Work: Where Do I Have Time to Give? (typical exchange)

Here’s such a typical employer/employee conversation.  Never caring about YOUR time (school doesn’t either).  No understanding of anxiety, what-so-ever.  People have put me off like this my whole life, not understanding or giving a fu(k about rumination.  “Don’t worry about it” means they’re going to put me on the worst shifts and they don’t want me to push back or complain about that.  They did, in fact, have me on for too many hours, and for Fridays which I specifically said I didn’t want.  Exactly what I had been worried about.  And I had to resign.  So then they were short TWO people. . .

Dr: Not sure.  Likely Lots though. And it will include Thursdays and Fridays likely. Short time. Not permanent. Likely have to put you on a regular schedule and have everyone clean rather than you coming in at 5:30 AM.

Me: I cant do all day Friday. I would rather meet 1:1 to discuss a compromised sched. Its tricky with my classes. yeah the cleaning and early will have to go I think. I can trade sat for tues. Wnd wed am for thurs

Dr. Ok We can talk and have a better idea

Me: My thoughts in the pic 9attached) b/c now I’m going to worry and stress till we talk

Dr:  Can’t read that at all. everyone here is stressed to so just give me times that You CANNOT WORK. Then times that you want to work and we will see.  If between you, M, and K we can fill in all the times. Then we will have to schedule light when we cant fill the time in.

Me: I cant work all day Friday I have class mw nevermind I think you’ll have to see it in writing to understand my class commitments. Not all day fri tho.

Dr. Please try and relax. I have a lot of planning to do and shuffling of people. I realize you have school and that is a have to, not a want to what I am asking for is times you have off and then we will try to give you times you want to have off if we can fit in it

Me: You cant meet? Ok class mw 9:30-11:15, t/r 11:30-1:30 3 bus hrs fri for independent study. I can give you 35% more than I already am without hurting my hard-fought 4.0 gpa

Dr: Oy vey. I will try to get this figured out by next week.

Me: I stayed up all night and worked it out and fair % of increased hr to cover rj time and it might save you a lot of time if you looked at my draft sched. Did you see the rest of my qs? can I post on cl?

Dr: If I had known you’re going to be so worried I probably wouldn’t of (SIC) brought this up to you so soon.

No about cl

No about many and no about vici mae

We wont give you any more than 35 hrs

That will be a  must and not a want?

So it is short term so get some sleep little energizer bunny

Me: I worked out the numbers: I have 12 wk left in the semester in that time exams, 13 labs and assignments, 15 observations and those papers and 36 hr ind study. Hipaa reg transcriptions.

Dr: Ok we will ask no more of you

Me: What’s that mean?

D; stop. it means you’re stressing over something that you don’t have to stress about. We will work it out.

Me: I thought you were firing me over text 😦 I just worry bc this is the type of scene that hurt my undergrad grp and got me in this position. I cant start over is all. thank you for at least talking to me

Dr: Okay that kind of made me laugh. there is no way I would fire you over a text.

That is like breaking up with someone over text. Who does that kind of shit?

Me: Well, shit-heads. I never know what to expect out of ppl tho.

Dr:  Are you calling me a potential shithead?  Ok get back to your day and we will work it all out.

me: Like my dad says can’t trust nobody but yourself. But he’s paranoid and thinks he’s funny

-There are 12 weeks left in the semester:

**6 exams

**13 audiometry labs and associated assignments left to turn in

**an intervention packet

**36 hr of language transcription

**2 physical clinic observations and associated assignments

**8 MCT observations (30-60 min each)

**5 observation sheets due

**11 textbook chapters to read (this is no longer a feasible endeavor)

Day:

I wake up at 4AM and sleep at 7:30PM

**Treadmill takes the first half hr of each day, 7 days a week

**I have 1.5-2 hours of physical class 4 days a week

**takes 1 hour 4 days a week to make study materials

Week:

**must do 3 hours of transcription/wk *13

**probably 3 total hours to complete the lab & assignment/wk

TS Snippets: Minimal Pairs and an Auditory Illusion

We know Taylor drinks wine. And she’s talked about liquor, like whiskey. But I’m not sure beer is her go-to choice of beverage. You know what makes a lot of sense to me in a song to her ex? bearDs. She’s telling her ex that she’s fine with bearding and crying because she chooses her career over love. And no, it’s not wishful thinking or a reach. This phenomenon is repeated several times in the TS catalog.

