Content:
The content of this course addressed many things. The main assignment was a multi-genre project. This assignment required seven different genres to be developed. The first major part of the assignment was to come up with a research question, and then ultimately work towards an answer to that question. My question was “What is a Common treatment protocol used with patients with Developmental Apraxia of Speech?” This project allowed me to investigate different ways, through the genres, of finding some answers to the question. It also allowed me to get working knowledge of the subject as well as life issues surrounding the subject. We were required to have a webliography, a poem, and a PowerPoint presentation. The other genres were our choice. I chose a letter to the parent in the voice of the clinician, a referral letter in the voice of the client’s pediatrician, a journal in the voice of the client’s mother, and a brochure in the voice of a clinician. The webliography is in my own voice; it is focused on my interests both personal and professional. The PowerPoint presentation is in the voice of an expert on Developmental Apraxia of Speech, and the poem is in the voice of the client. I utilized the many different voices to convey the involvedness of everyone affected by this disorder.
The course also required that we become more computer literate. This allowed us to ultimately develop our own web page. Many small tasks were assigned in order for that to occur. We were given the opportunity to investigate the credibility of websites. This in turn helped us to recognize the great need for our work to be credible and our page to be an example of that as well.
In the end we have a web page with our multi-genre project showcased.

Process:
This assignment was very long and sometimes tedious. Although I have to admit the latter part of the semester has been somewhat of a break compared to the first part. The small assignments were the hardest for me to do. It wasn’t the content that was so difficult, but the time involved. It was hard for me to get around to spending the 10 hours a week that was recommended. That is a lot of time to spend on the computer. The multi-genre project itself was easier for me to do. I suppose it was because I had a goal and could see where I was going with it. I spent most of my time working on the project on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. I worked on Tuesdays and Fridays, and took time on Saturdays to finish up. This worked for me for the most part of the semester. I began having problems with my scheduling about mid-semester because another Lab was taking up almost every bit of my spare time. The one thing I think everyone encountered throughout the semester was having to repeat assignments because of Antville. I learned; as I am sure everyone else has, to type the assignment out on a word document first then copy it into the blog. What an awful thing to have to learn over and over and over! (Duh?!?)

Premise:
Well this course has taught me a great deal in self-discipline and patience. I am not sure about the patience part. I do admit I reaffirmed that I have little to no patience. I started the class out as a non-believer in myself in the area of computer literacy. I have come a long way since then. I have literally pulled an idea out of my mind (with a little help), and put it to work on a webpage as a multi-genre project. It has slowly unfolded before my very own eyes. I have found myself checking dates on websites and looking for contact people on them as well. Just the other day I was searching for some information and decided to check the credibility of the site before I shared the information with my sister. I feel like just knowing how and when to do that is a great achievement. Ultimately I have gained a great deal of knowledge on Developmental Apraxia of Speech. It is something that will definitely be of a great advantage to me in my future. I plan to work with school-aged children, possibly in the public schools, so this is good information to have. I have read in the mailing list that many parents look far and wide to find an expert on Apraxia. Not to say that I am an expert, but I have started the journey. I look forward to learning more about the treatment of DAS.

Plans:
As of right now I can honestly say that I don’t plan on stopping my research on Apraxia. I find it very interesting. Since I have read so much literature and information on DAS I am armed with the knowledge to recognize signs and symptoms I might not otherwise be aware of in a child. I plan to use this knowledge I have gained to my advantage whenever and wherever I can. I have seen what a benefit it is to have the Internet at my fingertips. With all the information I have found on this one subject, it would be impractical for me not to continually search in the same way. I have been subscribing to a speech therapy newsletter for over a year now, and have found some very useful sites through my research on this project. I plan to utilize these in my future work as much as I need it.

*****Next Page**********Home*****