When I first read the syllabus for CD 315 on the first day of class, I really had no idea what I was going to be doing for the next ten weeks. The letters MRP didn’t mean anything to me, even after I read that they stood for Multi Genre Research Project. I wouldn’t know right away what all was involved or how much work I would be doing, but in due time I would see. The first couple weeks’ assignments were “house keeping” in nature…making sure we all had an email address, subscribing to the class list, and learning how to use the MOO were a few of the primary assignments. After the first few weeks, we started to do work geared toward our project. The first part of this work was choosing a research topic and coming up with an essential question that we wanted to find AN answer to, not THE answer to. It made me feel a little better knowing that this wasn’t going to be black or white, right or wrong. I had a few topics in mind such as stuttering, auditory processing, and Alzheimer’s disease, which turned out to be my topic. I’ve worked with Alzheimer’s patients before, and they really held a special place in my heart because some of them just didn’t have a clue, and I don’t mean any disrespect by that. Many of them didn’t know what day it was, who they were, who anyone else was, where they were, what year it was, or anything about their own lives. It's so sad because they are alive, but they're not really "living". Life is often just one big confusing mess to them. Of course this isn't how things are from the beginning and I don't mean to paint a bleak picture, but the reality is that there is no cure for Alzheimer's and as it progresses, it robs the person of more and more of his/her life and of him/herself.
In no way had I been "trained" to work with people suffering from this disease, but I soon learned how to handle them without getting them upset or frustrated. One method I used was a "therapeutic fib" as I saw it called in an article I read. If the person would not eat his/her dinner, I would tell them that I made it especially for them and it would really make me happy if they would eat. If someone asked me when his/her loved one was coming and I knew full well that this person was not coming or was not even alive, I would simply say, "Oh, they'll be here later." This would satisfy them and they would move on to something else. Something else I found to be of help is humor. These people can be fun, you can joke around with them and they really enjoy it. One lady always asked me if a had a boyfriend, so I would tease her about having a boyfriend and she always got a big kick out of it. One man would see squirrels on the door to his bathroom so he and I would "hunt" them. As sad as it is, when a person gets into the stages where it's as if they're "losing their mind" they may not know that what they're saying or doing is absurd. If they do something like see squirrels, don't correct them, go with it and if they enjoy it, then that's what matters. Making them smile blessed me in ways I can't explain. I learned a lot from the patients that I worked with and it was very hard when I had to leave them. I was glad that I got to choose my topic on this project because it actually means something. It's more than just an assignment. It's a way to learn more about amazing people that need my help.

The first step in this ten-week process was to choose my topic. Then I had to come up with an essential question. I've thought quite a bit about whether I want to work with the elderly population in my practice, and I think I've decided that I would like to work with this group of people. That helped me to come up with an essential question about what I could do in therapy to help a person with Alzheimer's compensate for the deficits caused by the disease. In order to answer this question, some foundation questions had to be answered first. With these questions I inquired about what Alzheimer's was, whom it affected, what were the stages, and what strategies could help a person at each stage. As my project developed, I felt more and more unsure about my initial questions. Even now I'm not sure how much I actually answered my questions. I developed six different genres that each approached the topic in a different way, and from three different points of view. The genres are geared toward different people, and are in the voice of different people such as a clinician, a family member, and a person with Alzheimer's. I can't believe that I came up with so many different presentations of this information! The genres were the main part of the project, and then some other pieces such as the preface, references, and unifying theme were added. I used a journal in the voice of Mary Lou to tie my genres together. She is involved so much in this whole story because she is Bill's primary caregiver. Since much of the informative part of this project would relate the types of things Bill was going through with the disease I wanted to express what she's going through as his daughter and his primary source of care. Even though Bill is the one with Alzheimer's, this is more Mary Lou's story. Throughout this entire process I have worried that my work wasn't good enough or "right", I didn't think I was doing enough, and it wasn't until about week 7 that I realized I had no idea where my project was going. The big picture was no where in sight! Finally I had a revelation and my panic subsided. Since then I have worked diligently (for the most part) on my project and now all the pieces are coming together. The big picture is in full view! After ten weeks, I have a project! We all have a project! It's kind of like having a baby (not that I would know anything about that)...When you're pregnant, you can't see the baby, and you don't know what having a baby is all about. It's not until the baby is born that you see it and begin to realize everything that goes along with having a child! At first, I couldn't see how this MRP was going to work; all I could see were the little pieces that I had to have done each week. Now it's like my project is being "born" because I see it all coming together and it actually makes sense! Ok, I'll shut up with the analogies and move on!

In the process part of my reflection, I'm supposed to tell why I did this. Well I did it because that was my assignment. I think I would have enjoyed doing it had it not been a required part of this class. I've never done a project of this sort, and it's really exciting to see how it all came together. I'm glad now that I got the opportunity to participate in this one of a kind class and research project. I'm also very glad that I chose to take this class during the summer. It is a large amount of work whether you are disciplined or not, and taking on this along with a full class load during the regular school semester would have been the death of me! I feel that because I took it this summer I was able to devote more time and effort to my work than I would have if this had been one of 6 classes I had to keep up with! Overall I'm pleased with my work and the way that my project turned out. I've heard from many people that "hindsight is 20/20" and this is true. There are things that I would do differently if I had the chance to go back, but as for regrets, I don't have any about taking this class, doing my project the way I did, or any of my work. I think it's pretty darn good if I do say so myself! I hope you think so too!