CLOSURE

beers/beards

There are several more words that Taylor pronounces in a way that could mean two distinct words:

THE 1

pennies/panties

/en/tity vs /an/eurysm  & /t/

BIGGER THAN THE WHOLE SKY

asia/angel

bei/ge/ vs /Gil/lette 

HIGH INFIDELITY

city/CD

gri/t/ty vs gree/d/y

MIRRRORBALL

tall(est)/toil(est)

https://englishphonetics.net/english-phonetics-academy/what-are-minimal-pairs.html

This next one is a bit of a different phenomenon:

This song has additional auditory illusions because the main lyrics have a backing echo layered with it.

My program won’t transcribe proper nouns so I subbed “car lee” for Karlie.  It shouldn’t make a difference as the phoneme, syllables, and stress are the same.

Auditory Illusion:

Your expectations of which words you’ll hear—coupled with the low-quality audio—do the rest. “When faced with an acoustic signal which is somewhat ambiguous because it is low-quality or noisy [or layered with backing vocals], your brain attempts a ‘best fit’ between what is heard and the expected word,” Valerie Hazan, a professor of speech sciences at University College London, told The Telegraph.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/545157/beyond-yanny-laurel-other-aural-illusions-how-they-work

Theory of Speech Perception:

Now taking the speech and language sciences you just learned, here’s some homework for you:

Do you hear “good” every time? Do you ever hear “girl” instead?

There’s Some Glitch?

What is happening with WordPress right now?  I keep trying to write a new post,and it keeps freezing and making my cursor invisible, then I can do nothing on the page.  No other tab is acting up, it’s just this site.  I reloaded the page and it did the same thing.

Anyway, I took my big exam this morning.  I studied really hard for it, and felt like I knew everything we covered in class.  I knew my big probably would be reading the questions carefully, answering all the parts of each questions, and not accidently writing a wrong term or direction or some easy error.  The test felt very easy.  I think the prof tries to make different levels of questions:  Easy, intermediate, and advanced.  Except, I feel like the easy and intermediate ones are hand-fed to us.  So that whether you studied or not you could ascertain the answer from hints given, reading other test questions, or other tactics.  And then, the advanced questions are things she wants us to extrapoloate from information given in class–read things not explicitly taught.  So I go in to the test hoping to recall everything on the notes and in the readins, so I have some wiggle room on things I’ve never encountered in my life.  And the advanced questions are fine, but I think she needs to make the medium questions harder, because it’s not right that someone who didn’t study can get the same grade as me (who put a lot of effort into the class).   I guessed wrong on a 4 point(!) hydrocephaly (never mentioned) short answer.  I said meninges were the structure, when I should have guessed ventricles.  So it’s an automatic 93%.  And after all my studying (and an EASY test), I’m not super-happy with that. . .

On a slightly different topic–well, still the brain we got tickets to the snowboard swap.  It will be most practical buying snowboards and boots here, then using them in Salt Lake, Colorado, or Tahoe ie big, expensive, world-renowned snow-sport locations.  And I’m a big believer they need to increase helmet usage here, so I guess I’m putting together a group to talk about traumatic brain injury and the importance of helmets.  I’m not sure how I because the leader on it other then we’re going and I see a need and think it’s important.  But I suppose since I’m suggesting we go, I ought to volunteer some time too.  We’ll see how it goes–I e-mailed the people putting on the event as well as my classmates.  I don’t have high-hopes for a response.  But if anyone follows up, it will be a useful thing.

I started watching “Desperate Housewives” on Netflix, just while Cool is at work–we watch “Criminal Minds” but only together.  You see, I like to watch something when I eat.  Anyway, it’s kind of a soapy, kind of a drama/comedy.  What I already don’t like is the men on the show.  Total tool-bags!  Carlos thinks he owns Gabby, and is a total Momma’s boy, always taking her side over his wife.  The poor twins’ mom who is obviously overwhelmed, was made to give up her (more successful) career, is saddled with 99% of the household/kid responsibility, and her dope-husband does things like invite over company for a formal dinner without telling her, and with only 2 days notice.  Bri’s husband doesn’t appreciate anything she does for him, is always putting her down and griping, and is cheating.  I’m not impressed with how the writers have the women treated on this show.  Like they just have to put up with all this crap, and it’s normal.  I say these capable, beautiful, smart women could do a lot better then these jerks!  Plus, I’m never a big fan of obvious eating disorders for a whole cast–when they are role models for women.

