I'll have to be frank: the main reason I put off writing this week's blog post is, honestly, because I didn't know what to say. I may have thought some of the other weeks were slow, but that all pales in comparison to this week. Probably most of the eventful parts of my week were the times when I wasn't at the clinic, and instead was doing stuff on my own outside of my SRP. At one point I even considered calling this my spring break because it didn't feel like I had really done enough work! But how did I come to this state? Well, let's recap...

Tuesdays, no matter what, have always been my most busy days. In the morning, I spend my time at the Suntree senior daytime-care center, before returning to NMTSA for observation of individual sessions. All the clients who come in the afternoon tend to be quite regular as well, so there's rarely any cancellations freeing up an hour or two in my day. With all this back to back in the morning and afternoon, I end up with only a thirty minute lunch break in the middle of everything. But that's fine, I enjoy busy-- it means I'm actually doing something-- and here at the clinic, the "work" is so enjoyable, the time flies. Every hour is filled with fun and new discoveries, which I always look forward to; this past Tuesday was no exception. I went through the day with no cancellations, schedule changes, etc., and even started some of my formal observation for my case studies. All in all, it was a productive day; the next two days, not so much.

I spend all of Thursday, from 9 to 3, as well as the three to four hours I spend at the clinic on Fridays each week, sat in the intern room, attempting to get some work done and hoping that someone, at some point, would say the client they expected to be coming, that I was supposed to be studying, or at least that I usually saw and observed, would be here. No such luck, though. I couldn't even spend time in the school for observation when I didn't feel like reading my 17th article in a row or rewriting my data for for the 4th time, because the students were on a two week spring break.

All in all, not the best week, but there's no point on dwelling on the frustrating or unfortunate things. I still have time in this project, and I hope to make the most of it, no matter what happens. Project-wise, I'm not too worried. The great thing about presentations and projects like this is that, if things go how you expect them to, you can present on that, and if things don't go the way you expect them to, you can present on that. So, for anyone who's having some struggles with your project right now, don't worry; you will be fine.

Here's to hoping things will get better, for me, and for all of you guys!

Well, hopefully. I mean, things seem to be going pretty well, but who knows when life will throw another curve-ball at you...or two... or ten... Okay let's stop thinking about this.

But yes, after yet another week at my internship, the fog around my project seems to be clearing up. If you'll recall from my last blog post, last week wasn't the best week for me in terms of progress. I had no idea , how many people I'd be studying,  who I'd be studying, if I'd be able to study anyone at all, and so on. Considering the fact that my project was supposed to be in the form of case studies, having no one confirmed for observation and studying by five weeks into my project was... a little worrying, to say the least.

But, luckily, I'm surrounded by amazing and supportive people at the clinic who each try so hard to help me, the random high school intern who has no idea what she's doing, with my project. My temporary on-site mentor has jumbled around schedules just to try and fit clients in on the days I'll be at the clinic, and she's even offered to take on one of the clients herself, even though she's quite busy running the rest of the clinic and rarely does work as a therapist anymore, just because he was an ideal candidate for my study who I would have not seen for three weeks if we'd have just waited until my regular mentor returned. All the other therapists have patiently answered my questions, offered to play around with their own schedules to take on certain clients, and more. I feel so fortunate for being in an internship where everyone's so open and willing to help out to the best of their abilities.

So, as a proper update, I've narrowed down my study to five clients, three autistic patients, two other, and I'll be studying all of them starting this week (assuming they all send in their consent forms...), until the last week of the project. My data will mostly be observation-based and in my own personal, off-to-the-side accounts, so I'll be doing little to actually take time from the session. Each week, I'll be observing for things including, but not limited to, attention span, long-term focus, memory building, comprehension of tasks, and problem-solving abilities, and I hope to find some sort of trend between each weekly observation. Unfortunately, due to all the scheduling issues and whatnot that have occurred over the past few weeks, I won't have nearly as many weeks as I'd hoped to use as data, but hopefully it'll all be enough!

What I've Learned
I'm not even going to bother coming up with some sort of introduction. You know this segment, I know this segment, everything's good.

So, this week I have learned...

1. To not freak yourself out over the idea you create of a person you've never met just based on what you've heard about them. No one's really that scary in real life. (Well... probably...)
2. To pick up an instrument, any instrument, and try to play a song by ear. It doesn't matter whether you can play that instrument, whether you're "musically talented," or anything. Just try it. If you get it right, you can feel proud. If you get it wrong, you can laugh and try again. Never restrict yourself from doing something just because you "can't" do it. Just do it; sometimes, the things we never do can be the most calming and enjoyable.
3. That even if you may not think you have an impact on anyone, you do.
4. That quietness can be unsettling sometimes.
5. That if your mom is mad at you, bringing her the DVD of that movie that she's wanted to watch for ages will probably change her mood.

True story, the other high school intern (from BASIS Peoria) and I were always too shy and awkward to actually ask for the Wi-Fi password, until the endless hours of free time we got from all the last minute cancellations practically forced us to get up and ask one of the therapists for it. But hey, the five seconds of awkward silence where the therapist just stared at us incredulously was totally worth it.

