out my ears. (I also sleep. Sleep is good.) And I value that alone time so much more because I spend a lot of time with great, great people. Megs and I are together a lot, I'm going for dinner with Chris tonight, Katie and I will be attached at the hip this summer... and yes, I'm still dating like a 'floozy' (as Adrian so nicely put it! *grin*)

So I'm taking care of myself socially, spiritually, physically (I love riding my bike. My brother tells me that I'm the kind of girl who takes something totally geeky, and rocks it. Hence my Cool Cat sunglasses, and my sexy bike. That's its name, by the way. One of my classmates christened it!), and intellectually. It's such a great feeling!

Also a great feeling: I'm officially able to make conversation with a rock now. I know, I know - you're all thinking "E., you never STOP talking. Why is this exciting??" The truth of the matter is that, yes, I can talk the hind leg off a rhino... provided that I already know the rhino, and am comfortable with him. But I really, really stink at making small talk with people that I don't know that well. This was probably my biggest weakness as an ESL teacher - I found it really difficult to stimulate natural conversation in the classroom without using some sort of paper prompt (a game, a story, etc.). I was a bit worried about this being a problem in my clinical life, as well. Then, well...

Then I started dating a lot more than usual. And seriously - one or two dates where no one says anything, because neither of you can think of anything to say? HIGHLY MOTIVATING. My use of open-ended questions, and "tell me more" has increased exponentially. ;) I feel a lot more comfortable in odd little situations, like talking to people at church whom I don't know well, chatting with the staff at school that I don't interact with very often, etc..., and I'm really hoping that it carries over into clinic. We'll see!

Well, this is a long and introspective post. (AKA - really boring for anyone that isn't me.)

Cheers!
me

Ugh, change

Hey dudes,

I imagine that at least one or two of you is wondering how my week has been so far. Two words: totally overwhelming. However, I've learned how to deal with that emotion. You just let it be! I'm giving myself til tomorrow afternoon or Saturday morning to just be overwhelmed, and not do anything about it. Then, Saturday morning at the latest, I'm going to start with the to-do list, and get myself organized and on-top of things.

That's a quote from September, describing my feelings about the first week of my Master's. It's also pretty apt regarding the first week of clinic/practicum. A completely different schedule (far from having no class on Friday, I'm in class at 9, and have a last meeting at 5.30), information overload ("you need to meet with your partner all the time, your consulting partners twice a week for an hour, and with your clinicial educator twice a week. "), and a few nerves about the fact that we're going to be dealing with REAL PEOPLE (no more video case studies!!). It's all a bit... well, overwhelming. But I've just been going with the flow for now, and I spent Wednesday evening organizing everything, so I'm feeling better about where I need to be and when.

My direct partner, Katie, and I are getting along great. It turns out that we have really similar styles of organizing ourselves, and similar levels of confidence in our abilities as therapists. I'm really enjoying working with her. Our consulting pair, J & N, are very different from us, which is great, because they'll be able to give us feedback on things we may not even think about.

This week we got our clients' files to read, in order to prepare to meet them, and to get ready for assessing their communication abilities. I was going to tell you a little bit about them just in general (nothing that would ever enable you to identify them), but I've decided not to. It just seems a little risky to put that kind of info out there on the web. Suffice it to say that both of our clients appear to be friendly, bright, and highly motivated. We're really excited to meet them! One little tidbit: it's really difficult to develop an interview that includes an adult who only has two words in his/her spontaneous speech. I'm just saying. (Katie and I have come up with some fantastic ideas!)

I'm continuing to learn how much my past experiences are going to support me as a therapist. It's pretty cool to have those moments that are "Oh! This is just like when I did __________ at _________________ (previous job)." I'm so excited to start being a clinician - to learn my strengths and weaknesses, and to be a part of my clients' lives.

Speaking of clients' lives, we had CPR today (ba dum dum). We have to have the healthcare providers' CPR, which is a bit more intense than the typical one is. I can do perform CPR on infants, children and adults, and I learned how to use an AED (automated external defibrillator). That's one of those zappy packs that you see on the hospital shows, y'know: "Clear!" *ZAP* :D They've made a small, idiot-proof version, and I learned how to use it. Very fun. If you're going to have a heart attack, make sure you have me around! (I jest! I jest!! I'd really like to go through life having to NEVER use my mad CPR skilz).

So that's where this week is at. A lovely friend of mine gave me a MEC gift certificate, so I'm going to head over there tomorrow to get a bell, a new lock, and a basket. It's going to be great!

Laters,
e.

Back to School

Hey all,

so I've been back at school for two days of spring session. Today, I had to have a nap when I got home. *blush*

I was feeling a bit worried and stressed about this whole 'clinic' experience, and had really put off thinking about it for quite a while. Yesterday was an "orientation and jumping in with both feet" kind of day - a day that a few of my peers found disconcerting and a bit stressful. For me, it actually calmed some of my concerns. We finally sorted out some of our schedules, and got a sense of what the spring would look like. Today we continued in that vein, and learned about what our clinical educators (the SLPs who supervise in the clinic) expect of us. As we talked about it, I realized that I'm in a wonderful position: I have done a LOT of this before!

Being observed and critically evaluated while practicing a professional skill? I spent four full weeks doing that in September '06, during my teacher training. I can handle that. Communicating with someone where communication is difficult? Eight months in Prague working with non-native speakers of English. Legal documentation for confidentiality, monitoring contact, tracking treatment? Six months working for the Edmonton John Howard Society. I am feeling much, much better about my ability to do this. I'm also smiling to myself, and thanking God for the circuitious route I took to get to speech!

One of our textbooks this term is Counseling Persons with Communication Disorders and Their Families. This book is wonderful, and is inspiring a new interest in me. A few of you know that, during my fourth year of uni, I had some serious doubts about becoming an SLP. I was also considering law or clinical psych. Eventually I decided that speech was really the place for me. This textbook, along with our assessment class, is showing me that speech is a field that is slowly beginning to incorporate more and more counseling strategies. This is so exciting! It appears that I'm going to have the opportunity to pursue my interest counseling alongside my interest in speech and language. Sweet! (Hmm... PhD in clinical psychology...)

So school and my excitement are both a little tiring. I think I'm also tired because yesterday I got up and ran for 45 minutes before school, and this morning I got up and did an hour of strength training. THEN... I rode my 'new' bike to and from school!


Ok, so 'new' is stretching it. It's actually older than I am. But it's comfy, the tires hold air, and it gets me from point A ("downtown") to point B ("school"). Let me tell you - pedalling home in the wind is very tiring! But it's fun to be out with all the other cyclists, and I get to school a bit faster than I do when I take the LRT. So huzzah!

Well, that's all that's new... bye for now!
e.

PS - What did the Buddhist say to the hot dog vendor?