Major Service Project

 

Prompts:

  1. Describe your involvement with this organization.
  2. Describe what you have gained as a result of this experience.
  3. Describe positive changes to the community as a result of this experience.
  4. Describe a person with whom you interacted that made a strong impression on you, either positive of negative.
  5. Complete the following Sentence: “Because of this service experience, I am _______.”

Organization: TOPS

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Location: The Ohio State University Nisonger Center

Position: Volunteer Intern

For my Major Service Project, I have spent the past semester as a volunteer intern through the TOPS program. “TOPS” stands for Transition Options in Postsecondary Settings for Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.  This program is a program designed to offer adults who have intellectual and/or developmental disabilities an opportunity to get the “college experience” here at The Ohio State University. Through enrolling in this program, the students are given the opportunity to participate in academic coursework and work experiences, while they can develop independent living skills and engage in campus life. I was a volunteer intern for this program, and received the role of social coach. I chose to apply for the social coach position because it would allow for me to truly get to know the students beyond the confinement of a classroom.

As a result of this experience, I have gained so much. I found happiness in each minute of my volunteering, as there is no way to feel the fulfillment you can maintain through making someone else’s day. I would love to continue to volunteer with the TOPS program, as it was something that I actually looked forward to each and every week. Volunteering with this program was rewarding beyond how it made me feel, as it expanded upon my experience with the special needs population. I am currently a Speech and Hearing Science major with the plan on attending a graduate program and becoming a licensed Speech Language Pathologist, therefore I will be frequently working with special needs populations in my future. Volunteering with the TOPS program has also allowed me to gain experience with older individuals with special needs, as most of my previous experience has been with young children.

In terms of positive changes to the community as a result of this experience, I feel that the primary change had been in the TOPS community specifically, rather than within Ohio State community as a whole. Through weekly socials with the students enrolled in the TOPS program, it provided them with ways to remain involved on campus, as it was somewhat difficult for them to find ways to get involved on their own. I specifically tried to introduce the students in the program to the various events that the Ohio Union Activities Board (OUAB) has to offer. I felt that introducing the students to the OUAB events was particularly helpful because there was no long term commitment involved, and you can pick and choose which events that you could go to at your leisure. A group favorite was the OUAB flicks for free, where on Wednesday nights there would be free movies at the Ohio Union. Before or after the movie we would always go to dinner or grab dessert to reflect on how our weeks were going and ideas for future events.

The part of my volunteering that I enjoyed the most had to be attending the Americans with Disabilities Act Seminar. At this seminar, there were TOPS students and Ohio State students alike discussing the different ways that individuals with disabilities here on campus could be better accommodated and respected. There were also many representatives from The Office of Disability Services there to answer any questions and take note of the requests of the students. Sitting through this seminar allowed for myself to reflect on a lot of the great points that were being discussed. We spoke about the lack of accessibility of many classroom buildings, and the lack of support that the university provides to the Office of Disability Services to help them provide students with disabilities with what they need. Attending this seminar had really encouraged me to get involved beyond my internship, and has motivated me to join more student organizations to try and advocate for the students on campus who have disabilities. The most important thing that I took from this seminar was that we need to work on changing the way that people view disabilities. Society has a whole needs to think less of disabilities as something that inhibits people from doing what is “normal,” and think of those with disabilities as individuals who are just a little bit different. We are all different in our own way and we need to appreciate that, rather than harp on the things that individuals struggle with and instead place a greater emphasis on individuals strengths.

The person who has made the strongest impression on me through my volunteer internship is Mallory Workman. Mallory is the woman who directly oversees the TOPS program, and it is incredible to see what she has made it into today. Since the program is relatively new, there is definitely some room for improvement, but she has provided the program with the resources they need to make strides. Her dedication and commitment to the program is inspiring. Seeing Mallory do her job is an incredible way to see first hand how one individual can make such an impact on peoples lives. The experience that she is giving to the students enrolled in the TOPS program is something that will impact them for the rest of their lives.

Because of this experience, I am motivated to pursue my prospective field of Speech Language Pathology. This will allow myself to continue benefiting the lives of individuals with special needs. As a result of this experience I am also motivated to be more involved in advocating for the special needs population on campus in order to provide them with accommodations that will allow them to be successful in reaching their full potential.

