Welcome to Part 4 of my blog series. Click the links to read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Also, please email me with any feedback that you might have on the series. Now, continuing on to 10th grade – Freshman year in college.
Sophomore year: I can speak without fear and say “thank you.”
By the time I reached my sophomore year, I was speaking much more clearly. I remember one day I boarded the bus to go to my therapy. As the bus driver drove around campus, I kept telling myself, “Today is the day. You are going to do this.”
As I got off the bus, I turned to the bus driver and said, “Thank you.” He said, “You’re welcome.” I began to cry as I walked to the Speech and Hearing Clinic. I always wanted to express my gratitude without fear and now I could.
At the clinic, I also learned how to say my name Betsy. That was just another wonderful thing to be able to do. I could then walk up to anyone confidently and say “Hi, I’m Betsy.”
Sophomore year: I can understand what others are saying on the telephone and can help.
During this time, my auditory processing was also improving greatly. I thought, “What better way to get over the fear of talking on the phone, while also paying it forward, than volunteering on the student crisis line?”
I went through the peer-counselor training program and towards the end I feared that I might not pass the practice phone call portion of the program. It was extremely nerve wracking. I waited in the peer counseling office for the phone to ring while my advisor looked on. The phone rang and I picked up. I said “Hello. Lion Support. Betsy speaking.” I was amazed as I was able to hear and understand what the person was saying and I could offer them the proper support.
For the rest of my undergrad years, I volunteered on the student crisis line. The experience helped me get over my fears and allowed me to help others.
End of sophomore year: “Amazing results.”
At the end of my sophomore year, I completed my therapy and was retested. They were shocked again to find that I scored as disabled in only one out of the sixty areas. They explained that it was the greatest improvement they had ever seen in the shortest amount of time at the Speech and Hearing Clinic.
I think this was partially because most people get therapy when they are children, so I had more improvement to make, and also because when I decide I am going to do something, I work extremely hard to do it. That experience also made me believe that the brain could be rewired and could learn new things.
Summer of sophomore year: “Sing. Please sing.”
During my summers, I continued to work at summer camps. This summer, I was up in Alaska.
One night during our staff training, we were around the campfire being taught songs to sing. I stuck to my old ways and mouthed the words.
Another counselor noticed and asked, “Why are you not singing? I just said, “I am horrible. You don’t want me to sing.” She said, “Sing. Please sing.” She went on to explain if no one sang than we would just have silence. That was a revolutionary moment for me and now, though I don’t have a great voice, I sing.
Grad school: They don’t know about scanning textbooks or speech-to-text software.
I meant to mention that in undergrad, since my vision was poor, the college was also able to provide me with PDFs of the textbooks so that I could read them using speech-to-text software.
When I went to graduate school, that was not the case. The disability services office there explained they never had that request. I spoke to my advisor about this since I feared I might fail my art history course since I could not read the book. He then asked what my vision problems were and I explained I had strabismus so I don’t have depth perception. He said, “Have you heard of the book Fixing My Gaze?” I said “No.”
He went on to explain that a lady fixed her vision through vision therapy and could now see in 3D. I thought, “Wow! Speech and hearing therapy really worked for me. I should try vision therapy too.” I went out and bought her book. I tried doing vision therapy during graduate school, but was unable to continue because of cost and not being able to get to the optometrist office safely on public transit. Vision therapy was something that I kept in the back of my mind.
That is all for today. I will post Part 5 tomorrow.
Please, if you are questioning therapy, give it a try. Who knows what possibilities it will bring? If you have any questions or need some support, please email me through the contact form.
I am here for you.
Sincerely,
Betsy
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