Journal: Week One

After spending just one week at SenseAbilities, I am more than happy that I chose this

sight to do my internship. This week I spent most of my time learning my way around the office

and learning my duties. I also met the Speech Pathologist, Hannah Knight, whom I will be

shadowing for the first couple of weeks. In addition to Hannah, there are other people such as

Dylan, Morgan, and Kelsey that I will be shadowing. One thing I am really looking forward to is

shadowing Morgan and Kelsey because they both specialize in food therapy, which I had never

been interested in until now. I also learned my therapy tech duties that I will be doing such as

cleaning toys and keeping the bathrooms re-stocked. Another thing I did was get to know the

occupational therapy staff as well because I will be shadowing them later on in the week, which I

am looking forward to.

I also talked to my supervisor, Mikayla Burke, about the project I will be doing

throughout the semester and brainstormed ideas with her. We talked about how we are going to

implement my project and the steps to make to introduce it to the owner. I am working on a

budget plan with both moderate and more extensive budget options as well as a PowerPoint to

show my ideas. My idea is to finish and upgrade the sensory walls of the office as well as do

research about the positives of sensory therapy for children who have different diagnoses such as

autism, down syndrome, and cerebral palsy.

WEEK ONE

Day Time In Time Out Hours Worked

Monday 9 AM 5:30 PM 8

Tuesday 10 AM 5:30 PM 7

Wednesday 9 AM 5:30 PM 8
 Thursday 9:30 AM 4;30 PM (because of 7
bad weather)

Friday Worked from home 5 PM 3

2 PM

Total Weekly Hours 33

Total Hours to Date 33

Journal: Week Two

During my second week at SenseAbilities, I was able to learn some new skills and able to

explore my options of who I decided to shadow. I also learned how important it is to take notes

of changes in certain patients. Each week at SenseAbilites is the same in terms of what kiddos I

see. What I found the most interesting was the change in one kid V.F. Last week when I saw her

she was very talkative, and friendly and was so excited to do her work with my mentor.

However, this week when she came in she was quite the opposite. She didn't want to do her work

at all but was still expecting the reward of getting to play with toys, even though she knows she

doesn't get to play unless she does her work. She was also totally quiet, she would put her head

down whenever we asked her questions and completely ignored us. It is so interesting to see how

some kids change from week to week and I am so excited to follow the progress of kids through

my semester at SenseAbilites.

This week I also started talking to my supervisor about my project. I completed a budget,

PowerPoint, and Amazon shop cart to present to the owners, which I am doing during week 3 or

4, in the hope of starting the project by week five. My PowerPoint includes a list of goals for my

project, examples of what I will add to the wall, the new theme, the proposed budget (with three

options), and pictures of past artwork I have done. I want to start to get ahead of the project

because what I am planning will probably take the entire semester to implement. What I have
planned right now is to fix the sensory hallway they have in their office and in addition to that do

research on how autism can affect your different senses. I am very excited to start this project

and present it to the owners.

Week Two

Day Time In Time Out Hours Worked

Monday 11 PM 5:00 PM 6
Worked from home

Tuesday 9:30 AM 5:30 PM 7 1/2

Wednesday 9 AM 5:00 PM 7 1/2

Thursday 9:30 AM 6:30 PM 8 1/2

Friday Worked from home 3 PM 4

11 AM

Total Weekly Hours 33.5

Total Hours to Date 66.5

Journal: Week Three

Week three at SenseAbilities was a great one! The most exciting thing that happened this

week is that some of my favorite kiddos that I work with/ shadow are starting to remember my

name and get excited when they see me! I love that I am making connections with the kids and

that I am able to build relationships with them. For the past two weeks, I spent my time

shadowing different therapists to see who I get along with and whose techniques I like. This

week I finally make a personalized schedule that will remain the same for the rest of the

semester. I chose my schedule based on the therapist and which kiddos I want to see progress

throughout the semester. I have been journaling throughout the day during sessions to not if I see

any progress in a certain kiddo during that week, compared to the last.
 I saw the comment you (Dr.K) left on my discussion post. I am going to share the

presentation I made for the owners of SenseAbilities in the drop box so you can see it also. I

have already been approved by them, so I just want to get the OK from you! I will also be

creating a Google form for the therapists to fill out about the previous wall that is there, and then

to fill it out again once I am done with my hallway. The Google form will ask things like if the

therapists see any change in the patient's behaviors while entering and leaving the facility due to

the re-designed hallway, as well as other things that could affect the patient's outcome. I will take

before and after pictures of the hallway to document my creation. I am very passionate about this

project because I am able to combine what I love, my art skills and my public health skills, into

one project.