I got a flu shot last Thursday.  Which I never have before, and have always railed against.  I NEVER get the flu.  If I get sick at all (which I haven’t since 2008) I get a head-cold.  Anyway, because I’m in closed-air, close quarters with so many people, and tons of kids–cleaning, at ground zero–I decided to this year.  My school did them for free last Thursday.  The site was a little tender that night, but I used it–to sort of work it through.  By that night, it felt just fine.  And I thought I did too.  Friday I was tired.  Saturday I felt crummy.  Like muscle soreness, but deep, deep inside.  And it was exhausting to even walk to the kitchen.  I couldn’t have stood on my feet all afternoon/night, let alone complete vigorous locker room cleaning–I had to call in sick to work!  Which also rarely happens.  Maybe I had a vaccine reaction?  Because I’m so new, I don’t have any sick time accrued, but my boss let me “trade.”  So I have to make up 8 hours sometime.  Being a worrier, I want to get that done sooner, rather then later, so I’m working tonight.  I already have to go for a child abuse prevention training, so I figure I might as well.  Besides, there’s never a better time then after an exam and before we get new material.  Those are my free-est, most stress-free times.  But it does mean I will have to be at work (until midnight) 4 days in a row, which as a morning person just might kill me.

If I’m alive I’ll write after the streak is over.

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Onawanapia

Today in Phonetics, we did a 3rd transcription–the horrid middle vowels (+ front and back vowels) which I’m pretty sure I got my 3rd 100% on.  Though it was really difficult to differentiate some of the sounds.  We graded it in class then had time left over so our prof asked if we had questions.  On the test was the word “parcel” with a schwa before the l.  I raised my hand and asked how to tell the difference between schwa + l as in “parcel” vs. the syllabic l as in “bottle.”  I asked which would be in my name.  He has a hearing problem so I had to say my name very loud, several times, then slowly so he knew the proper transcription.  So the class heard me say my name loudly, and slowly 5-6 times.  It’s the schwa–because r-l is too fast without an interceding sound, so you need the schwa vowel between.

We still had time in class so the prof told us to give him some words and he would transcribe them for us.  I said “onawanpia.”  And again because of his hearing loss had to say it louder.  He said it was a great word, and hard, then had me say it slowly.  The gals behind me were repeating “onamanapia.”  Uh-oh.  I realized I have been saying that word wrong, not only today, but my whole life.  Plus, everyone knew my name from before.  So I looked totally ignorant.  And the professor called me out and asked if I wanted him to transcribe it with the –“wana” because he would, and I sheepishly had to tell him to transcribe the proper word.

Doh!

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Clinical Methods Activities

I keep looking to see if this draft was published.  Doesn’t seem to be, which surprises me very much since I wrote it in April.  I thought it was finished and posted–guess not?  Anyway, here are some brainstorming deals for my semester project.  I had to come up with 2 activities, 1 for an adult, and 1 for a child under the scope of practice for SLPs.  Here are the things :

 

Adult Client:

I will write words on Wal-Mart paint sample color swatches.

We play “dominoes” by pronouncing the proper word,

then placing a swatch with the same FIRST letter as the LAST letter of the prior word.

Exp:  doG-GoaT-Tiger-RaiN-News-SanD-Dominoes

Word-Match-Dominoes

Present a Cloze sentence, and they pick the strip then place it next to the strip that goes with it.  Place a tile containing the word horse on one side and rain on the other.  Say the sentence, “You stay dry in the rain by using an ___________”.  The P has to say “umbrella,” then place the tile next to rain, rather than horse.

Child Client:

I put paperclips on the word flashcards I have from another project.

I tape a magnet to a yard stick (I checked w/my instructor and I won’t actually have to turn a yard stick in)

I spread the flashcards around the floor.

a)  They pronounce the word as they pick it up with their “metal detector”

if it’s correct they get to keep their treasure, if not it stays on the floor.

b) I read a word from my list

the child must find that on the floor and pronounce it before picking it up w/their “metal detector”

c)I present a Cloze sentence, and the child must fill in the blank by picking up the correct word off the floor w/their detector.

Metal Detecting for Words:

Put paperclips on word flashcards, spread them on the floor, and attach a magnet to a yard stick.

The P pronounces the word correctly 3 times before she is allowed to pick it up with the metal detector.

Then “metal-detect” words/sounds/sentences we’re working on by picking up the correct card with the stick-magnet and putting it in a bag/bucket/folder!

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Interactive Audiology Presentation

I had another presentation today.  This one was for one group of high school students, and one group of (cue scary music:  dun, dun dun) middle school kids.  It was also shorter–like half the time we got last week.  And I knew I could do a YouTube video, but I think that’s kind of a cop-out, especially with younger students.

