CLASSES:
I've been in graduate school at BYU studying speech-language pathology for the last year. In just a week and a half, spring term ends and I'll be done with classes...ALL done. I don't graduate yet though because I still have two internships and a thesis to write, which will all take another academic year. Now you're thinking "at least she can earn some money now with the internships." Wrong. I don't know why our field is different than most, but our internships are unpaid, but everything else about them is like a job (e.g. we can't miss work, we are expected to contribute a full day's work 5 days a week).
INTERNSHIPS:
The 3rd week of June (right after spring term ends) is when I begin my medical internship at a rehabilitation center in Sandy. I'll ride UTA at 6:30am, then trax, and then bike the last 2 miles...and wahlah...I begin working at 8:30 am. I'll be working with mostly older patients who've had stokes and traumatic brain injuries and are learning how to talk again. I'll also work with patients who are having difficulties swallowing (betcha didn't know that SPEECH THERAPISTS do that!). This will be a brand new context for me and I'm excited for the experience.
In September, I begin a new internship at a private preschool for children on the Autism Spectrum. The school is called Giant Steps and I've heard such wonderful things about the program. I'm really excited for this one.
MY FIRST SLP JOB:
I also have a job lined up to begin in September also working at another preschool for children with Autism. My boss is awesome and i do get paid for this (and the pay is great). It will give me excellent experience also!
THESIS:
While doing all of the above, I'll be setting aside time to continue working on my thesis. I'm looking at withdrawal behavior (the kind where they play by themselves more than with other children) in children with language impairment and how it correlates with their language test scores. Are the withdrawn because they don't have good language skills? or do they not have good language skills because they're withdrawn? Aren't we all DYING to know?!?!
ok...so see what I mean? BAD idea to blog about school stuff. It can get boring to ya'll. Let's move on to Darin before I dig a deeper hole...
DARIN:
He is not currently taking classes, but he's been working at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) and studying hard for the Dental Admissions Test (DAT). He's been so diligent with his study--I don't know how he keeps himself motivated! I admire him so much for that. Anyway, it's getting tough, but he's hanging in there. He'll take the exam in a couple of weeks. He will apply for dental school next summer since our plan is to work full-time for a year before he starts dental school. He's a smarty-pants!