WEEK THREE

Day Time In Lunch Time Out Hours Worked

Monday 9 AM 1:30- 2:00 4:30 PM 7

Tuesday 9 AM 1:30- 2:00 6:30 PM 9

Wednesday 9 AM 12:30- 1:00 6:30 PM 9

Thursday 9:00 AM 12:00-1:00 6:30 PM 9

Friday Worked from N/A 2 PM 3

home
11 AM

Total Weekly 37
Hours

Total Hours to 103.5

Date

Journal: Week Four

I can’t believe that week four is already over and I am on to week five of the internship!

This week was a big one, I got my project approved by the owners and by budget was approved
as well. I was asked to make a GANT chart for my project so the owners could track my

progress. It was cool and exciting to use what I had learned in class and apply it to my internship.

To be able to say, yes I know exactly what a GANT chart is and how to make one was very

fulfilling. I am starting next week and Im looking forward to it so much. This week I worked on

creating and collecting all the items I need into an Amazon chart so they can be ordered.

This week I also was able to experience a new side of therapy I hadn't seen much yet,

which is feeding therapy. This is a unique therapy in which both speech therapists and

occupational therapists can specialize, however, the way in which the therapy works is different.

For speech-feeding therapy, therapists specialize in the muscles inside the mouth and if the

movements of the tongue-feeding pattern are correct. But with occupational-feeding therapy,

therapists specialize in textural and sensory issues that children have with certain foods that

affect their diet. For example, one kid who I sit in with eats the same exact thing every day, most

of which has no nutritional value. For breakfast, he eats pop tarts, for lunch, chicken nuggets,

and for dinner a cheese quesadilla. So for his occupational-feeding therapy, the therapist works

on introducing new textures. It is very interesting to see the way in which feeding therapy differs.

I am very excited to learn more about feeding therapy during my time at SenseAbilites.

WEEK FOUR

Day Time In Time Out Hours Worked

Monday 10 AM 5:30 PM 7

Tuesday 9 AM 6:30 PM 9

Wednesday 9 AM 6:30 PM 9

Thursday 9 AM 6:30 PM 9

Friday Worked from home 3 PM 4

11 AM
 Total Weekly Hours 38

Total Hours to Date 141.5

Journal: Week Five

I am going to start off this journal by saying that this week has been one of the most

interesting and challenging weeks I have has so far while being at SenseAbilites. The week

started off normal, and I was planning to start my project on Wednesday, which I was looking

forward to alot. However, I got some news from someone who I was working with that my

project would no longer be happening. I had no explanation or anything, so I was very stressed

and a bit frantic because I was caught off guard. After talking to my supervisor, I have come up

with some new ideas that I think could be really fun and work very well with the curriculum in

this class. I have already started on new ways to incorporate my previous idea of doing the

sensory hallway, but in a way that is already incorporated with what Gillian has planned.

Other than that this week was a great one! Two of my favorite kiddos who I watch in

feeding therapy both had major progress during their appointments that I had not seen yet. One

of them, who is a little baby girl, has been teething alot lately, so she is very adverse to anything

going toward her mouth. But, finally this week she allowed both a chewable and a Z-Vibe to be

put into her mouth, which is a big step up from previous weeks. I also follow her to OT and have

been able to see her progress there which has been very amazing to watch. The other kiddo, who

is a 4 or 5-year-old boy has also been pretty advertised in his past sessions. This week was the

first week I saw him be more willing to let the therapist put anything close to his mouth. It was

very cool to watch their progress of them throughout to semester so far in addition to many other

kids.
 Day Time In Time Out Hours Worked

Monday 10 AM 4:30 PM 7

Tuesday 9 AM 6:30 PM 9

Wednesday 9 AM 6:30 PM 8

Thursday 9 AM 5:30 PM 8 1/2

Friday Worked from home 1 PM 4

11 AM

Total Weekly Hours 36.5

Total Hours to Date 178

Journal: Week Six

I can't believe it is already midterms, this semester is flying by faster than I could

imagine. I am so excited that I finally got my project approved so start printing and promoting it

at my office. I already have multiple members from the office that would love to participate,

which is promising. Other than getting my project approved, it was a pretty normal week at the

office in terms of shadowing patients. However, one thing that I did notice is the number of kids

that had to cancel because they were sick. Alot of these kids are all in the same school system, so

when a bug starts going around, alot of the patients get the same sickness and all have to cancel

appointments.

