Week #8-Free Post

Mindlessness Versus Mindfulness

A large part of communication is having interpretative competence. Interpreting the world around you, namely messages, appropriately is no easy task to achieve however. As people we carry around several biases, effecting our interpretive competence for good and bad. One main bias we hold is using mindless thought versus mindful thought. Knowing the difference, when to use, and how to appropriately do so can help with proper communication. 

Differences: 

Mindless 

• typically mindless thought
• not observing all info around you
• on 'auto-pilot' 
• use old categories of thought

Mindful

• focused
• alert
• never be fully mindful

When To Use:

Mindless

• everyday situations
• typical social interactions
• to generalize situations/people

Mindful

• when trying to learn
• when trying to remember specific instructions

Tips

1. Recognize what you're doing: be aware when you are on auto-pilot and that you have biases

2. Be aware of contextual trigger for our behaviors: watch for things that trigger bias

3. Examine thoughts/actions

4. Avoid self-censorship

After learning all this information in my communication lecture, I have been trying to be conscious and keep track of when I am being mindful and when I am being mindless. I've found that in almost every social situation, I am completely mindless. Being mindless allows me to not get overwhelmed. Mindlessness also helps me be lazy, and use preconceived notions to direct my social situations, which is not always a bad thing. I find that everyone's brain needs a little relaxation now and then. I am most mindful in class, specifically when listening to directions for an assignment. I slowly process the information, interpret it, evaluate it, note it as well as the professor emotions. This thought can get tiring however, and I typically revert back to mindless thought soon after being mindful.     

Week #8-Prompted Post

Hands-On Activity

Autism myVoice App

This week i was requested to do any sort of 'hands-on' activity that pertains to my perspective career goal. I have been interested in apps that help children with special needs for some time so I saw this as the perfect opportunity to explore one. Professionals in the SLP field use apps as a way to help their clients. I choose the app Autism myVoice, downloaded it and began to experiment.

Autism myVoice application is cheap at only $2.99. This makes it a good application to suggest to parents/care givers. The app is programmed to help mainly nonverbal children with communication skills. myVoice has a unique design that uses pictures of verbs and nouns as buttons, which the user can press to form simple sentences. 

The main verbs include:

• I want
• I enjoy
• I need
• I feel

Some noun categories include:

• Food
• Feelings
• Toys
• Numbers

The only flaw to this app is that it is not easily customizable. It took a rather long time for the app to upload and process my personally added pictures and words. I did find the application came with many pre-programmed words, probably enough to get said what needed.

After playing with the application I tried to put it to use, like a professional would. I had my roommate, Taylor, try and communicate with me using only the application and only words pre-programmed and already added by me. After just a few minutes, sh got pretty frustrated with her lack of proper communication. I, innately  tried to keep her relaxed and coheres her into working with the app more. Eventually she got accustomed to the application and began to understand more what she would be trying to communicate. 

Applications like myVoice can be extremely useful for people with special needs. It is clear why the use of technology is becoming so prevalent in the SLP field. Being able to work with myVoice gave me some insight on what it will be like to work with similar applications as a professional.     

   Works Cited

"MyVoice | Communication Aid Apps for Speech and Language Disorders." MyVoice. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2013.

   

  

Week #7-Free Post

 I Actually Have an Opinion

In my last post I wrote about therapeutic listening and the controversy about it in my field. I did not mention how I felt about it however, and I am going to take this opportunity to do that. The video below explains therapeutic listening in an understandable way. 

I absolutely believe that therapeutic listening can be helpful to clients. Many studies have shown significant improvement in children who try therapeutic listening. Studies frequently show that this therapy can help with several extremely important skills. First, it can help listening, communication, social skills, writing and focus which is key for any type of schooling and work. Therapeutic listening also helps balance, visual motor planning, self-regulation, sensory sensitivity, and motor planning. Although science can not entirely back up this therapy yet, it is apparent that it can help. 

At my Abilities Canter internship, I was able to see a child begin to use therapeutic listening. The expert on therapeutic listening, Jessica, showed all about it. The little boy who was using it seemed to warm up to the idea rather quickly. While listening Jessica preformed different techniques to see if the therapy had been helping at all. She noticed that with the head phones the client seemed to be more comfortable. Jessica also noticed that after using the swing to spin him, he was able to focus on her slightly faster after stopping spinning.

 I believe it is important to try any therapy that has a possibility of working, because the worst that can happen is the technique does not end up helping.