I knew I wanted to get the students out of their seats, but didn’t really know how to teach ear anatomy, noise-induced hearing loss, or assisted listening devices like that.  I thought about pictionary, but that’s really for review material–not novel teaching.  I asked my mom and she said she only knew of active stuff for review and quizzing.  When I pressed her, she said she could do like 8 activities for math, but not anatomy.  Still, I asked her to give me a sample.  The very first thing she talked about was using manipulatives.  And my advisor had talked about how they had used a funnel to show the function of the pinna before with great success.  That got me thinking. . .

 

My Mom (maybe both of us?) came up with putting “pieces of the ear” in a paper bag and having them kids pluck them out–you know for the gross-out factor of reaching into a bag not knowing what you’re going to get.  Then I came up with all the little objects I could use to show each portion of the ear:

funnel for the pinna/outer ear

drum for the tympanic membrane/ear drum

a hammer for the malleus often called the “hammer”

I used a door stop and taped the anvil coffee logo on both sides for the “anvil”/incus

I had a tiny shoe keychain for the stapes/”stirrup” to show the footplate’s action

I put a brush in a ziplock and filled it with water to have a visual for the fluid-filled cochlea containing hair cells

and finally, a sponge was the brain

I had the kids pick the items and stand in the front of the room with them, in the proper order.  I moved my arms (next time, I’ll have all the students at the desks wave their arms to involve everyone) to simulate the physical sound waves, then, I went through the function of each part of the anatomy:

My ear canal/funnel person stood there capturing the sound

The drum bagged to show sound hitting & vibrating it

Setting my 3 ossicles (w/interlinked arms) in motion (next time have them hum like a kazoo to show the ossicles vibrating).

My stapes person kicked the oval window on the bag

The inner ear person created gentle waves to stimulate the hair cells to send the sound info to the brain

And my brain/sponge was dipped in the water of the bag/cochlea to show the sound reaching its destination.

Then, we did the whole thing again, but I jumped up and down exaggerated to show LOUD sound.  Everyone exaggerated their motions, the stapes footplate stomping the oval window to create a tsunami and flatten the hair cells.  And that time the sponge (a 2nd sponge) remained dry and unhearing.  It got everybody involved, laughing, and hopefully remembering the hearing process a little better.  And I have to say I was on my A-Game, and really extroverted (not my normal way) and funny and in charge of the scene.

That allowed me to segway to the FM loop where the kids played Simon Says, one in the hallway and one in front of the group doing silly things.

I had a lot of fun, and felt “in the zone” rather then shy and nervous, so it was great.  I could see myself doing little activities to promote prevention as an educational audiologist in my future.  It’s not the same as having to discipline a whole class for an entire day, which is what I didn’t think I’d like about that option.  Now, if I can only track down one of the many videos of the thing so I can put it in my portfolio!

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• %%>> Educational Audiology Handbook with CD: Cheryl DeConde Johnson, Jane Seaton: 9781418041304: Books as date March 17, 2013 02:35

Camp Na Ha Shnee (and my presentation)

I cut & pasted various different articles to give you a good idea of what the camp is about.  Even though it didn’t fall on an ideal day (my Dad’s 70th birthday when they were actually visiting) I rearranged things, because this population is close to my heart, and the mission of the camp important.  Three of us presented for Speech & Hearing Sciences.  We wanted to introduce some aspects of the career (SLP’s have a very diverse scope of practice with a lot of subsets) AND simultaneously give the teens good health info for themselves.  So we focused of voice (anti smoking, tobacco,  & drinking), ears (noise-induced hearing loss, ipods in particular), and the brain (TBI = don’t drink & drive, wear helmets).  I think it went really well, and most of the students were engaged and excited.  Here’s that camp info I told you about:

The result of an earlier student leadership exercise to give the summer institute a native American-sounding name, Na-ha-shnee is an amalgamation of the words Native American High School Summer Nursing Institute. It has no literal translation in any tribal language. Na-ha-shnee encourages Native American youth to explore and pursue a career in the health sciences while providing learning experiences with native health care providers as teachers and role models.

Fewer than 20 Native Americans across the United States have earned a PhD in nursing. One of them, Robbie Paul, Native American Health Sciences director at Washington State University (WSU) Spokane, is dedicated to increasing the number of Native Americans practicing health sciences in the Northwest.  Native Americans represent less than .5% of the health care workforce, and the Na-ha-shnee Native American Health Science Institute is taking steps to engage and expose Native American students to careers in nursing, medicine, exercise physiology, pharmacy, speech and hearing, and more.

The camp is part of a larger effort to solve the shortage of health care professionals in the Native American community, said Robbie Paul, director of the school’s Native American Health Sciences program and founder of the camp.  Paul, a Nez Perce member who has a doctorate in Leadership Studies from Gonzaga, said the camp aims to build confidence in students who might deal with teachers who have low expectations of them.

