You all know that I had a hard time preparing for comps in the same way that my classmates did. The few weeks before comps, I was at the preschool it seemed like 24/7. I was asked by Penny Peterson to babysit her boys for the weekend before finals and felt like I should, I got sick during the week of finals, and babysitting the Parry family started earlier than I had expected. All along, Jake and I felt very much at peace about the decisions we were making and the results that would come. The Saturday before Monday's test, I sat down for just a couple hours of studying here and there. I prayed a simple prayer to know what to study and am still amazed by the very detailed and relevant guidance I received! Wait till you hear this!!
First impression: Study School-Age Language Disorders. Under this topic, I felt like I should focus on literacy.
Comps question for School-Age: Should SLPs play a role in literacy? If so, why? What? How?
Second impression: Open your notes for School-Age again. I opened my notebook and within a few pages, I found a note I had written to myself the first week in September that was circled, highlighted, and bolded. STUDY FOR COMPS! The topic: the impact of including language-impaired children in normative samples for tests.
Comps question for Evaluation (NOTE- NOT THE SAME CLASS!): Who should be included in a normative sample when a test is being used for identification purposes? For discrimination of severity? What is the impact of including language-impaired children in normative samples? What is the effect of using arbitrary cutoffs for determining eligibility for services?
Next impression: Read through the rest of your School-Age notes. OK??? The notes that caught my attention were on principles of learning.
Comps question for Preschool Developmental Language Disorders (NOTE- NOT THE SAME CLASS!): Name two principles of learning and how they would apply to therapy for a preschool-age child with language delay and suspected cognitive deficits?
Next impression: Look at the chart for differential diagnosis of dysarthria. Pay special attention to which diseases (e.g., Lou Gherig's disease, Parkinson disease, MS, etc.) are associated with which dysarthria. Myasthenia gravis (which we didn't spend all that much time learning about) popped out to me- flaccid dysarthria.
Comps question for Neuromotor Speech Disorders: You have been assigned to a client who has been diagnosed with myasthenia gravis. What symptoms do you expect for speech and in general. What are two methods of management that you would recommend? When she requires ventilation, what management techniques would you use to improve her speech?
Next impression: Review methods of measurement for each subsystem of speech.
Comps question for Preclinical Speech Science: Describe how the word "seen" is produced in each of the four subsystems of speech production.
Last impression: Don't worry about studying for Dysphagia.
Comps question for Dysphagia: Describe the four stages of swallowing and possible problems that could arise in each stage that would be detected by videofluoroscopy. EASY PEASY! We've been over that a million times!
As I went to bed the night before comps, I could feel that all of you and many others were on their knees praying in my behalf. I knew I would be blessed beyond what I deserved and I knew you would be too!!!
I have had countless experiences in my life when prayers have received very specific answers, but never so many in a row. Rarely have I felt comfort from the prayers of others so strongly in the past. In addition to my experiences, Jake was guided in his schoolwork and we've been blessed to "keep going" through some pretty tough days and weeks!
Long entry, but long (and miraculous) story!
