Content Reflection

What a semester! It seems as if we covered a lot during the course of the semester, both computer-wise and project-wise. Looking back, I recall beginning the semester by just sending a simple e-mail, then developing our very own weblog, subscribing to professional mailing lists, evaluating information on the Internet, and eventually, developing a Multi-genre Research Project (MRP) devoted to finding an answer to a question about a topic related to Speech-language Pathology/Audiology.

This semester, we were able to gain the experience of developing weblogs. Before this class, I had never heard of a weblog, much less created one. I soon found out how easy it was to put together. I was able to gain information regarding html codes, which are used in developing webpages and weblogs to add a little “spice” with things such as bolding, colored text, italics, and links to other sites and addresses. I also became familiar with the html color chart, which enabled me to change the color scheme of my weblog throughout the entire semester (and believe me, I had many color schemes!). Perhaps one of the most taken for granted things we did this semester was to join an e-mail group through Yahoo!. I say “taken for granted” in that this is one of the easiest things that we did all semester and it was something that was used everyday for things such as questions about our projects/assignments and simple comments about others’ work. The list was also where we sent assignments and sometimes (many times for me), it served as a sort of “tech support”.

Throughout the course of the semester, we did a whole lot of researching. This was necessary for our MRP’s and part of the weekly assignments many times. Through our research we were able to find answers to our essential and foundation questions, which we developed out of our interests in our topics. At times we evaluated sources found on the Internet for their credibility. It was interesting to discover how some things that I may consider using as a source, were lacking in credibility. This was a very valuable lesson learned this semester.

This semester we subscribed to professional mailing lists relating to our MRP topics. This was a wonderful experience for me in that it made my topic come to life when I was able to read messages posted from parents of children with autism and other professionals who work with them. It was very easy to subscribe to the mailing list and I’m glad we had the opportunity to do so. Also, we all learned how to chat, or at least faux chat on the MOO. The MOO turned out to be pretty helpful at times and it was neat to feel as though you were talking to the people in your class even though you may have been sitting in your room at home with no one else around! Also this semester, I feel I gained a lot of knowledge about the resources available to me, such as the ERIC digests, Academic Search Elite, and other such online databases. Meeting at the library this semester for our little tutorial on how to use these databases really helped later in completing my project. In completing the writing assignments (e.g.—“Learning Needs”, “Learning Highlights”, etc.), I was able to learn more about myself in terms of what kind of learner I really am.

The project content was ample as well. It perhaps served as the main portion of the semester in which all of the computer content led up to. The MRP consisted of seven genres of writing, such as journal entries, e-mail exchanges, poems, interviews, etc. Our writings reflected the lives of fictitious clients, their families, and the clinicians that work with them. After we had decided what we might want to research, we developed questions that we would like to find answers for. These questions consisted of the Essential Question, which is the main one that we wanted to find an answer for from our research, and several Foundation Questions, which could aid us in finding an answer to our Essential Question.

Process Reflection

I utilized many processes in completing my work this semester. In fact, I used so many that I may forget to mention a few. Perhaps the main process that I used this semester was to complete my work on time. This posed a perpetual problem for me this semester in that at times, there was so much work to complete, but so little time to complete it in. Even though we were allotted two weeks to complete the work in, I often found myself getting things completed at the last minute (a little lesson the hard way about time management). Another problem that I seemed to encounter (more toward the end than any other time) was logging onto antville. The only thing to do was to use the handy-dandy class list to report the problem and hope that it (whatever it was) was fixed by the time I needed the work to be complete. Luckily for us, Mrs. McComas was very understanding and allowed for us to send our work via the class list. I also encountered problems in posting comments to others’ blogs and creating stories in my own blog. Problems occurred due to the system “timing out” or logging me out after I had been logged in for a long time. I learned (the hard was of course!) to type everything in a Word document, then go back and copy it and paste it to my blog. Worked like a charm every time!

One routine that I was finally able to establish (of course toward the end!) was to complete my work before the weekend. I did this mainly to avoid having so much work to do over the weekend, but as it turned out, by doing this I was able to focus better and complete my work more effectively.
Other processes utilized this semester have already been mentioned throughout my other online journal entries, but the one thing that seemed to become a theme from week to week was to just keep my head above the water. I think I was able to do this because I didn’t let things get to me. Also, the little break we had about a week before Thanksgiving break really helped to recharge my batteries. That was a huge process for me during the semester: to take a much-needed break from the project in order to regroup and refocus on my motives for completing the work and mainly, to recapture or more appropriately, rediscover the passion for my project. I was able to do this the week of Thanksgiving break.