For more than 17 years, Native American high school students representing various tribes from the Northwest have been given the chance to participate in Na-ha-shnee. Participants in the Na-ha-shnee Heath Sciences Institute represent the Spokane, Colville, Yakama, Snoqualmie, Puyallup, Lummi, Umatilla, Blackfoot-Cherokee, Shoshone-Paiute, Cherokee, Turtle Mountain Chippewa, Shoshone-Bannock, Tlingit, Chippewa Cree and Siletz tribes. They come from Washington and Oregon.  The program encourages youth to try out a career in the health sciences by providing hands-on learning experiences with Native American health care providers and health science and nursing students.

When the camp first began in 1995, its sole focus was on nursing. However, once students began expressing interest in learning about other career areas available in heath care, the camp expanded to respond to these interests. Now, Na-ha-shnee includes workshops on nursing, medicine, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, exercise physiology, speech and hearing, and brings Native American health care providers in to be teachers and role models for the students.  The camp has grown from six to 12 days and added math, English and leadership training. Students also practice writing scholarship essays and interviewing with admissions counselors.

Na-ha-shnee is open to high school students who will be entering the 10^th, 11^th, and 12^th grades in fall. The application process includes a written essay on why they want to come to camp and also explaining their interest in health care. Applicants must also have a minimum 2.5 GPA, have at least taken Algebra I, and have at least a C in their math and science classes.  Traditionally offered exclusively to Native American high school students, the program was expanded last year to include students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Na-ha-shnee program partnered with Creating a Nursing Path, a program consisting of 27 high school students. Funded by a workforce diversity grant, Creating a Nursing Path is led by Janet Katz, PhD, RN, associate professor from WSU College of Nursing in Spokane. The purpose of this program is to address the need to graduate baccalaureate-prepared nurses from disadvantaged backgrounds

In its 19th year, the camp has participants from 13 tribes, some from as far away as Arizona’s Navajo Nation. Attendance has grown through recruitment visits to tribal and urban schools, word-of-mouth and the Internet, Paul said.  Of the more than 340 campers over the years, Paul estimates about 70 percent of them have gone on to college.

Paul presented the purpose of the camp as threefold: academic, leadership and cultural. For the latter, Paul uses stories to teach the students life lessons embedded in their tribal heritage.  Paul said that the experience is both an academic and social one for those in attendance. In addition to taking English, science, and leadership classes, students get to experience different aspects of college life such as living on campus, dorm life, and having a roommate.

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First Essays, Now Silence?

What a terrible blogger I am this summer!  In order to get back on track and get a current post published I’ll go to bullet points (in no particular order):

 

-Today I’m tired.  I think the activity of the previous week caught up to me finally.

-I found out that my boss is going on vacation over Labor Dave Weekend (when we have SEATS for Friday and Sunday) and she found someone else to house-sit for 15 days.  I’m disproportionately disappointed about that because it is excellent money, easy work, and access to satellite TV.  I s’pose it’s better because I’ll be in school by that time and have daily class, so the commute would have been awful annoying.

-We had a really great visit with my parents.   I think they had fun too.

-If you haven’t heard of the “30 minutes to fitness” series by Kathy Coffey-Meyer–check it out.  Immediately!  I have never, ever watched an exercise video that didn’t annoy me.  Whether it was a catch-phrase, overall phony/annoying bubbliness, too hard-core, too repetitive, bad music, there are a lot of workout video sins.  Coffey’s vids don’t have any of that irritating stuff.  And she’s feisty and funny and motivating at the same time.  We have weights, cardio-blast, and kickboxing and I really like them.  And my mom was a real good sport and fully participated in plyometrics, which is HARD.  And she did awesome.

-At Dad’s (70th!!!) birthday dinner, our “Day’s of Our Lives,” jeans-model look-alike waiter did a magic trick that each one of us loved.  And one we couldn’t find on the web for at least an hour–a real feat in today’s technology.

-speaking of technology, I am still not convinced that Apple and smart-phones make life any easier.  If they’re off, slow, unanswered, or whatever, they’re useless.  I was no worse off without any gadgets than anyone, and they were not helped all that much.  I think it has more to do with status than anything.

-The kitties were as big and brave as they could be with frequent company on our apartment.  And Choco-Luv doesn’t have the herp (knock on wood)!  They are glued to my sides today though–with all the running around, I think they missed us.