Throughout the past couple of weeks, I have been more and more interested in feeding

therapy. It is a specialty that both speech pathologists and occupational therapists can do, but

what they do in their appointments with patients is different. Speech-feeding therapy is alot more

interesting to me than occupational feeding therapy. Because I am so interested in it, I decided

to ask one of the therapists that I shadow how she got into feeding therapy because it is not a

specialty that all therapists do. She explained to me that it wasn't something she decided to do in
school as a minor, but rather during her clinical fellowship because her supervisor specialized in

it too. Her supervisor whom she worked under in grad school inspired her to specialize in

feeding therapy. One story she told me about her time in grad school makes me even more

excited to go and do a clinical fellowship just like she did. I also think that there are other

specialties that I will be able to see during grad school that I am looking forward to learning

about as well.

Day Time In Time Out Hours Worked

Monday NA ( I was out of NA 0

town for a funeral)

Tuesday 9 AM 6 PM 8 1/2

Wednesday 9:30 AM 6:30 PM 9

Thursday 9 AM 5:30 PM 9

Friday Worked from home 1 PM 4

11 AM

Total Weekly Hours 30.5

Total Hours to Date 208

Journal: Week Seven

This week was pretty good, and I cannot believe it is halfway through the semester!

Recently, I have been thinking about how I might affect the kids and whether they will

remember me after I leave. During the week, I have been creating more of a relationship with the

kids I sit in on every week. I have been seeing lots of progress with many of them which is so

impressive to see. Some more than others, but it is so interesting to see the progress of children

who have a completely different diagnosis and how their goals are different. It is also very

bittersweet to think that I am almost halfway through my last semester. I definitely think that

many of the relationships I have built with the therapists will be beneficial to my future. I am
also excited to say that I was admitted to Utah State University to take the prerequisites for grad

school! I am applying to Florida State University, the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill),

and Appellation State.

In terms of my project, it is going very well!!!! I have started printing and laminating alot

of different parts that go to it. I also posted my promotional material around the office so that the

staff members know about it and so they can RSVP! I am on track with my Gant Chart, which I

will also upload to D2L so you can see it because it is separate from my other Gant Chart. I do

have a question regarding the date of my presentation because my actual event isn't until the first

week of April, so I would have to do it a week after that. I have been trying to brainstorm ideas

of how I can fix that, but I can't move the week of my event because it was already approved by

the owners.

Day Time In Time Out Hours Worked

Monday 9 AM 5;00 8

Tuesday 9:00 AM 6;30 PM 9 1/2

Wednesday 9:30 AM 5:30 PM 8

Thursday 9 AM 6:30 PM 9 1/2

Friday Worked from home 3PM 4

11 AM

Total Weekly Hours 39

Total Hours to Date 247

Journal: Week Nine

This journal is going to be a combination of this week and last week because I forgot to

turn it in last week. These past two weeks I have been solely working on my project and the
different aspects that go into it. I have enjoyed doing this so much because I am able to create

things that I can use in the future. For example, when creating different cards that go in the eggs,

I could have easily printed some out from the internet. However, instead of doing that I went

around to the different therapists and asked for their input so I could make the cards personalized

to our office. I used good docs to create a sheet and then I entered all of the different categories

that I needed for my project. I am done with my cards for almost the OT easter egg baskets and

only have a few more for my speech buckets! This is very exciting because the week of my event

is coming up! I am also hoping to do a test trial on a few of Hannah’s children the last week in

March to see if there is anything I need to tweak before the week of my event.

One thing that I really enjoyed that week that happened last week was a little team

bonding activity that we did on Thursday. On the last week of every month, we have a team

meeting on the Thursday of the week. This week we did a trivia game, we were randomly

assigned a team and did categories such as Speech, OT, and PT, as well as some fun ones like

music and TV shows. I think this was an excellent idea because it promotes team building and

gives everyone a break in their day to have a little bit of fun! My team sadly did not win though:

(.

Day Time In Time Out Hours Worked

Monday 9:00 AM 4:00 PM 7

Tuesday 9:30 AM 5;30 PM 8

Wednesday 9:30 AM 6:30 PM 9

Thursday 9;30 AM 3:30 PM 7

Friday Worked from home 2 PM 3

11 AM

Total Weekly Hours 34

 Total Hours to Date 317

Journal: Week Ten

This week was spring break and it was a very well-needed break for me. I was defiantly

feeling a little bit of burnout from working on my project nonstop. I have enjoyed working on

my project alot, but having as much idealist freedom as I do can be a little bit can be a little

stressful. I have a fear that my project isn’t going to work out the way I am planning

it to. So far, everything is going to plan and I am on track with my planner. But, doing this

completely alone is alot of pressure.

On a different note, I am excited that I have finally 100% decided on speech pathology.