Works Cited

"What Is Therapeutic Listening?" YouTube. YouTube, 04 Nov. 2011. Web. 21 Oct. 2013.

      

Week #7-Prompted Post

Controversy About 

Therapeutic Listening

Child using therapeutic listening

New technology is transforming the speech world. Children with special needs are starting to receive help from technology more and more. One of these new treatments is called therapeutic listening. Therapeutic listening involves the client wearing headphones to listen to certain music. This music is designed to help the client focus. Therapeutic listening is often used for children with special needs by their therapists (often occupational).The music works by cancelling out any other distracting noises and often help to regulate the user. The organized sound patterns impact levels of the nervous system. This helps meets many clients’ needs that are easily thrown off by outside noises. The listening is started with twenty half-hour listens (twice daily) for ten days. There is some controversy on therapeutic listening however. 

The controversy in the field is that some specialists say that there is limited scientific evidence that proves therapeutic listening is effective. This makes them hesitant to use the therapy. 

Others say therapeutic listening noticeably improves the attention and even irritability of users. These professionals try to use the therapy when ever the client seems to be a contender.   

Works Cited

Frick, Sheila M. "A Brief Introduction To Therapeutic Listening." N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2013.

Kurtz, Lisa A. Understanding Controversial Therapies for Children With Autism,      Attention Deficit Disorder, and Other Learning Disabilities: A Guide to    Complementary and    Alternative Medicine. London: Jessica Kingsley, 2008.  Print.

  

Week #6-Free Post

More Metacommunication

Relationships should have conflict. Within relationships conflicts: signal that the partners life's are entwined, show that there is a need for change, and allow problem diagnosis. These are all exponentially important aspect to having a healthy relationship. It is how people go about conflicts that make them messy however. I learned different problems when having conflict with a partner in my communication class. I want to describe them by using examples from this clip from the movie The Break-Up. 

• Gunnysacking: If someone gunnysacks during a conflict this means that they let problems build up inside, then explode all at once. Here Jennifer Anistan's character brings up flowers, the ballet, dishes and many other examples of how she believes she is mistreated. 
• Kitchensinking: During a conflict someone is kitchensinking when they start throwing in everything but the kitchen sink, or old arguments that are irrelevant. The argument about how Vince Vaughn's character works and she doesn't, and how he believes he is nagged is an irrelevant argument and starting the kitchensinking. 
• Demand-Withdraw: This one does not have a funny name, but it is fairly prominent. Here one partner demands and demands, while the other backs out of the situation. At the end of the clip Jennifer starts demanding more and more while he withdraws, more or less in shock. 
• Stone-Walling: One partner turning into a stone wall, or shutting out the other entirely, is stone-walling. Anistan's character attempts to stone-wall by leaving the kitchen and start to clean the dinning room.       

The above tactics are obstacles that just lead to poor conflicts. I find learning more about communication so interesting. I am able to apply my lessons to movie clips from The Break-Up and in every day situation. Communication is even making my relationships stronger.  

Works Cited

The Break-up. Dir. Peyton Reed. Prod. Vine Vaughn and Scott Stuber. By Vince Vaughn, Jeremy Garelick, and Jay Lavender. Perf. Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston. Universal Pictures, 2006. Film.

Week #6-Prompted Post

Critical Source Argument

I am warning you right now this is a dense post

http://ajslp.asha.org/cgi/content/abstract/22/3/503

Above is the link to a scientific article from the American Journal of Speech and Language Pathology. It poses the argument how many preschool children are correctly defined as having speech problems and how many of them should actually see a speech-language pathologist.

The conclusion stated is most children with a SSD have not seen a SLP, but would benefit from having one. 

I agree with the professionals's argument. I believe most children who should see a SLP have not yet. The professionals make a strong argument by conducting and explaining a logical and thorough study. There is evidence of logos used in their entire article.

A question posed is do parents/teachers correctly diagnose children with a SSD. The study shows that fairly often they do. I agree with this mainly because it is hard to disagree with the numbers. There are a few aspects that deserved to be brought up however. The first being some parents can be hypercritical of their children. Being self conscious of their children's problems often leads to over thinking a typical trait for a child. Also, being rather protective can lead to worrying about a non-problem. The second being the parents who their child is perfect to them. These parents often over look issues like a SSD (I'm not judging these parents though). Only 41/109 children who have parents who showed concern about their speech saw a SLP. Of these children, many of them expressed concern about their speech (the poor things). Many of them have such trouble with speech they would be unintelligible to strangers (this article just makes me want to go work right now). Because of this it is important to have children professionally diagnosed.     

