This week has definitely been anything but easy for me. My goal at the beginning of the week was to complete all of my assignments by Friday, as well as at least one extra genre. This is because I am leaving tomorrow to go to Myrtle Beach and I didn't want to have to do too much work while I am there. However, on Tuesday, I was called home because my grandmother was put on a ventilator. I spent a lot of time this week in the ICU and didn't have much time to complete my assignments. Even when I did have the time, I had so much on my mind that I found it hard to concentrate. Luckily, I did complete my assignments for the week, but unfortunately did not finish the extra genre. I'll just have to give up some of my fun in the sun to do my work. I can live with that.

I began this week by completing yet another library search. This time, I used the fifth edition of the APA format. I’ll have to go back later and change the others that I completed last week. This didn’t take as much time as it did last week. I guess this is because I was more familiar with the task at hand. I also found the fifth edition easier to follow. Of course, I’m assuming that I did it correctly this time. I hope that I did, but I’d sure like to know for sure (hint, hint). I then attempted, once again, to find a helpful mailing list. Again, I was unsuccessful. I have searched, and searched, and searched, and I am still without a useful mailing list. I am ready to give up, but I still have plenty to talk about when the time comes to write about our experiences with the mailing lists. Trust me. Next, I completed my third genre, which are two journal entries by the parent. One of these is in response to the PowerPoint presentation that is given by the clinician at a PTA meeting. The other is the reaction to the client’s I am poem. I found this to be rather easy to complete. I just imagined that I was a parent in this situation, and wrote what I was thinking and feeling. I fell quite easily into this role. I hope that it shows. After completing this, I responded to the first two genres completed by each of my group members. I actually enjoyed this. I found many of them to be very well written. I actually think that I by evaluating their genres, I realized things that I had to improve in my own genres. I hope that I didn’t offend any of them. I tried to write my comments in a positive way. In other words, I wasn’t trying to criticize. I just offered my opinions. Anyway, moving on, I read the article about the three “R’s” of Inquiry and developed a prompt in which I responded. I actually responded to two prompts. My second prompt was related to our MRP, so I thought it might be of interest to others. While the article was lengthy, it was actually more interesting than I thought it would be. I found it difficult to find only one thing to talk about. The introduction to the article, in which it speaks of students piling up information, is so true. I sometimes have difficulty organizing my information, but I think I’m improving. Finally, I completed my fourth genre, which is a referral letter from the audiologist to the SLP. I had a difficult time with this. Because I was unable to view the format for this type of letter before leaving Huntington, I was kind of lost. I did find some helpful information on the Internet, but nothing specific. I know that I’ll have to make several changes to this. Also, it didn’t help that I had completed the whole thing when antville kicked me off. I had to do the whole thing over. You’d think I would have learned from stories of this happening to others. Wrong. Oh well, I’ll survive.

Overall, this week has been extremely exhausting. Needless to say, I desperately need this vacation. My grandmother is much better by the way. She is off of the ventilator and breathing on her own. This helps my emotional health. Now I need to do something about my physical and intellectual health. Hopefully the vacation will help. I’ll be sure to think of you all while I’m lying on the beach. Don’t worry. I’ll also be spending time in the library. Talk to you next week!

John Sutton
1049 N. Queen St.
Huntington, WV 25701
(304) 555-6879

April 13, 2002

Laura Kee
555 St. of Dreams
Huntington, WV 25703

Dear Ms. Kee,

RE: Referral for speech-language evaluation

I am referring Ethan Taylor to you for a speech-language evaluation. Ethan is five years old. Medical records obtained from Ethan's pediatrician, Dr. Edward Arnette show a history of chronic otitis media. The first occurance was on August 20, 1997 when Ethan was 5 months old. Since then, there has been a reoccurance of three to four middle ear infections each year. The middle ear infections were treated with prescriptions of oral antibiotics, as well as ear drops. Treatments were given by Dr. Edward Arnett, and emergency room physicians, Dr. Nancy Stevens and Dr. Mark Sloan.

Pure-tone and bone conduction tests indicate a mild flat conductive hearing loss in the right ear and a mild to moderate flat conductive hearing loss in the left ear. Tympanometry results are Type B, flat.
(I'm going to include other test results, but I'll have to wait until I return to Huntington to review my audiology notes.)

After completing a hearing evaluation on Ethan, I have diagnosed him with a mild flat conductive hearing loss in the right ear and a mild to moderate flat conductive hearing loss in left ear.

After speaking with Mrs. Taylor and observing Ethan during the hearing evaluation, I am concerned about Ethan's language skills. For this reason and because of Ethan's history of chronic otitis media, I am referring Ethan for a speech-language evaluation.

Thank you,
John Sutton