Semester 2 begins

With the beginning of a semester comes new clients for practicum.  To begin the semester of practicum each of us clinicians makes a phone call and confirms that the client is going to attend their scheduled appointment.

I went to make my phone calls.  My friend at the front desk gave me the phone numbers for my 2 clients.  I called the first one and confirmed with no problem.  The second phone call didn't go so well.  I was trying to call my older female client, who we will call Rose.  Rose is a grandma who comes to speech therapy to work on memory, attending to task, and functioning in everyday life.  So I dialed the number and I heard a woman's voice say, "Hello, this is Rose".  I went into my spiel.  "Hi, this is Hope Brooks, I 'm calling from the UNT Speech and Hearing Clinic.  I will be the clinician working with you during your speech appointments this semester."  She said she didn't come for speech appointments.  Rose said she came for hearing aid appointments but not speech.  I thought that maybe she didn't realize her sessions were called speech sessions so I tried again.  "Do you remember the times you got together with _______ (her clinician last semester) and worked on memory and played card games?"  Rose said she had no memory of that.  At that point I remember that we usually coordinate things with her husband so I ask, "Can I speak to your husband?"  To which she replied "Oh honey, I'm a widow".  I looked up to see my friend behind the desk waving frantically at me and signaling for me to end the phone call.  Turns out she gave me the phone number for the wrong Rose. :)  I did manage to confirm the other appointment.  Thankfully both Roses were delightful people and very understanding.

Here's to a great second semester!  At least it started with a laugh. :)

My new friend, Kristi

For the past few weeks I have been listening to the autobiography of Kristin Chenoweth read by the author.  I listen to it in the car.  I am in my car a lot so over the past few weeks we have spent a ton of time together and I have learned a lot from her.

Tonight, as I was watching the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, I noticed all sorts of technical parts of the performance that Kristin talks about in her book.  At one point a question popped into my head about the singing and I thought, "who is my singer friend I could ask?".  I had to laugh at myself when I realized I was thinking of my new friend Kristi. :)

Just so we are clear, I am aware that Kristin Chenoweth and I are not really friends. :)  But there are some parts of her book that I wanted to share with you.

At one point she decides she needs to hire a personal trainer.  Her trainers philosophy makes a lot of sense.  He says that every woman needs to love their body the way it is because if you don't love it why would you want to invest the time and energy required to make it stronger.  There is always room for improvement but when those changes are prompted by love for ourselves then we won't sabotage ourselves or set our self up for failure.  It makes a lot of sense.

She talks about when she went through some confusing and frustrating parts of her life she held onto the fact that God is in control of her life.  She says at one point that if she believed that God was in control of her life when she won then she had to accept that He was also aware of when she lost and even though it didn't make sense to her He was in control.  I don't know if you remember but I wrote excitedly about a graduate student assistant position I got this past semester.  It is a position you have to reapply for each semester.  I didn't get it for the spring semester.  I was heartbroken mostly because I thought that this position was an answer to my prayers.  I struggled financially through the beginning of my first semester and when I got that job I thought that God had led me to my answer.  I was glad for the reminder in this passage that if I trust that God is in control when things go right then I need to do the same when they seem to go wrong.  For now I am trying to have faith that a window to open after this door has "shut".

My favorite part is when she talks about the list of questions she has for God when she gets to the next life.  It is a fantastic list full of several things I would love to know as well.  When she poses her final question it resonates with me so much that is makes me tear up.  She simply asks "Heavenly Father, are you proud of me?"

Thanks for the lessons Kristi!  Love ya BFF!  he he

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

This morning my dad called and said he had an extra ticket to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and would I like to come with him.  I didn't know much about this group but it was a free ticket and I was available so I said yes!  My most recent exposure to them was in an award winning video my friend Charlotte made and posted on her blog.  It is fantastic!  You should check it out.  Anyways, I figured if her video was any indication of how cool this group was then I would have a great time.

When we got there we had "gold" parking and got to park right outside the front door!  Dad had put in a request for tickets at work and got them so we got parking passes and seats in the company suite.  It was SWEET!  The first thing I noticed in the suite was the free beverages.

All the Diet Coke I could drink!  Yum!

The view was awesome!  The seats were fantastic!  There were fireworks, lasers and pyrotechnics... it rocked!

I got really excited when they played "Charlotte's song".  I do have to say it was pretty impressive live but I thought the singing was better in Charlotte's video. :)

It was an experience I will treasure.  I had so much fun.  Thank you dad!  Thank you Systemware!

All I want for Christmas

I visited with Santa and told him I wanted an all expense paid scholarship for graduate school... :)

Christmas is a stressful time of year for me.  So much to do with a deadline looming.  This season was made merrier for me by the most thoughtful gifts given to me by dear friends and family.  I wanted to share some of my favorites with you here.

