Hello and welcome to my webliography! First off, allow me to introduce myself. I am a senior at Marshall University majoring in communication disorders. While I have spent the past three years in Huntington, WV attending school, I am originally from Martinsburg, WV.

Fun Stuff:
Do you ever get up in the morning and don't know what to wear because you forgot to check the weather report? Just click here to find a local weather report.

Is there a TV program you want to watch, but you can't remember what time it starts? Click TV Guide for TV listings.

Do you ever wish that your family would spend more time together, but you don't know what to do? Check out these great ideas for some family fun!

Personal Interests:
I have so many interests, I don't know where to start. About a year ago, my mom and my "adopt-a-mom," Mrs. Baker, got me hooked on scrapbooking with Creative Memories. It's a great way to relax and store your precious memories.
When I'm not busy doing class work, I find myself watching TV. My favorite shows are Friends, ER, and Law & Order. I also like to get decorating ideas from Trading Spaces.
After I graduate, and I'm actually making money instead of spending money, I'd like to buy some paintings from my favorite artist, Thomas Kinkade. He specializes in inspirational paintings.

Discipline Specific "Stuff":
As the site states, ASHA (American Speech Language and Hearing Association) is an association devoted to ensuring that all people with speech, language, and hearing disorders have access to quality services to help them communicate more effectively.

While ASHA is the best source of information for speech-language pathologists, another source of information one may want to check out is Speech Language Pathology Web Sites. This web site allows you to choose from a list of discipline specific topics. It then supplies you with a list of resources on that topic. This site has earned three listed awards, such as the Links2Go Key Resource award, Hardin MD's Clean Bill of Health, and the SLP Site of the Month Award.

Of course, speech-language pathologists are required to carry a license to practice in a certain state. To learn more about registering for a license in the state of West Virginia and the requirements for maintaining this license, visit The West Virginia Board of Examiners for Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology.

Research Resources:
My main area of discussion for this MRP has been how chronic otitis media can cause a language delay. To find out more information about this topic, visit the following sites.

One site that I came across is from ASHA's Kid Source. This site is a good resource for parents, in that it provides a basic definition of chronic otitis media and its effect on language development. It also provides advice on what to do if one suspects a child of having this problem.

Another site discusses the results of different studies on this topic. This site discusses the possible link between chronic otitis media and speech/language disorders.

Perhaps you're interested in learning about ear infections. This document discusses ear infections and why they put a child at risk for a language disorder or delay.

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Tuesday April 2, 2002

My dear friend, Diana, invited me to attend a PTA meeting tomorrow night. I wasn’t going to go since Ethan doesn’t attend Glenn Oak Elementary School yet. However, after thinking about it, that might not be such a bad idea. Afterall, Ethan will be attending that school next fall. I think I will go just to see how everything works.

Wednesday April 3, 2002

The PTA meeting started out as I had expected by addressing various areas of interest, such as financial issues, fundraisers, individual class developments, scheduled events, etc. However, tonight they had a guest speaker, Laura Kee, a speech-language pathologist at the school. Of course, I was the naïve parent that had no idea of what this person did for a living. I figured she was going to present ideas about getting the children oriented with writing and presenting speeches. After all, this is considered an important part of school curriculums these days, or so I have heard. However, I was surprised to learn that this was not the case. She was actually there to present a PowerPoint presentation about how chronic otitis media can possibly cause a language delay. This immediately caught my attention since Ethan had suffered many middle ear infections in the past. Still, I had never suspected him of having any developmental problems. I mean, sure, his language isn’t perfect, but he’s only five years old. Isn’t this normal?
After listening intently to the presentation, I began to worry about Ethan. Like any other caring mother, I only want what’s best for him. Only, I still didn’t know what I should do. I waited around until all of the other parents had left and then approached Ms. Kee. She gave me the phone number to a local audiologist, John Sutton, and advised me to have Ethan’s hearing evaluated. I’m going to give him a call first thing tomorrow morning.