Leadership Development

I have recently been elected the Vice President of the Special Olympics at OSU student organization. The Special Olympics OSU group is an organization whose purpose is to spread awareness and encouragement towards volunteering for the Special Olympics. Our goals are to raise money in order to help support the Special Olympics, coach Special Olympics athletic teams, and to volunteer in helping out at official Special Olympic events. We also have the goal of bringing the organization “Spread The Word To End The Word” to the campus to spread awareness about the demeaning and hurtful “R-Word”. Our other activities include community engagement to encourage inclusion, public advocacy, and to gain respect for mental and physical disabilities.

Original Inquiry

One of the primary reasons I decided to pursue my undergraduate education here at The Ohio State University was its strong research background. Throughout my freshman and sophomore years here I was constantly reading about different laboratories work, looking for a way to get involved that best fit my interests. After two years of searching, I finally found my place in The Children & Autism Language Learning Lab (TACLL.) This lab perfectly combined everything I was looking to research, children with disabilities, language impairment, and a correlation with the Speech and Hearing Science field.

In the lab, I help collect data collection for both children with Autism, and typically developing children. One of the tests we run include having them watch videos so we can code their eye movement, this allows us to determine if children respond more to visual or auditory stimuli and if there is a difference in children with Autism. Another test we run is to investigate how quickly children learn language. We do this through naming obscure toys non-words that they have never heard before, and see if they learned the toys given name by the time the experiment is done. One of my favorite tests that we run in the lab is The Mullen Scales of Early Learning. Through this standardized test we assess the child’s language, motor, and perceptive abilities. This test is my favorite because I get to run the test on the child myself, which is great practice for my future as a Speech-Language Pathologist in early intervention settings where I would administer this kind of testing.

In addition to my role in helping with data collection, I have been to assigned to a specific project that is unlike any research that has been done before that I think is really interesting. The project that I have been assigned to is studying Joint Attention in Visually Impaired Children with Multiple Disabilities. This project is trying to see if Joint Attention Symbolic Play Engagement Regulation by Kasari Lab (JASPER,) designed to increase joint attention behaviors in children with Autism, is effective with children with Visual Impairment &  Multiple Disabilities. The Primary Investigator was particularly interested in this because children with Autism and children with visual impairment generally exhibit some of the same symptoms. My involvement in this project primarily involves coding videos of therapy sessions and distinguishing when the client is in Preliminary Joint Attention, Liberally Construed Joint Attention, or Conservatively Construed Joint Attention.

Health & Wellness Focus

On September 28th, I attended a presentation that was put on by The Ohio State Universities Panhellenic Association. The Panhellenic Association brought in Erin Foley, the life coach and professional motivational speaker, to talk about living “strong lives” and building sisterhood. Erin talked about mental health and its importance in every aspect of our lives. She also talked about the importance of eliminating judgement, and how women need to be less judgmental and more complimentary.

Year in Review

Prompt:

Who were you at the beginning of your time as a Health Sciences Scholar and who are you now?  Did you meet your initial expectations for your first two years?  What do you plan to do for the remainder of your OSU experience?

When I first entered The Ohio State University as a Health Sciences Scholar, I was a scared freshman who did not know in the slightest how to tackle my freshman year here. Through the Health Sciences scholars program I have been able to find the path that I would like to go down in my future. Not only do I feel that the Health Sciences Scholars program allowed me to discover this path, but it also provided me with the means to achieve this. HSS has provided me with so many tips that will help me pursue a degree in Speech Language Pathology, whether it be through teaching us the different ways that we could get involved with research, or helping us schedule and providing us with backup options.

I definitely have met my initial expectations for my first two years here at Ohio State. I have met incredible friends, taken challenging courses, got a great after school teaching job, and found many student organizations that stand for many things that I am passionate about. It is crazy to me how fast these two years have flown by, and how many things I would still like to do in my time here! I have managed to eliminate a years worth of classes by taking a full course load over the past two years, so next year will be my final year here at The Ohio State University, which is extremely bitter sweet. Next year, I plan on getting involved in research while continuing to seek out rewarding volunteer opportunities. I will be taking the GRE’s and going through the graduate school application process in order to obtain my masters degree.

I am so fortunate to have had my past two years go as great as they did, and I am extremely excited to see what my last year here has to offer.

