Well another week is gone, and a load of work is behind me. I started off this week by getting my series of Hepatitis shots for work so that I am totally protected. I don’t know about you, but infectious diseases scare me! So, I received that painful shot and, I am pleased to say that I am doing fine!

Academic wise, I have been focusing on starting my webliography. I have never worked with this kind of posting before. I had always used Microsoft Home publishing to develop my own web page and used some html to post to it, but most of the hard stuff was covered by the simplicity of the program. Anyway, I found out, through completion of my webliography, that I have visited more websites than what I realized. Before starting this assignment, I began to think that I would not be able to name enough websites to cover the set topics. Yet, contrary to my belief, I had plenty of websites to choose from. Having the resources to complete this assignment, even though it is a rough draft, made my life much easier.

Secondly this week, I began reading the instructions for the MRP(Mulitgenre Research Project). It overwhelmed me then and is still overwhelming me as I write this journal entry. I don’t think it will be hard if we do all of the support assignments; however I think that the amount of work is more threatening than the content of the work itself. After reading these instructions, I began to finish the homework from week two that will be due June 30th. I took a day off of work to complete these and focus my attention only on these assignments. I found it interesting that Marshall has a mailing list. I don’t think I even know what it mails out. If someone could tell me I would greatly appreciate it.

I finished up this week by going to a concert on Friday and today I am writing my journal, polishing my webliography, reviewing the MRP instructions and washing clothes. I have found that in posting hyperlinks on our webliographies can be quite tedious because if one little sign is out of place the whole page is messed up. I had this happen earlier and I emailed Mrs. McComas. Upon reviewing my setup, I realized what I had done and self corrected. Now I will never forget how to do this because I messed up, corrected MYSELF, and thus it will remain with me, probably, for a long time.

As I completed the Foundation Questions assignment, I realized a flaw in my essential question. I was focusing primarily on those people who are denied service. Well, upon current rethinking, I feel that most people are not denied a service. The problem lies in that either that their insurance will not cover speech services, or they just do not have insurance. So, not only is this a professional concern but also an economic concern. About 80% of those people who said to not have insurance were not employed. The other 20% were employed part-time and not eligible for insurance. Thus, upon reviewing this information, I now see that the problem addressed in my essential question is more important than mentioned before.

I have read a lot of my classmate’s essential questions and they seem to be dealing with actual disorders we might encounter in our clinical practice. My question to Mrs. McComas would be, is my topic something that a speech pathologist can help to intervene on. I do find the disorders interesting and I know that they will be a major part of what I am faced with on a day to day basis in my practice. However, I cringe at the fact that many who need intervention do not receive it for one of my reasons on my essential question. I am only wondering should I even address this topic, or move on to something that I will encounter in my practice?

One last question I have deals with the webliography. I know this week is just a rough draft, but before we turn it in for the first time in a couple of weeks, can you show us how to put pictures on there and other types of media? I think that would be really neat to add that kind of stuff to our web pages. Until next week...keep it real!

Welcome to Matts Webliography! Here you will find interesting stuff to check out on the Web. Sites that deal with fun stuff to discipline areas in Speech Pathology. Have fun!

Fun stuff:

I love playing on the internet and one site that allows you to design robotic figures and then give them animation is Sodaplay.

Since I have started college, one of the best ways to cut down on telephone bills is to chat online with friends and family. A great tool to use to do that is ICQ.

My favorite passtime is Golf. I love to play and watch golf on TV. If you like golf as much as I do, visit the home of golf.

Discipline Stuff

When you think of Speech Pathology/Audiology on the web, you have to include ASHA. ASHA stands for the American Speech Language and Hearing Association. ASHA is the very basis of what our field stands for. This site contains resources for the professional speech pathologist, the student (such as research resources) and parents of clients or the client themselves. Whatever your speech and hearing needs, ASHA has it.

As a student at Marshall University I would encourage you, if you are interested in attending, to visit their homepage. If you are interested in a degree in Communication Disorders, click the previous link to find out about Marshalls Communication Disorders program.

Research Resources

I started my research on advocacy for 100% of all clients that needed speech & language intervention to be serviced at SpeechPaths, a reliable site that gives links to various state and federal associations to gain further information on certain topics.

To locate statistics dealing with percentages of people who are/are not covered by insurance, I used NCHS,a comprehensive site with statistics on healthcare. Here you can look for information on healthcare coverage, percentages of children and adults covered, as well as statistics on every healthcare profession in operation.

This site on Insurance, proved to be helpful in locating statistics on health care insurance. Check it out!

Personal Interests

Well, instead of paying to receive a newspaper, I go to Herald Dispatch Online view exactly what I want know...with money in my pocket!

I love to play sports, one of which is Tennis. This site contains everything tennis, from courts to schools.

Finally, my main priority is this CD 315 class, so check out what all we are doing this summer! See ya on the flip side!

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My essential question is "How do we make speech and language intervention available, or at least advocate for its availability , to those who require other federal assistance?" I feel this topic is of urgent notice and some questions I need to answer to aide in answering my essential question are:

1. What are the statistics on persons who have been denied speech and language service, or who have received service and are unable to pay, due to inability to pay or lack of insurance?

2. What federal funding is available to professionals for them to provide intervention to 100% of all people who require speech therapy?

3. What legal routes need to be taken to ensure proper implementation of such a program?

4. What criteria do hospitals and professional services look at when determining a persons ablility to pay upon receiving services?

5. If such people recieve service and have insurance, what do insurance companies look at in order to provide payment?