expert update

Just to make fill in the blog with the rest of my expert experience....

I exchanged a couple more emails after initially speaking to David Zajac. He told me that he feels the worst part about a speech impairment is lowered self esteem while the worst part of hearing loss is social isolation. The two often go hand in hand since "we basically speak the way we hear" and these individuals cannot hear well. He also stated that "profoundly deaf individuals often have limited speech, thus the social isolation".

I tried to talk to an educational expert on campus like suggested by Corrinne. However, that was even more pointless than the first interview since the health professionals on campus focus on college students opposed to the children I am researching in my paper. I got mainly general information that I already had before. I should have talked to someone who deals with younger kids but time did not permit this.

So I guess overall I was not a big fan of the expert interview since I have such a narrow topic that it is hard to get in contact with someone who directly researches with what I am researching.

research

I've been going over a lot of what people had to say on Poster Day. A lot of the comments really helped and let me know about the holes I had in my explanations and research. I think I have finally accepted the fact that my topic is quite narrow, and if I can make sure I have enough information to write a well-supported paper I will. It is amazing how many sources I have consulted and am taking such little pieces of information out of most of them.

Expert

As my expert, I is talked to David Zajac a professor in the Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences here at UNC. He has earned a PhD in Communication Disorders, a Masters in Speech Pathology/Audiology , and a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology from the University of Pittsburg. He focuses on speaking with craniofacial abnormalities.

He informed me that the most common cause of hearing impairment from birth is OME. I have found a lot of research on OME, and I am thinking about narrowing my topic even more to focus only on this condition. However overall, I am not sure this expert interview was that enlightening. He reaffirmed most of my research, but since he is not a specialist in education or children I did not learn as much as I hoped. I think I am going to conduct a second expert interview with someone in the education field, and hopefully between the two interviews and study fields I can shed more light on my research.

reflection/ random thought

So Leo, I just read one of your posts again where you commented on how we have to be constantly evaluating our research questions and data, and how we must be reformulating more questions and directions for research by fitting in our new material with all the rest with connections. (At least it was something like that.) And I guess I wanted to say that I guess I know what you are talking about now (since my research hasn't been exactly linear, and I am constantly redefining my research and direction), because until recently I thought that was crazy talk. I guess I'm learning something.

even more

I just realized that I haven't formally changed my topic. I've been researching children with hearing disorders and their educational development though I have not officially changed my topic. I started to write a new prospectus with "How do hearing disorders affect a child’s educational development?" as my main question and as my pulling questions "How can children learn the best without hearing?" and "How do children learn how to speak and listen?" which aren't really changed. I don't think we really need to write another prospectus, but I find it helps me focus my research and give me more thought and reflection on the process of data analysis and retrieval that I'm going through.
I'm also completing some more annotated bibliographies in order assist my researching thought process.

more research

So I am researching even more. I have become quick adept at the whole subject search on the UNC site.
The problem I'm having right now is that some of my information in contradictory. One study states that there are major differences in language acquisition and the others don't claim these differences are significant. I am inclined to believe in the majority of these studies, but I'm not sure how to explain the one.
I would also like to comment once again on how strange I think it is that having a hearing disorder doesn't really horribly affect one's learning ability and educational goals. Human adaptability is amazing.

update

So my research is progressing quite nicely though I am still a bit worried that I am missing the whole point of this assignment. I have read over parts of the book I picked up at the library during my research session with the library. The main problem is that it focuses a lot of parents and what they can do to help their child. So it has a lot of the information I need though it is written for a different audience. I have been able to pick out a lot of the information I need.
I haven't been using as many online resources as I should. I really need to start to parse all this information and get stuff into a workable format. However, I will probably wait to do that until later. I just need to research even more.

In Class Exercise

1- lead in statement
2- Why this topic is "a problem or issue, that is, a conflict or something unsettled, perplexing, vexing, distressful, and in the need of investigation"
3- justifications for further inquisition (if you have the answers to (#2), answer “so what?”).
Pull out questions from conflict of interests between 2 and 3

1- Listening becomes a problem in the classroom.
2- Hearing Questions: What causes hearing problems in children and how can these problems be diagnosed and treated? Should we allow children to have an opinion in their treatment? How can doctors conduct hearing tests on newborns? How do doctors identify the source of a hearing problem in an ear?
Education Questions: What can people do to facilitate learning with heard of hearing children? Is it the educator's responsibility or the student's? Should deaf people be integrated into society or kept separate? What are the best classroom uses for mixed audience of hearing and hard of hearing kids?
3- Well, there are many different causes. I'm focusing more on genetic and diseases occurring early in life because that is when education is most important. I don't think I'll get into the more opinionated questions- if the child gets a say or deaf society. I'm not sure if I'm doing this right. Doctors identify hearing problems with hearing tests though it is harder to catch earlier in life. There are special tests for newborns and babies. As for education, I want to focus on younger children, more specifically how people learn to talk and listen to others and what happens if they cannot hear well when they are learning.
Hmm, I think I mixed 2 and 3 a bit.
Pulled Questions: How do children learn how to speak and listen? How can children learn the best without hearing?