The professionals also compared children who had seen a SLP to those who had not. They questioned which would have more difficulties with speech. I think this comparison was probably not entirely fair. While done correctly and logically, all children (especially at that age) are going to be super different. The results of the study showed that children who had seen a SLP had a lower PCC. in other words were worse at speech then the rest (my heart goes out).  

Most arguments online are for children seeing speech paths. In fact it was actually a challange to find an article i disagreed with. This made me super happy because I can see the positive shift toward speech. 

Works Cited

   Mcleod, Sherryann. "Speech Sound Disorders in a Community Study of Preschool Children." American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 22 (2013): 503-22. Print.

Week #5-Free Post

Relationship Communication

Recently, I learned about relationship communication. I studied different types, effective ways, and various surveys of communication in relationships. Mainly, there are four definitions of communication in relationship and they are: 1. Constellations of Behaviors (what activities partners do together) 2. Contradictory Forces (dialectal tensions) 3. Mini-cultures (expectations for behaviors) 4. Cognitive Constructs (relationship prototyping). After learning about these relationship communication styles, I have been starting to see them in every relationship around me.

Today I watched the movie Blue Valentine and I saw examples of these four definitions in the main character's (Dean and Cindy) relationship. I will break the examples up by definition to be clear. **if you haven't seen the movie I made sure to leave out really big 'spoilers'**  

1. Constellations of Behaviors: Dean and Cindy have several activities they part take in together. The key to this aspect of behavioral communication is it does not include emotions or feelings. One can compare their old behaviors to their new ones to see how they have transformed. An example of these behaviors include: being silly and dancing around. While they both did this in their youth, Cindy grows out of the behavior. This causes problems in their constellations of behaviors. 

2. Contradictory Forces: This is the desire for two opposing things at once in the relationship. Dean and Cindy totally use contradictory forces to define their relationship. An example of this would be Cindy wants to be with Dean yet also wants alone time.e. Her wanting alone time also strained their relationship communication. 

3. Mini-Cultures: Expectations for behaviors can also lead to disappointments when the expectation is not met. And yet again, Cindy and Dean have a problem with their mini-culture. The two built 'norms' together as young adults that seized to be met as they got older. The main example of this is they created a world for themselves where Cindy is spontaneous  She grows out of this behavior too in time causing mini-culture problems.

4. Cognitive Constructs: Dean often catches himself thinking "a wife should be caring towards me", creating a relationship prototype. While Cindy was somewhat caring she did not meet prototype. At the same time Cindy often though "a husband should be 'manly'", when Dean did not meet this prototype more trouble was caused in their cognitive construct. 

I was able to apply what I have learned in this movie. I enjoyed being able to diagnose their relationship with their proper definitions, however the movie was really depressing. In all, I feel stagnant and accomplished all at the same time.           

Week #5-Prompted Post

         

ETHICS AND BELIEFS 

First, I am just going to put this here http://www.asha.org/policy/ET2010-00309/. It is a link to the American Speech And Hearing Association's code of ethics. Now I am not saying it isn't interesting, just rather long. So I have made a little summary focusing on how they compare to my ethics and beliefs.

Out Line Of Code of Ethics 

• Doing the best of your ability and treating all clients (including animals) humanely                        -do not show biases                                                                                                                    -do your job
• Be professionally competent                                                                                                                 -always continue learning                                                                                                             -use proper equipment and training
• Promote public awareness                                                                                                                  -use your title appropriately and rightfully 
• Honor responsibilities and the people around you                                                                            -be integral                                                                                                                                      -follow the code of ethics

The easiest way to go about this is to say i truly agree with their entire code of ethics. I mean most of them are just common sense and most people naturally follow them. However, some ethics I am still learning is college. 

Skills learning in college

1. Integrity: I am learning the ethic of being integral in college. Practicing academic integrity will help me prepare for the integral work force.
2. Do your work: In college I am learning how important it is to do all my work to the very best of my ability.
3. Always continue to learn: Learning in college is important and I am of course doing so in class. I am also continuing to learn by volunteering on campus. These skills will directly carry over to work. 

The most important belief of mine that I plan to bring to the work force is not showing biases. The key ethic when working with various different types of people is to treat them all equally. This has to do with race, gender, and religion. However this ethic is so important because it also means to not treat different disabilities differently. Of course there will be various medical treatments however, insuring all people are treated in a caring and understanding way is paramount.    

Works Cited

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2010). Code of ethics [Ethics]. Available from www.asha.org/policy.