-My parents gave me the most beautiful beadwork barrettes from various reservations along their route.  And my mom got beadwork from each place they stopped, which I am very envious of–and excited to inherit one day.

-I saw my former advisor in the hallway today, and she only managed to choke out a very obligatory “hello how was your summer?”  Lame.  And I’m so over that attitude from people at my school.  I am an awesome student and an asset to the program–she/they need to get a grip and grow up.  I’m not sure why she doesn’t like me, but she needs to act as a professional, because I shouldn’t even know she doesn’t. . .

-My aunt got super-sloppy at the extended family gathering, and was generally negative, complainy, passive-aggressive, and unwilling to exercise the whole duration of company.  But at least now everyone sees what I’m saying.  Maybe they thought I was exaggerating or a drama queen before???

-I was asked to do a presentation about the speech and hearing sciences for Native American teens ages 15-17.  It’s a group close to my heart (my people!) and I think it went well yesterday.  There had been a little snaffu in the beginning because a group member hijacked out “team” power-point, deleting/changing my every contribution and making me crazy that way.  I tried subtly conveying my feelings, and eventually had to be direct.  But everything was restored in the end and everything worked out.

-I always feel a little bit like a dud when you put me next to a bubbly, extroverted SLP student/teacher.  I am much more reserved and it really shows when I’m put up against that.  But my family said they didn’t get that impression and I looked good (and smart) so I guess it’s OK. . .

-I have another presentation on Tuesday, but I’m less excited because it’s 20 minutes long, which is almost no time at all.

-I have not worked on or even looked at my personal statement, scholarly paper, or neuroanatomy outline/drawings for 1.5-2 weeks.  Even though I’m sad my parents are gone, and think the visit was MUCH too short–I’m relieved to get to my normal routine soon.  After my next presentation, and oh–an interview.

-I have an interview.  Which was initially a real bummer because they wanted to do it on June 25th–my Dad’s milestone 70th birthday.  The birthday, my parents were going to be in town for (instead of 17 hours away).  Also the day, which this special presentation had fallen on.  And I had only agreed to do that because I think it’s important for Indians (only representing less than 1% on all health professions) are exposed to my program.  And the job is some random ticket agent, so I just told them I was out of town until the day my parents were gone.  And to my great surprise, they moved my interview day out to July 1st!  So I’m not sure what the job really entails or how many hours they want or what times, but depending on the factors I at least have a chance for a job.

-Cool went off her meds, and we all remembered that she used to have a personality.  So now she’s going to talk to her doctor and insist that whatever mood stabilizer she is put on does not have any drowsiness what-so-ever involved.  Bipolar meds are horrible in the fact they work by making you a complete zombie–which isn’t exactly quality-of-life.  We’ll see if this can be adjusted.  Oh and when she went off the meds, of course she vomited to the point of having to come home from work 2 days in a row = withdrawals.  So scary she has to depend on that to miss extreme highs and lows–I’m not certain which is worse.

-Despite a lot of dinners out, shopping trips, gifts, “visiting-type expenditures” I really managed to keep resigned in financially.  Partially because of my parents’ extreme generosity and partly due to sheer willpower.  I’m not nearly as behind as I thought I would be, and I even have some house-sitting money left over–which I in no way expected.

-My water consumption really suffered when my routine was thrown off.  I could stick with my exercise routine because it’s at home, first thing in the morning, but liquid availability, portability, and bathrooms make water really tough.  I have to get back into it in a hurry because my lips are always lizard-like lately.

-I have no idea what to do for my birthday.  Partially because 3-1 is anticlimactic, partly because I’m not sure if I’ll have to accommodate a job, or if I’ll even have money to do anything.  And I don’t know if this rainy Washington weather will cooperate at all–it’s rained all day today, and it rained from Cool’s birthday to the time my parents arrived a week later.  I guess I’d like to do something special–I’ll have to think on it.

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UU AuD Research

As a graduate applicant you are supposed to have a research focus.  I don’t.  And I’m not exactly sure what I’m doing.  When did they teach us to come up with research questions, tell us about already having established a focus, and how do I know?

I just want to finish an AuD program so I can get a big-girl job as an audiologist.  I’m trying my best to catch up by looking at the research being done at my potential school.  I understand very little of the jargon, and I’m terrified to contact these professors and speak meaningfully about it.  I know I’ll look like an idiot.

But all the get into grad school books and blogs strongly urge students to make contact with a potential advisor before applying.  Since I don’t have an established research focus, I don’t know who the influential people doing my research might be.  So as usual, I’m doing things backward.

They should really have an undergraduate class on the application and research stuff if we are already supposed to know about it before we ever even apply. . .