Thursday April 4, 2002

Today was very hectic. I overslept so I was late for work and the kids were late for school. I hate it when that happens! Anyway, despite all of the chaos, I did manage to remember to call Mr. Sutton about having Ethan’s hearing evaluated. I gave him the name of Ethan’s pediatrician so that he could obtain Ethan’s medical history, and I made an appointment for April 13, 2002 at 2:00pm. I’ll have to leave work a little early, but it’s worth it. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens!

Saturday April 13, 2002

Ethan had his hearing evaluated today. It turns out Ethan has a mild conductive hearing loss in his right ear and a mild to moderate conductive hearing loss in his left ear. Of course, I had no idea what this meant. I must have asked Mr. Sutton more than twenty questions. I hope he didn’t mind. I’m sure he’s used to dealing with concerned parents, such as myself. Anyway, he decided that it would be wise to have Ethan’s speech and language evaluated as well. When he told me that he was going to refer Ethan to a speech-language pathologist, I requested that he refer him to Ms. Kee. After all, if not for the presentation she had given at the PTA meeting, Ethan’s hearing loss would still be undiagnosed. I requested a copy of the referral letter. He promised he would mail me a copy the next day.

Tuesday April 16, 2002

Well, I received a copy of the referral letter today. It basically just discussed Ethan’s medical history and the results of his hearing tests. Of course, I had no idea what the specifics of the tests meant, but I guess that doesn’t matter. All that matters is that my little angel is going to get the help that he needs. I hope it’s nothing serious. I do want the best for him. I’d hate for him to have anything holding him back when he starts kindergarten next fall. I just hope my prayers are answered, and his language turns out to be just fine.

Wednesday April 17, 2002

I went ahead and called Ms. Kee today. I figured that since I received my copy of the letter yesterday, she had probably also received the referral letter. She agreed to go ahead and set up an appointment. It looks like Ethan will be having his speech and language evaluation on April 25, 2002 at 3:00pm. I can hardly wait. I hate not knowing anything. I guess I’ll just have to keep on praying!

Wednesday April 24, 2002

I just can’t seem to get any sleep tonight. Tomorrow is the big day! I keep thinking about all of the possibilities. I just love Ethan so much! I can’t imagine him having a developmental delay. I keep telling myself that he’s going to be just fine. His language isn’t delayed. It’s not perfect, but it’s not delayed. He's just a normal five year old, isn't he? I can’t keep torturing myself like this. I’m just going to have to make myself get some sleep. That’s all there is to it. Well good night. I’ll be back tomorrow. Same time. Same place.

Thursday April 25, 2002

Ethan had his speech and language evaluation today. He definitely didn’t want to be there. He had just finished a nap so he was a little cranky. We were there a lot longer than I had expected. By the time I filled out the necessary paperwork and Ethan had his evaluation, we had been there almost three hours! I’m not complaining though. I’m just thankful that I had Ethan’s speech and language evaluated when I did. It turns out that Ethan’s language is, in fact, delayed. However, after talking to Ms. Kee about language therapy, I am optimistic about Ethan’s future. Just because it is delayed now doesn’t mean that there is no hope of his language ever being normal. There is hope thanks to language therapy. Ms. Kee promised to send me a letter explaining a little more about Ethan’s language delay and the possible reason for this delay. I guess I’ll be getting that in the mail within the next few days.

