Saturday, July 20, 2013

I blinked and then it was July.

When I wrote my last post, I was a week into my internship. Yesterday was my last day. I've somehow managed to forego any documentation of my experiences. Allow me to summarize:
  • Therapy was mostly designed around cognitive communicative goals, such as attention, memory, problem solving, reasoning, and all of the other cognitive processes involved in communication. 
  • My supervisor is an amazing mentor. She started TBI therapy when it was a new discipline, so she had a lot of down-to-earth experience and wisdom to share about the trials and tribulations of therapy. Especially when it comes to navigating the tricky symptoms and characteristics of brain damage. 
  • One of my previous clinical educators used to say, "History is everything." And it really is. No person with a brain injury had a blank slate before their injury. 
  • Speech pathology is definitely the right career for me. Whether or not I'm any good at it (which I'd wager that I am good enough since I've made it through all of my internships without any major hurdles), I truly enjoy it. The time goes by so much faster when I'm in sessions all day. 
  • I met an amazing team of rehab professionals and learned so much more about what they do: OTs, PTs, counselors, behavior therapists, etc. 
  • I have to get through an online statistics class (boring, but applicable) and then I'll start my school internship in September.