Global Awareness

In order to enhance my global awareness upon starting my journey here at The Ohio State University, I made it a priority to study abroad. The May Session options made this goal a reality, as it allowed for myself to gain abroad experience without delaying my graduation. After my freshman year, I pursued the May Session program Global May Madrid: Madrid in the World, The World in Madrid. Madrid has always been a major city for migration in Europe, so the programs primary focus was to examine the cities multicultural history and diversity. We also evaluated how this history has shaped Madrid into the city that it is today. This experience has really opened my eyes to how different countries are around the world. Prior to my course in Madrid, my only abroad experience had been visiting family which is great, but studying in another country allows you to appreciate and examine the cultural differences from a whole new perspective. My month in Madrid really helped me to understand the importance of being Globally Aware, as I had never realized how different some aspects of lives are in varying countries until this experience. In order to further expand upon my global awareness, I plan on spending this upcoming May Session abroad and studying in London England on the Global May Britain: Introduction to the History, Politics and Culture of Great Britain Program.

 

Informational Interview

Prompts:

  1. Why did you select this person to interview?
  2. Major responsibilities associated with their current role?
  3. Preparation for this role, and if they provided you with any advice as what you might be able to do to prepare for a similar career.
  4. Summarize and insights from the interview that might be helpful in your academic or career preparation.

For my informational interview, I chose to interview an older Speech and Hearing Science Student. In the past, I have often spoken to Speech Language Pathologists about their work, so I thought that it would be less beneficial. I chose this student, Jenna, specifically because of her involvement in research in The Autism & Child Language Learning Laboratory. I hope to be involved as a Research Assistant in this lab in the future.

Jenna chose to pursue a career path in Speech Language Pathology after spending a year in exploration her freshman year. She always knew that she was interested in a health related field, but was not sure exactly which one. Once Jenna enrolled in the introductory Communication Disorders course, she immediately knew that Speech Language Pathology was the career path for her. She knew that this was the field for her because she felt that becoming a Speech Language Pathologist would be the way that she could make the most impactful change on a persons live on a very personal level.

Since Jenna is a Speech and Hearing Student, her primary job is to focus on her studies in addition to her role in the Research Lab. Speech Language Pathologists must attend graduate school to obtain their masters degree, and the programs are extremely competitive, so she emphasized the importance of keeping your grades up throughout your undergraduate career.

In terms of preparation, Jenna explained that when she joined The Autism & Child Learning Laboratory, she was unsure of what she should do to prepare for the work she would be doing. After joining the lab last summer, she quickly realized that it would be very helpful for her to take a course on Language Acquisition. Jenna enrolled in the class this past fall semester and said that this course was extremely helpful. Her lab research is to study how children will Autism learn language differently, and learning about typical language acquisition through the course really helped bring the differences in the ways different children learn language to her attention.

At the close of my interview with Jenna, I had asked if she had any advice that she could leave me with and she elaborated on the importance of getting involved. She emphasized how involvement is especially important in the Speech and Hearing Science major because of its relatively small size. Getting involved within the major has given her the opportunity to learn from faculty and older students about the graduate school application process, research, and different career options. Her close involvement in the laboratory has also allowed for her to get to know her supervising professor really well, who she has been able to go to for wonderful guidance. Jenna also recommended getting involved with ABA therapy if I have the chance. She said that engaging in ABA therapy was a way to open her eyes to see that what she has been learning in the classroom and lab actually applies to real world therapy settings.

Overall, I felt that interviewing Jenna was extremely helpful. She was able to tell me a lot about the graduate school application process which was something that I had been thinking and worrying about a lot recently after finding out I am graduating a year early. She provided me with a lot of advice that will make myself more marketable when I apply for graduate programs, as well as information of the actual application portal itself. Hearing from Jenna about her work in the lab and as an ABA therapist was also extremely reassuring, because I can definitely see myself doing that sort of work in my future.

About Me

Hi, I’m Aine. I am double majoring in Speech and Hearing Science and Psychology with the goal of obtaining my masters degree in Speech Language Pathology. Outside of the classroom I try to make the most of my college experience, I am actively involved on campus through various groups and organizations such as the Special Olympics at OSU, the National Student Speech Hearing and Language Association, and Alpha Gamma Delta. I am also involved with Health Sciences Scholars through which I strive to maintain a set of “G.O.A.L.S.” The two aspects of this acronym that are the most important to me are the Global Awareness, and Service Engagement. In order to be more globally aware I have studied abroad in Madrid and soon will be studying abroad in London in order to broaden my global perspective. As a way to engage in service, I volunteer with the TOPS program where I intern to help students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities thrive here at Ohio State.