Monday April 29, 2002

I received the letter from the speech-language pathologist today. It did help me to understand a little better what Ethan is going through. It explained what a language disorder is and how it could affect him in school. It also discussed Ethan’s history of Chronic Otitis Media and how it could have been the cause of his language delay. Included with the letter was a poem that Ethan had written with the help of Ms. Kee. The poem was about what it was like when people talked to him and how these experiences made him feel. I was shocked to learn what his life had been like and how frustrated he was because of it. I am so disappointed in myself. All of this time, I have been asking other people about what Ethan is experiencing and never once thought to ask my own son. Finding out that Ethan would need language therapy was unexpected, but nothing I couldn’t handle. However, after reading Ethan’s poem, I just feel so overwhelmed with sadness and guilt. I am haunted by the fact that my son has been suffering all this time, and I never even noticed. Why didn’t I know? Why didn’t I help him? I feel like a failure as a mother. Surely there was something I could have done to prevent all of this. What kind of mother am I? I am so sure that he will grow to resent me for all of this, and I won’t blame him if he does. How am I ever going to make this up to him?

Wednesday May 1, 2002

This morning, I decided to go see Ms. Kee. I am so glad that I did! She talked with me for over an hour, answering all of my questions and assuring me that it is not my fault. She also referred me to her webliography, which includes links to additional information about Chronic Otitis Media and language delays. I’m still not able to accept the fact that I am not at least partly to blame. In any case, I know that Ethan is in good hands. With so many people aiding and supporting him, he’s sure to succeed in his therapy.

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Well, this class is just about over. You know what that means. I should be applying the finishing touches to my project right about now. My goal for this week was to make final revisions to my genres and complete all of the assignments for the week. Despite a hectic schedule, I feel that I have accomplished this goal.

The first thing that I did was peer review the About the Author, Acknowledgements, and Preface sections for the girls in my group. These peer review were, by far, the easiest to do thus far. I enjoyed the About the Author sections. I actually learned a thing or two about each of them. It was also nice to get some recognition from my peers. Thanks girls! I spent the rest of the week revising genres. I finally got my revised PowerPoint posted. I hope everyone likes it. I think that it’s a lot better than my original PowerPoint presentation. I still have a couple pictures to add, so if you think the layout of a couple of the slides looks odd, that’s why. I’ll have that fixed within a couple of days. As for the rest of the weekly assignments, I didn’t get around to doing them until late Friday night and today. I worked on Friday from noon until 9:30pm so I didn’t get much work done that day. For some reason, after working all day, I was in the mood to do work when I got home. I ended up working on my MRP reflection until 2:00am. I don’t know what got into me. What ever it was, it must have worked. I feel that I did a good job on that reflection. Heaven knows, I’ve definitely had enough practice. I had planned on having Saturday off to do a bunch of work for this class, but I ended up working from noon until 10pm that night. Needless to say, I was exhausted by the time I got home. As soon as I got off work today, I rushed home to finish my assignments. I posted my reference page. I’m going to be adding more. I just wanted to be sure to post something by the deadline. As I’ve said before, references just aren’t my thing. I don’t know why I have such a hard time with them. I can do them, but it takes me a long time. I also have a difficult time figuring out which format to use for each reference. I’m sure glad I have Frances here to help me. I also re-wrote my journal from the parent. I kept much of the same writing from the original entries, but I added a lot more. I also separated them by date since I’m using them to integrate all of my genres. I actually completed this a few days ago, but I guess I must have saved it to the hard-drive on the computer in the library because it wasn’t on my disk. By the time I realized this, I had no way of going to the library to get this saved information since I had to work while the library was open. How many times have I made this stupid mistake this summer? I think I’ve done it about four times. Hopefully I’ll learn my lesson some day. In the meantime, I’ll just have to grin and bear it. It wasn’t a total loss. I think the journal entries turned out better the second time around. At least I’ll say it did to make me feel better. Lastly, I made a table of contents for my MRP. This didn’t take to long. After all, I am a computer genius now, aren’t I? Don’t answer that question.

Overall, I think I did well this week. I’m off tomorrow so I’ll be spending the day at the library. I’m hoping to finish most of what’s left while I’m there. Can you believe we only have 4 ½ days left? Actually, I can believe that. What I can’t believe is that we start fall semester in two weeks! However, I’m not worried about the coming semester. If I can survive this class, I can definitely survive fall semester. At least I hope so. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. At least I’ll have all of you there with me J