Saturday morning

I forgot to update the blog last night, even though I have a few things to post. First, for those of you desperate to know how my grading is coming, I'm basically finished. I have all of my Stat grades calculated and entered into Banner except for one make-up. It's sitting in my office, so I'll get it when I get to KV next time. But I feel done, which is the important thing.


Linda did some sideways walking yesterday. She asked to do it actually. One of the PT students had suggested it a couple of weeks ago, but they had never gotten to it. Linda has been intrigued about it since, so it was nice that she finally got to do it. Basically, they stood up in the parallel bars, and she stepped out to the side until she had done the length and then came back. Like everything it was hard; she was using different muscles than you use for regular walking.


In speech therapy, Linda used a computer program to work on different voicing skills. They have this collection of computer games you run with your voice. By varying pitch or loudness, you make things move to score. Most of the games Linda worked on were focused on pitch, trying to help her increase her range. There are also games for developing breath support. Some are quite challenging. I tried a few, and I have very good breath support. I can sing a note much longer than most people can because of all of my music training.

I did a little searching, and I can't find a free software equivalent, so naturally I intend to write one. I've already done a little research into other sound-related programs I can build from, and I got the sound drivers on my laptop going. So I'm off to a pretty good start. We'll see how it goes. If I get too busy, I can always farm it out to a student for a capstone project.


Tonight, we get to stay in the ADL apartment. Rusk has two apartments you can practice living in. They are not handicap accessible, except for some grab bars in the bathroom--i.e. they are basically just like home. That means they have a regular tub for showers, kitchen counters at standard height, carpet, etc. They have a regular, flat, non-hospital, bed (for two). Linda is nervous, but she can't say why. I think it will be fine, and it's here in the building, so we can still get help if we need it. We'll see soon enough.