There were a few unmentioned processes (unmentioned in my online journal entries) that I used throughout the semester. Since my project focused on managing aggressive behaviors in individuals with autism, I found myself “putting myself in their shoes” (the “shoes” of the clinician, the “shoes” of the parents, and the “shoes” of the client). Somewhere along the line I realized that that was working only to a point, that there would be no possible way to know what it felt like to be an individual with autism, to know their thoughts and feelings or whether they had any to speak of at all. It was also very difficult to realistically imagine what it feels like to be a parent of a child with autism; the stress, the frustrations, the resentment, and the hope all rolled into one. In reading the book by E. Schopler titled “Parent Survival Manual: A Guide to Crisis Resolution in Autism and Related Developmental Disorders”, I discovered the many feelings and experiences that is “par for the course” when it comes to being a parent of a child with autism. I also have some personal experience with seeing how a family can react to a child with autism in my working with Mike (one of my clients at Autism Services Center). However, I understand that families may have different feelings and different reactions, and that it’s not feasible to put myself “in their shoes”.

Premise Reflection

As a result of this project, I have discovered something about myself that I sort of knew before, but became more evident as my work with this project progressed: I am truly fascinated with Autism and the Pervasive Development Disorders and I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about them through my research. I know that I am capable of completing a project that requires tireless efforts, a tremendous amount of work and dedication, and the ability to critically think and actively learn. I have come to realize that there is something to be said for those of us who can conquer such an incredible feat, and that is we have a genuine love for learning and an amazing work ethic that is evident in the work that we strive to do. Looking over my completed work and my classmates’ completed work, I realize that we are diligent, driven, passionate, disgustingly creative, hard-working, and most of all, brilliant. I think that it’s amazing how I am able to say this about myself, when just a few weeks ago I may have said the exact opposite. I guess it’s just one of those things that you don’t realize until the very end.

Another place that I arrived in my thinking as a result of this project relates to the “putting myself in the family’s/client’s/clinician’s shoes”. As I had mentioned above, I found this to be rather impossible; however, I did not mention that this came easiest when I put myself in the clinician’s shoes. This said to me that I have come a long way, and that maybe I do know a little about what to do as a speech-language pathologist. I must say, that if I had to do all of this work and all of this research to prove that I am evolving into a clinician, then it was all worth it. It was also worth it to discover my true passion for studying autism. Perhaps I have found my niche in the world of Speech-language Pathology (well, for now anyway!).

On a lighter note, I feel that I know so much more about computers than I ever did before. What a relief too, especially since it is almost mandatory that people are computer literate these days. It’s funny how in a few months, I went from someone who my friends would have never asked for computer advice to someone who they come to for their computer problems. They also ask for suggestions! This blows my mind because I have never professed to “know” computers (and I still don’t fully know them), but now I do know a little. Too bad computer knowledge isn’t everlasting (computers and their programs change too much for this) and knowing my luck weblogs will be obsolete by next year! Oh well, I guess I’ll have to stay on the cutting edge of computer know-how!

One last thing I should mention: before this class actually got off the ground, I recall myself saying the ever-so-popular line, “I hate computers”. I recall Mrs. McComas telling me how another student from the summer class said the same exact thing and that I would probably change my mind after the semester had ended. I discovered that she was right. Now, the computer and I are friends (although this may be an ostensible relationship—I’m not sure exactly where we stand!). Really though, I am able to sit down at the computer and wait at least 30 minutes before I get frustrated (a big improvement for me!).

Plans

I can see myself integrating the computer technology learned this semester into my future academic work and professional work. I feel that things such as e-mail lists/groups and weblogs will definitely be beneficial to me in my professional work as a speech-language pathologist (if they are still around when I finally begin my practice!). I can envision myself introducing others to the e-mail group concept and using it as a work-place staple. Also, I would like to have my own blog later, so that I may share clinical experiences with the public. Also, I plan to stay subscribed to my mailing list and I plan to subscribe to others in the future. Knowing how to subscribe to a professional mailing list can be a very helpful tool to clinicians and thus I am very glad that I know how to do it! Perhaps most importantly as it relates to both my academic future and my professional future is that I now know that there is a way to evaluate resources from the Internet. I am so glad that I learned how to do this and now, I can recognize a bogus site from a very credible one. Finally, I plan to continue studying Autism and the Pervasive Development Disorders. I am truly fascinated by them and as a result of this project I have an even greater desire to learn more. This will have a tremendous influence on my academic future in that I may choose to further research autism for a future assignment for a course. It will also influence my future work as a clinician in that I will have answers to questions that may arise when working with clients with autism and if I do not know any answers, then I will know where and how I can find them.

Well, the work here is done, but will never be forgotten and will certainly be visited again. How proud I am of myself and my classmates for completing such a project with grace and the ability to make it out alive! We did it, and for that, we should all congratulate ourselves on a job well done!

Heather L. Perdue

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