Show Me a Sign This story [http://www.today.com/health/starbucks-barista-learns-sign-communicate-customer-who-deaf-t75311] about a Starbucks barista learning some signs for a Deaf customer got a lot of attention last week. A few things that come to mind: This story is a better story about quality cusomter service than it is about compassion. The Deaf
Pragmatically Blind A few months ago I listened to an episode of a podcast called Invisibilia [http://www.npr.org/programs/invisibilia/378577902/how-to-become-batman] and the topic was expectations [http://www.wnyc.org/shows/invisibilia/]. They recounted how expectations can have both positive and negative results, and talked to a blind man
Looking back and moving forward. 2015 started out as a year of uncertainty for me: I was leaving my job of over three years to venture out into the unknown. I was stressed out, exhausted, and not sure how to proceed. I had tied much of my professional identity to being an acute care SLP,
Continuing Education En Route to #ASHA15 Traveling is always an interesting way to observe both how we communicate with one another, and how stress can impact communication. It can also remind you just how bizarre it can be to interact in worlds we consider familiar. After arriving to the airport this morning, I found myself standing
It's Conference Time Again! The annual ASHA Convention is coming up in one week, so I’m gearing myself up for traveling, seeing some fantastic colleagues, and learning as much as I can. It hasn’t been long since I last attended a conference, and I’m looking forward to taking the lessons I
Movement and the Brain A very interesting case study came out recently, looking at the neurological function of a particularly active 93-year-old woman named Olga Kotelko (she died in 2014 at age 95) . She became an athlete in her sixties playing softball, then started track and field at age 77. Exercise benefits are often
Farewell, Oliver Sacks Oliver Sacks, famous writer and neurologist, has died. From his website [http://www.oliversacks.com/a-life-well-lived/]: > Oliver Sacks died early this morning at his home in Greenwich Village, surrounded by his close friends and family. He was 82. He spent his final days doing what he loved—playing the piano,
Sleep The Importance of Sleep This New Yorker article [http://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/why-cant-we-fall-asleep] (a 3-part series) has been showing up a lot in my internet world recently. It's a worthwhile read and one that's meaningful both for patients and for clinicians. For my part, I wonder how much adequate sleep might be
ASHA Health Care & Business Institute Greetings from Phoenix, Arizona! I’m attending ASHA’s Health Care & Business Institute, which is a three-day conference covering a variety of clinical and, as the name suggests, business topics. My last convention was in Chicago in 2013 for the large annual ASHA Convention. I did things differently for this
On Improving the ASHA CE Registry Last night I wrote a tweet [https://twitter.com/ProjectSLP/status/576960179800948737] regarding the ASHA Continuing Education Registry [http://www.asha.org/ce/CEUs/] that seemed to resonate a lot with other folks across Twitter. ASHA had linked to an Instagram photo [https://instagram.com/ashaweb/p/0IwYmxjZyu/] that encouraged
And now for something completely different. It’s been over one year since I last wrote here. In that time, I have experienced joy, sadness, exhiliration, exhaustion, and more, some in greater amounts than others. As seems to be common among medical SLPs, I have ended up on the wrong side of burnout. I’ve been
Dysphagia ICU-Acquired Swallowing Disorders Every month a group of #SLPeeps [https://twitter.com/search?q=%23slpeeps] blogs about research. You can find out more about it here [http://talksjustfine.wordpress.com/blogging-about-research/]. My last post for Research Tuesday was about cognitive dysfunction in ICU patients. That post emphasized some long-term effects of severe illness.
Cognitive Dysfunction in ICU Patients Every month a group of #SLPeeps [https://twitter.com/search?q=%23slpeeps] blogs about research. For formation, you can find more out about it here [http://talksjustfine.wordpress.com/blogging-about-research/]. For my previous post, I talked about mild TBI resulting from electrical injury. That was an article focusing on a
Electrical Injury and Mild Traumatic Brain Injury It's time once again for an edition of SLPs Blogging About Research! For information about this, or if you want to participate, you can find out more here [http://talksjustfine.wordpress.com/blogging-about-research/]. Acute care speech pathology is a world all its own. Interestingly, it is not an environment conducive
The Online Conference Experience I have been participating in the Dysphagia in Older Adults [http://www.asha.org/Events/dysphagia-in-older-adults/default/] online conference for the last week. This is my first online conference, and so far it has been a relatively ‘mixed bag’ of an experience. Let’s start with the good. The Good
Continuing Education Dysphagia in Older Adults I'll be attending the Dysphagia in Older Adults [http://www.asha.org/Events/dysphagia-in-older-adults/default/] online conference. It starts Wednesday and runs until the 20th of this month. I signed up under the early bird rate of $300, but the regular cost of registration is only $30 more. Given the
For Boston I have only ever been there in my dreams, or else seen the city through the lens of a camera. It has always seemed to me an exceptional city, and its people have proven today that it is. My heart goes out to everyone there, and because our only option
In Retrospect Every once in a while, I find myself writing in new places. Yesterday was one such day. I wrote my first ever article for ASHAsphere [http://blog.asha.org/], the official ASHA blog. I wrote a piece I called A Handful of Post-Graduate Retrospection [http://blog.asha.org/2013/03/
First Impressions of Speech FlipBook Speech-centric developer Tactus Therapy [http://tactustherapy.com/] has released their latest new app, Speech FlipBook [http://tactustherapy.com/apps/speechflipbook/]. From their description: > Speech FlipBook is an essential and affordable tool for all Speech-Language Pathologists, teachers, and parents. It’s as easy as 1-2-3 to practice speech, phonics, and reading
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Since today is Super Bowl Sunday [http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/47], and I cringe every time I watch football, it seems appropriate to discuss some of the long-term ramifications of chronic head trauma. Though many people know what a concussion [http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/concussion/ds00320/dsection=symptoms]
Curious Diagnostics One thing I love about working in the acute hospital setting is being part of the medical team and aiding in the process of differential diagnosis [http://dictionary.webmd.com/terms/differential-diagnosis]. In some ways, working with people with swallowing disorders is its own process of differential diagnosis. SLPs are
Aiming to Please Though many people don’t think about it, there are plenty of similarities between working with adults and working with children. Just as pediatric SLPs note the periodic need for incentives in order to make progress in therapy, there are plenty of adults who do as well. I frequently work
New Year, New Goals A lot of changes are afoot for me right now. I'm rotating from a primarily neuro caseload to one that incorporates more trauma and surgery. I'm excited to learn new things, and to have the chance to learn more about ENT aspects of speech pathology. I have other goals as
Borderline TMI Twitter friend [https://twitter.com/slp_neurorehab] and fellow medical SLP Rachel Wynn interviewed me [http://talksjustfine.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/meet-phil/] on her website this week. I wax poetic, feel nostalgic, and preface it with "an abundance of formatting instructions" because that's how I roll. Go read the
Making it a point to live. In light of the recent news out of Newtown [http://www.google.com/search?aq=f&hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&btnmeta_news_search=1&q=newtown&oq=newtown&gs_l=news-cc.3..43j43i400.14976.16233.0.16911.7.5.0.2.2.1.204.781.0j4j1.5.0.