SARAH HARGUS FERGUSON:
-Assistant Professor, Communication Sci & Disorders, University of Utah
-Dr. Ferguson’s research is focused on speech understanding in older adults, and how speech acoustic characteristics affect that understanding. She is especially interested in the perception and acoustics of clear speech and foreign-accented speech.
-My research is focused on talker factors that affect everyday speech understanding by older adults with hearing loss. Talkers adopt a speaking style called “clear speech” when talking to listeners with hearing loss, but they vary widely in how helpful that clear speech is. Much of the current activity in my lab is centered on identifying the clear speech acoustic characteristics that make speech easier to understand for different listener populations.

Speech Perception Lab: 

–>Articles I think are most to least interesting/relevant<–

[can’t see abstract/article] LaPierre, T.A., Ferguson, S.H., & Jiregna, M.M. (2012) Hearing loss in late life: How couples cope. Journal of the Academy of Rehabilitative Audiology, XLV, 75-97. (http://www.audrehab.org/jara.htm)

*”Effects of talker experience on perceived clarity and acoustic features of clear versus conversational speech”

* “Acoustic correlates of reported clear speech strategies”

*”Accuracy of speech intelligibility index predictions for noise-masked young listeners with normal hearing and for elderly listeners with hearing impairment”

“Intelligibility of foreign-accented speech for older adults with and without hearing loss”

“Perceived sexual orientation and speech style: A perceptual and acoustic analysis of intentionally clear and conversational speech”

“Subjective ratings of sentences in clear and conversational speech”

“Vowel intelligibility in clear and conversational speech for cochlear implant users: A preliminary study”

[implications for rehab] “Talker differences in clear and conversational speech: Vowel intelligibility for listeners with hearing loss”

“Creating a speech corpus with semispontaneous, parallel conversational and clear speech”

 

-Talker differences, Interest Level: 3
Speech perception, Interest Level: 5
Older adults, Interest Level: 4
Hearing loss, Interest Level: 4
Foreign-accented speech, Interest Level: 3

–on google scholar:

-V intelg in convo speech hearing & HOH

-talker dif in clear & convo speech

-acoustic chara of V (clear speech)

SKYLER G. JENNINGS:
-I study how the healthy auditory system adapts to sound; such as when a person enters a noisy environment. To facilitate listening in noise, the auditory system undergoes a series of adjustments that improve the neural coding of sound. My long term research goal is to understand how adaptation enhances perception in noise in normal hearing listeners and how altered adaptation results in degraded perception in noise in hearing impaired listeners.
-Auditory Perception and Psychoacoustics, Interest Level: 5
Auditory Physiology, Interest Level: 4
Computational Models of the Auditory System, Interest Level: 3
Speech Perception and Processing, Interest Level: 2
Pediatric Auditory Assessment, Interest Level: 1

on Google Scholar:

–>very complicated titles<– I cut part of the description for my own clarity

–explore the hypothesis that cochlear gain is reduced, in a frequency-specific manner, over the course of a sound 

–Abstract Masked detection threshold for a short tone in noise improves as the tone’s onset is 
delayed from the masker’s onset. 

–medial olivocochlear reflex (MOCR) has been hypothesized to provide benefit for listening in noise.

–>  lots of articles about this<–

–fundamental question in auditory science relates to how the perceptual dynamic range is coded in the auditory system

Anne Lobdell

–

Brooke Hammond

SUSAN R NAIDU, PhD:
-I teach undergraduate and graduate courses in Aural Re/habilitation and graduate level Pediatric Audiology. I specialize clinically in children and adults with hearing loss and using cochlear implants.
-Speech development for children with cochlear implants, Interest Level: 5
Language development for children with cochlear implants, Interest Level: 5
Diagnostic pediatric audiology, Interest Level: 4
Auditory training intervention methodologies for persons with hearing loss, Interest Level: 5
Auditory Processing Disorders , Interest Level: 3

on Google Scholar:

-Benefits of Early Identification and Intervention for Children with Hearing Loss.

-dx Alexander DZ w/MR

–Childhood adrenoleukodystrophy

-Rett Syndrome

on CV:

[published prior to 2000]

-“Further support for the benefits of early identification and intervention for children with hearing loss”

-“Methods for learners with hearing or visual impairments. ”

-“Birth to 3: A Curriculum for Parents and Their Hearing –Impaired Children”

-“A comparison of audiometric test methods for two-year old children”

-“Language Assessment of School Age Hearing Impaired Children”

Kirsti Raleigh

-early detection of ototoxicity

-tinnitus rates from chemo ototoxic

–

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Tighten It Up

pre-essay–what does an AuD do?