Now, jokes aside, I can't honestly say that this past week has been the most... productive. For some reasons that I don't feel I'm in the position to be explaining, my on-site mentor will not be present at the clinic for the next few weeks. Luckily, there are other staff able and willing to watch over me and help me with the project, and finding someone to act as my mentor for the next few weeks was relatively easy. Unfortunately, because my original mentor is also a therapist, there have been some issues with scheduling her patients, some of which I had planned to use for my case studies, around to other therapists.

So this past week, between sick leaves, scheduling mix-ups, and spring break, I've been faced with quite a few cancellations. Now, don't get me wrong, I certainly did see some patients, and got quite a bit of work done in the time I didn't, but it was still a slow week nonetheless. I've also had a few moments of freaking out when I realized I wouldn't be able to see quite a few patients I was planning to study for the next several weeks. Fortunately, at the clinic, I'm surrounded by understanding therapists, and we've been able to make a lot work by rescheduling things and figuring out solutions this past week, so even if things don't work out exactly as I had planned before, I'm sure everything will happen for the better in the end.

What I've Learned
Since I don't have nearly as many anecdotes to share this week, I hope I'll at least be able to give a little window into my past week with this segment here.

So, without further ado, here are five things I've learned.

1. Never underestimate how valuable being an "upperclassman," so to speak, can be to a person, even if that person is an NMT patient who has another possible NMT patient observing him to see what happens during sessions.
2. If you have a question, ask it. Better to possibly face some embarrassment than living with never knowing.
3. Same thing goes with any concerns or worries. Things can't always just be solved by yourself-- a lot of the time, you need that extra voice for advice.
4. It doesn't matter if you're just a temporary research intern-- once you've joined a field, you'll connect to that group of people more than you've ever expected you could. Case in point: I may or may not have shed a couple tears reading this article.
5. It may make sense to you to do mouth exercises because you've started mumbling again, but other people may find it be a bit... disturbing. Just wait until you're alone to go at it again.  

How many different ways can I say "it's time for another blog post" at the beginning of these things before I just give up on doing it? Well, I guess we'll see.

This week I had the chance to step out of the clinic and experience something new: a senior care center. On Tuesday morning, I joined one of the therapists on a trip to Suntree Center, a daytime care-giving facility provided to seniors with Alzheimer's, dementia, and other disabilities, conditions, or physical limitations. I couldn't help but be nervous on the way there and at the beginning of the group sessions, seeing as so far, in my internship experience, I had yet to leave the clinic to visit other care facilities, let alone one for older adults. Even at the clinic, while I have seen older adult patients, all of the clients I have come in contact with and observed were occasionally my age, but most of the time, younger than me. How I held myself, the tone I maintained, and everything else would have to be adjusted based on this different population I was facing, and to be honest, it was more than a bit nerve-wracking. It didn't quell my nervousness to hear that, as the therapist I was accompanying explained in the care, not all of them were verbally responsive, and that some didn't even speak English! My thoughts were jumbling together into a flurry of thoughts, of "what if I'm not needed?" and "how many people will be there?' and "will this really work out?" and more.

But those fears, as fears nearly always are, were quickly put to rest as I entered the group. A small group, with no more than 15 people, most likely, circled up, laughing and messing around with each other, greeted me and the therapist as we brought in all of our supplies (i.e. the seemingly endless amount of instruments we brought). All friendly and outgoing people, who were delighted to have another person joining their little music session, and completely ready to have a productive day filled with singing and instrument playing. And those few that didn't speak English? Some of the most chipper and energetic people there, and everything they couldn't convey with their words, they'd show with their actions, whether it be pointing to my hair and cooing when noticing how long it was, or quickly playing instrument as soon as it reached their hands. Time simply flew by as we jammed out with the Suntree group, and I left the center with nothing short of a grin on my face.

The rest of the week went by as usual, with more scooter races through the halls and impromptu sessions in the recording studio. And before anyone asks: no, I did not throw a ball at anyone's head this week. I learn from my mistakes, I swear. On the research side, I've managed to narrow down all the data I'll be collecting, qualitative and quantitative, and I've finished writing out the consent form I'll be handing out to the patients' parents/legal guardians (which I may upload online and link to in this blog, if anyone would like to see it), so hopefully, data collection can begin this coming week or the one after.

What I've Learned
As you can probably tell, I'm not really up for zesty introduction lines today, so let's just jump straight into it, shall we?

So, without further ado, this week, I have learned...

1. The more times you talk about ensuring confidentiality while writing a consent form, the better.
2. Boomwhacker Tuned Percussion Tubes are hollow, color-coded, plastic tubes, tuned to musical pitches by length. 
3. Boomwhacker Tuned Percussion Tubes are quite fun to use as drumsticks.
4. You can make a game out of anything, even if it's a mish-mosh collection of objects, including a piano, a drum-set, a guitar, a squishy ball, and a spinner board (the one to sit on, not the wheel you spin with your hands)
5. Experimentation is the key to success. Have an idea? Roll with it; it'll pay off, whether it works out or not.

Until next time, this is Aarthi Ganapathi, BASIS Scottsdale senior and newly discovered BoomWhacker-er, signing out.