"in class"

I spent my time researching more hearing disorders and effects on children. The problem I'm running into is that everything seems to be the same and just repeated. I found some cool stuff on Cued Speech (a hybrid of lipreading and sign language). I'm going to have to make a trip to the Health Science Library soon.

revised again...

Listening is way people learn how to live and learn. However, some children never had this option and are born with hearing problems. I would like to research the causes of childhood hearing problems and understand how they can be diagnosed and treated.

I am interested in this topic because I have difficulty hearing. Though I was not born with this problem, I have experienced its adverse effects most significantly on my ability to learn. So much in the world utilizes your ears and one doesn’t quite appreciate this fact until he can’t hear. I wanted to know more about how children who have always had considerable hearing damage and how they are able to function in society. Also, how can doctors tell if newborns and babies have hearing trouble? They can’t speak up and tell their caretakers that they cannot hear. I am also interested in how doctors can help these children or if we should let the children make their own decision in their hearing treatment.

Main question: What causes hearing problems in children and how can these problems be diagnosed and treated?

Sub questions: Should we allow children to have an opinion in their treatment? How can doctors conduct hearing tests on newborns? How do doctors identify the source of a hearing problem in an ear?

Still working...

So I think I've somewhat narrowed my topic. I have been researching practically all day and I think I would like to focus my research on hearing loss in children. I think I have more of a point in my research now. I found a really good website for about hearing problems in children (http://www.medicinenet.com/detecting_hearing_loss_in_children/page3.htm#toce).

Another Exercise

I spent the last twenty minutes researching how ears work and the different types of hearing loss. I visited several websites to make sure I understand how ears work
(www.entnet.org/healthinfo/ears/ear.cfm, www.entmags.org/ears.asp, and health.howstuffworks.com/hearing.htm). Then I looked at cochlear implants to understand how they work (http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/coch.asp). And then something cool called SSHL (http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/sudden.asp). I felt better that I actually started researching but at the same time overwhelmed that there is so much information. I need to either create a better plan and/or focus my ideas.

In Class Exercise

Well right now the focus of my research is the diagnosis and treatment of hearing loss.
Subquestions:
How do doctors identify the source of a hearing problem in an ear?
How do hearing tests work? Are they always accurate?
Are there any other diagnosis options?
Is there always a treatment option of hearing problems? What are the treatments available?
How do hearing aids work?

Kulthau's theory

I have to admit after I read Kulthau's theories, I felt very relieved. I felt very confused, conflicted, frustrated, and worried that I wasn't going to find a topic. I was kind of glad that these kind of feelings were normal when researching at first. I am still in the initial stages of gathering information and am still wanting to discuss with others as Kulthau also stated.
I still feel a bit of apprehension because I don't know much about the mechanisms of hearing. I feel a bit overwhelmed that I have to accomplished all of this research from the beginning in a semester. All of these feelings support Kulthau's hypothesis. I suppose I need to research first how an ear works. I'll look at a much of medical books and websites. Then move on to how an ear can be damaged and finally get to different treatment options. Information on how to fix hearing problems will probably be the hardest to retrieve.

Current Information Problems...

So I am just worried because I don't know too much about the mechanics of ears. I fear that my research will use a lot of and become like old anatomy and medical textbooks. I don't want to end up studying how to conduct ear surgery. And I don't want this project to be boring!
I am also wondering if if my topic is still too broad. I am not exactly sure how to define "hearing loss". Should I focus just on hearing loss due to aging or diseases or both? I may have to figure out how much information I have on each and decide from there.
Also I'm hoping that I can find good, interesting information on this topic and not just those old uninformative brochures that titled "What To Do If You Cannot Hear" that give advice like "Go to the doctor" and "Tell your family to speak up". That would stink and give me nothing to work with.

Prospectus Draft 1

Hearing is an integral part of human communication. The ability to listen and convey thoughts and ideas is not to be taken for granted with many people having trouble hearing. I am interested in understanding how health professionals diagnosis and treat ear problems. How do audiologists test hearing and know what is wrong with one’s ear? What are the options for treatment? Can hearing ever be fully restored? I hope to answer these important questions.

Where to start?

How can hearing loss be diagnosed and treated?

Without functioning hearing, people can not communicate their ideas and thoughts. This lack of interaction is a bleak way to live, and with the population aging and constant electronic streams, the problem is only getting worse. Therefore an important research question that must be asked is how hearing loss be diagnosed and treated.

Diagnosis- Audiologist, other health professional

Evaluate type, degree, and configuration of hearing loss

Treatment- Aids, Surgery

I am interested in this question because I have hearing trouble and know the annoyance of not being able to hear. I am also considering becoming an audiologist.

Other questions I am considering:

What types of alternative medicine are reliable and which are not? How do they work?

What are the common characteristics of different religions?