I started and have been working on this project for a Communication Disorder class I have been taking. It is a writing intensive class that is mostly done through the computer. I have learned a lot about the Internet and websites from this class. My teacher, Mrs. McCommas, has been giving us assignments that built up to create a whole research project. I decided to do my research on Parkinson’s disease. I chose this topic for two main reasons. The most obvious reason is because I may be working with Parkinson’s disease patients and need to know useful information that will help me facilitate them to my full capabilities. The other reason I chose Parkinson’s disease is because my grandfather suffers from it. He has had it for many years now and has gotten pretty bad. He can no longer communicate with us. It has always been very confusing for me; no one has been able to explain to me exactly what Parkinson’s disease does to a person. My first impression was that it simply made his hands trimmer. Then as he got worse, he could not talk very well, and we had trouble understanding what he was saying. This motivated me to find more information on the disease.
Our projects had to be made up of seven different genres. We had to create a webliography, do a power point presentation, and write a poem. The other genres we did were up to us. The genres I chose were the ones that I thought could best describe the disease. They are in different voices; some are in a clinician’s voice, while others are in family members’ voices and the client’s voice. Although, this project was hard and took a great deal of time, it was interesting and educational when I tried to put myself into the other person’s position. It forced me to think about their feelings and experiences. I think it is very important that I do this when I become a speech-language pathologist; this project has helped me to realize that.

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