This is very exciting because I have decided what to do next after college and I am very excited

to see where it leads me. Hopefully, I’ll end up in Charlotte, North Carolina, and get a job. I

haven't decided whether or not I want to find a job in public health or just go with a normal job

as a server at a restaurant for now. I am deciding between these two because I will be taking

online classes at the same time as working. However, I am hoping to start applying to graduate

schools within the next year and start in the Fall of 2024, but we will see how all of that ends up

going. I just need to make sure I stay on track with what I have planned and keep sight of the

goals I have created for myself.

As the semester comes to an end I would like to start by saying thank you to you Dr.K! I

know we still have an entire month yet and there are many thank yous to come, but I want to

start now! You have helped me through alot this semester and last semester and have thought me

so many valuable skills that I will continue to use in the future. I cannot wait to stay in contact

with you!
 Day Time In Time Out Hours Worked

Monday N/A N/A 0

Tuesday N/A N/A 0

Wednesday N/A N/A 0

Thursday N/A N/A 0

Friday Worked from home 3 PM 5

11 AM

Total Weekly Hours 5

Total Hours to Date 322

Journal: Week Eleven

This week at Senseabilites was a short one. Unfortunately, I was sick on Thursday and

was unable to go to work, however I was able to do some work from home! I am on the final

stretch of my project with it only being able one and a half weeks away. This week I am doing a

mini presentation to all of the workers so I can answer their questions and hand out the project. I

am also doing a dry run on my project with some of Hannahs's kids this Thursday! This is all so

exciting and I can't wait to see how it all turns out.

I have also started my website and presentation! I am loving doing the website because I

have never had to do one before! I think doing this will benefit me in many ways in the future. I

am looking forward to the upcoming weeks of my internship and wrapping up everything I have

worked very hard on! I am also excited to tell you that I have started my enrollment process for

Utah State for my pre-requisite classes, so Im on a roll! The one question I have this week is how

do I submit my resume on Handshake for them to look at? I went on the website however I
couldn't find anywhere where I could submit it so they could review it. I hope you have a great

week Dr.K!

Day Time In Time Out Hours Worked

Monday 11 AM (worked from 2pm 3

home)

Tuesday 9 AM 6 PM 9

Wednesday 9 AM 5:30 PM 8 1/2

Thursday 9:30 AM 2;30 pm 5

Friday Worked from home 5 PM 5

2 PM

Total Weekly Hours 29.5

Total Hours to Date 351.5

Journal: Week Twelve

This week was a great one because I have a big week coming up next week!! The week

of my project, YAYYYYY! This week I worked on wrapping up every final detail of my project.

I also held a meeting on Thursday during lunchtime to explain, in-depth, the overall project to

my co-workers. Even though they have seen me working on it throughout the semester, during

this time I was able to explain all of the aspects of the basket and what activities are in it. The

presentation went very well and everyone was very impressed with what I had come up with,

including one of the owners, who sat in during the lunch presentation. I am looking forward to

my actual project presentation because I think everyone is going to be very impressed with my

presentation skills. I think being a public health student has helped improved my presentation
skills in many ways, first of all being able to be comfortable while presenting, and secondly

presenting data in a flow so it is not choppy.

On Thursday, I also did a dry run with three patients, two speech patients, and one OT

patient. It was absolutely amazing seeing all my work being paid off. The kids had so much fun

playing with my activity, and many of them were able to work on their accurate goals while

doing the activity, which is the goal of my project. One thing I did learn from doing a run-

through of the project is that it will be better if I am there to help the therapists set up the project

because I/they have to add the card to the inside of the eggs. With that being said, one thing I

also learned is that only about half of each therapist's patients are able to do the project because

many of the kiddos that we see are physically disabled. This is somewhat okay though, because it

gives me time to go help one therapist set up while the other has a kid that is unable to do my

project.

Day Time In Time Out Hours Worked

Monday 9;30 4;30 6 1/2

Tuesday 9:30 5:30 PM 8

Wednesday 9 AM 5:30 PM 8 1/2

Thursday 9:30 AM 6 pm 8 1/2

Friday Worked from home 5 PM 44

2 PM

Total Weekly Hours 35.5

Total Hours to Date 387

 Journal: Week Thirteen

This week was a very exciting one at my internship!!!! This past week was the first week

of my project! So far it has been very successful and I have received alot of positive feedback

from the therapists! I am so proud of all the work I have done and it's been fantastic to see all my

hard work pay off. To play along with my project, I dressed as the easter bunny the entire week!

The kids loved it and I got so many compliments from the parents. For one kid that I did my

project with, there was a parent who sat in on the appointment. She gave me many compliments

and told me that in the future I could work on getting this activity published for other OTs and

SLPs to do in the future. This really got me thinking because I think this could also be a great

activity for parents to do with their kids, who go to occupational or speech therapy, but at home.