My friend, Erika, always gives me the most quirky and unique gifts.  This year she gave me a calendar made out of Bubble Wrap.

How cool is that?!  I LOVE it!  Thanks Erika!

My brother made me a stable to go with the Willow Tree nativity that I have collected as gifts from my parents over the past few Christmas'.  He went into the woods on my parents land, cut down the best tree, hauled it back to the shop and crafted a stable from the wood.

It smells so good, like fresh wood.  It is the perfect size.  It is so wonderfully rustic.  I love it!  Thank you Jake!

I got a whole list of other great gifts.  If you don't see your gift listed here it is not because I didn't love it, I just don't want to make others jealous because of all the love that was poured out upon me this holiday season.  Thank you to everyone for the gifts and love I have received this season.  I love you all and hope you had a wonderful holiday.

End of the first Semester

As my first semester in grad school was coming to an end I was faced with several projects.  One of them was a huge, two part project, that involved analyzing a child's language sample.  It was very complex.  My partner and I worked on the first half for 4 hours one night.  The next night we tried to start on the second half but hit a wall.  We set it aside until the end of the week when we hoped a new book my friend had ordered would come and help us figure it out.  Through out the week, as we overheard other students saying they had asked the teacher about specific sentences, we would jot down the sentence and the code to go with it on a pink sticky note.

The end of the week finally came, bringing with it the new book so we got together again to finish the project.  The new book was little help so we turned to the sticky note for our answers.

One big problem...

the pink sticky note had been left at home.

Thankfully my friend (we'll call her Molly) had someone (we'll call him Cody) at her place that could read the note to us over the phone.  

Molly dialed the number and explained to Cody where the note was and that she needed him to read to her exactly what it said.

Here is the conversation that followed:

Molly: It probably won't make sense and it might be hard to read but I just need you to read exactly what it says.

Cody: OK, I can't read it.

Molly:  I know it is hard to read but I really need you to read it to me.  Just try really hard.

Cody:  Molly, I CAN'T READ IT.

Molly: I know it is really messy and hard to decipher but I really need it.  Maybe you could spell it to me or something.  Please just try.

Cody: I CAN'T READ IT.

Finally, after much frustration, Molly finally realized that since she and Cody both had iPhones he could take a picture and send it to her.

When the picture finally came through this is what we saw...

In case you can't see it, the first sentence on our trusty pink sticky note is "I can't read it".

We laughed until we cried.  Poor Cody tried so hard to tell us what it said. :)  I think Molly apologized later.

Just goes to prove that being a speech student doesn't make you immune to communication problems.

Thanksgiving Day Football in the country

I came home from running to the Dollar General for last minute Thanksgiving dinner stuff, the only store in Honey Grove...although as Aunt Sue pointed out at least they have a store... but I digress.  Ok, so I came back from the store and was told I had to go look out back at the "Goal" my brothers had created.  I was told it had fallen on Adam, but he was still alive and it also fell on a chair but it broke.  I walked out the back door and found this.

Yes, that is a trampoline AND picnic tables turned on their sides.  There were all sorts of rules like, if the ball goes over the chalk line it is out, if it goes between the legs of the chair it is in.  Most of the balls ended up in the chicken coop or next to the pond... which is also out of bounds.

Here is the whole gang "warming" their hands from the heat coming off of the spinning ball.  Awesome goal guys!  Adam, I'm glad it didn't kill you.

I got a job, I got a job, I got a job hey hey hey hey!

In case you missed it, I got a job!  It is technically a "Graduate Student Assistantship" position (which is hard to get and thus an honor...but I don't want to brag... ) but it pays real money!  The kind that will pay bills!  Can you tell I am a little excited about this new development?  Ok, here is the scoop.  I am working at the Denton State Supported Living Center (used to be called the Denton State School).  Here is a blip about it from their website:
Denton State School's doors opened in July, 1960, and within 1 year had approximately 1,700 residents. The majority of the residents were children and young adults with mild to moderate mental retardation. The school was designed to be a community within it's self. It had its own infirmary, beauty shop, education buildings, therapy departments, and four dormitories. The dormitories have since been converted to 40 apartments. Located on 200 wooded acres south of Denton, It is the largest of the 11 state schools in Texas and home to more than 650 individuals with severe and profound mental retardation. 

All of the residents there now are adults, many of which have been there their whole lives.  The few I have come into contact with have seemed very happy there.  I am working in the communication department and will eventually be working with the residents there to help them communicate whether by speaking or using some other augmentative device.  For now, because I have not completed the required training, I am not allowed contact with the residents to I am helping with the grunt work around the office.  Mostly I have become very familiar with the new shipment of communication devices recently delivered.  I get to open the box, plug in the device, make sure it works, then engrave it with an ID number before packing it all back up and putting it on the shelf.  So, for now, the picture of my work there is this...