-work independently to dx hearing loss and pathologies, and communication impediments, as well as ascertain quality of life, participation restrictions, and underlying mental/social issues.

-fit appropriate amplification, utilizing a patient-specific model and the best (and affordable) technology.

-provide education/counseling/rehab to patients to ensure reasonable expectations and appropriate benefit.

-follow-up with communication strategies, replaced parts, hearing checks, maint, and updates to hearing/patient situation and technology.

-work with all ages, in many different settings as a confident professional.

-keep apprised of the most recent technology in an ever-changing/evolving field and work to maint & improve current techniques.

Intro:

-Show don’t tell the quality time with my dad wasn’t because shopping was fun (it sucked), but b/c we are close.

-Make explicit that Dad HAD hearing aids, but turned them down because they were a nuisance or didn’t wear them at all because they didn’t provide enough benefit.

-maybe use this area to say I didn’t give much thought to the hearing at the time, because I was busy being dedicated to vet medicine.  I was using my internal skills of _____ to help the helpless–animals.

My traits are:

–>I just realized this application does not cover extracurriculars/honors/awards so if I want the committee to know about it I must state it in my essay, sad and hard<–

organized, meticulous, detail-oriented, driven, dedicated, practical, honest, determined, loyal, independent, sensitive, tough, hard-working, ethical, a love of learning and patience for teaching.

-I can say independent for working autonomously in audiology with confidence–but knowing when to ask for help or refer.

-meticulous/organized in that I will pick and follow through with the right audiometric tests, and amplification fitting procedures tailored to each patient’s needs.

-ethical/loyal/determined/dedicated/driven to follow through with rehab and make sure communication is functional.

-learning/teaching as evidenced by my experience teaching clogging to all ages, and also tutoring my peers in speech & hearing science coursework, audiometry in particular.  This will help in educating P about hearing loss & pathologies as well as instructing them how to use their amplification.

-next, talk about why this repeated incident sparked my career interest later, after a segway through the more well-known (to children) field of vet medicine.

After veterinary medicine did not work out for me, I thought back to my shopping trips with my father, and how there was a need there I could possibly help fill.  My dad did have hearing aids but turned them down because they were a nuisance or didn’t wear them at all because they didn’t provide enough benefit.  And I could still be helping those without a voice speak for themselves–my motivation for pursuing vet medicine.  I realized by pursing audiology I could not only make amplification available, but provide more adequate follow-up rehabilitation then my dad had access to.

Vet Traits that work for AuD:

non-verbal communication, attention to detail, problem solving, think outside the box, work under financial constraints, being in a medical setting, professionalism, looking at the whole patient picture, collecting a thorough case history, paying attention to stated and unstated facts, science background, chemistry for inner ear/brain, physics for middle ear and speech science and amplification, performing diagnostic tests, autonomy, calm clients, diverse clients

-non-verbal = humane/efficient/eliminate injury w/animal; ascertain info, glean feelings, notice uncertainty, counsel ppl

-detail = use unstated facts to problem solve (ascertain correct dx sometimes w/o confirmation tests); get well-rounded idea of patient as a whole what their problem is and what needs they have.

-problem solve/think outside the box = both coming up w/most efficient way to confirm suspicions, deviating from normal procedure to assist w/specific situational problem.

-work under $ = ppl can’t/won’t always pay for gold standard txmt in animals; insurance won’t always cover every possible solution to the patient’s hearing/communication issues.  In both, you have to come up with the next best alternative, or change management/underlying behaviors.

-medical = communicating with owners/family, acting in a professional manner, communication w/other professionals, the pace/schedule, etc. . .

-how specific classes have been helpful to this new career option.

-autonomy = vet hospitals don’t take a bunch of time to train, or hand-hold for daily tasks, this serves well in audiometry where professionals work independently.

-both professions are able to build a rapport w/P & families over time, instead of immediately referring to the next specialist–both do O dx, tx, follow-up.

-both careers req professional to put agitated clients at ease

-diversity = both see patients from all walks of life/ages/temperaments/income levels

transition back to my preparation for AuD:

-screenings, aural rehab, writing about vaccines, A&P of ear, amplification, S&HS with it’s acoustics, pathologies, audiometric procedures, observing a hearing dispenser & the gaps I could fill in, seeing “Sound & Fury” documentary, looking at pictures of hearing aids & cochlear implants, reading AAA journal articles,

State intended research/career:

-tie it in to the school’s offerings

-emphasize the rehab to tie in my dad

OK, next blend this advise with my 1st draft

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