I also created a consent form for certain parents to sign so I could use the pictures and

videos I took on my presentation and on my website. I did this because SenseAbilities had to

create one for their social media page, so I thought it would be smart to do one for my website as

well. Throughout the week I was also able to recognize certain aspects of my project that I could

fix to make better for this week. For example, I realized that it is easier to help a therapist to set

up the project before a patient comes into their office rather than waiting to set it up once the

kids have already come back into their office. Another issue I had was that one kid got upset that

there was no candy in the easter eggs, which is understandable, so it is important to make sure

that the kids understand that there is no candy in the eggs and that it is a fun game that they are

playing. I am looking forward to the second week of my project, and I have started to create the

Google form I will send to the therapist to collect data after this week is done.

Day Time In Time Out Hours Worked

 Monday 9;30 5;30 7 1/2

Tuesday 9:30 5:30 PM 8 1/2

Wednesday 9 AM 5:30 PM 8 1/2

Thursday (went home Worked from home 3 pm 4

for Passover) 11 AM

Friday Worked from home 5 PM 4

1 PM

Total Weekly Hours 33

Total Hours to Date 420

Journal: Week Fourteen

This week was another amazing one at SenseAbilites, it was week two of my project! As

kids returned from their spring breaks, more therapists were able to do the project with more

patients. I have heard nothing but positive feedback so far from my project which is very

exciting!!! I sent out my Google form to the therapists so I can record feedback to include in my

presentation, which is next Thursday! I have started working on that and I’m almost all the way

done with my website other than adding in all of my journals and my hours log. It feels like

things are finally coming to an end with is sad but also very exciting. I am looking forward to the

next chapter of my life in working towards grad school. Moving to Charlotte, North Carolina is

my next step, and it's a big one! I have never lived in a different state than my parents so it’s very

exciting to move far away!

I am looking forward to staying in touch with my professors and peers as well to make

sure I keep everyone updated with what's going on in my life! I think it is important to maintain

the relationships you create throughout your life, especially the ones that have impacted your life

and education for the better. I cannot believe there are only TWO weeks left in my internship, I
am getting sad when I think about leaving some of the kids I have met. I hope that alot of them

will remember me and think about me once I leave. I will also keep in touch with the therapists

at SenseAbilities so I can ask them questions in the future, if I need to, about school!

Day Time In Time Out Hours Worked

Monday 10 4 6

Tuesday 9:30 5:30 PM 8

Wednesday 10 AM 5:30 PM 7 1/2

Thursday 10 5 pm 7

Friday Worked from home 3 PM 3

12 PM

Total Weekly Hours 31.5

Total Hours to Date 451.5

Journal: Week Fifteen

I can't believe there is only ONE more week of this internship left, it is so hard to believe.

It's hard to think that it was a whole four months ago that I was starting to write Journals and

Discussion posts. This past week I had my internship presentation and it went very well. I loved

being able to share everything with my internship staff members and they were very impressed

with it. It was cool to introduce a public health side of everything I've learned to them because

it's not something they think about every day. As a part of my project, I decided to do a needs

assessment, but it was more of a last-minute idea so I didn't get to add it to my reflection. But I

decided to just tell you now instead about it. I did a needs assessment of the top three counties

that have the most patients that travel to SenseAbilites. However, I only included the top most

populated county because more than half of SenseAbilites patient population comes from that
county. I learned alot of interesting things about Houston County this past week that I previously

didn't know.

This next week I am dreading saying goodbye to my favorite patients. Some might not

understand why im leaving or that I am, but I hope that I have left an impact on many of these

kids. The patients at SenseAbilities have shown me so much progress this semester, and Im sad I

will miss seeing them grow every week. I did get to see some kids “graduate” from OT and SLP

which was very cool. Im looking forward to my last week, but I know it's going to be one of the

hardest ones yet.

Day Time In Time Out Hours Worked

Monday (fam NA NA NA
emergency at home)

Tuesday 10 AM 6 PM 8

Wednesday 10 AM 5:30 PM 7 1/2

Thursday 10 5 pm 7

Friday Worked from home 3 PM 3

12 PM

Total Weekly Hours 25

Total Hours to Date 476.5

Week 16

Day Time In Time Out Hours Worked

Monday 10 3;30 5 1/2

Tuesday 10;30 AM 4;30 6

Wednesday 10;30 AM 4 PM 5 1/2

Thursday 10;30 4;30 pm 6

Friday Worked from home 3 PM 3

12 PM

Total Weekly Hours 25

Total Hours to Date 476.5