Emily Tharp

Francoise Brosseau-Lap
SLHS 115
11 March 2015
Clinical Practice
Ms. Mary Lou Poole came in to speak about her clinical practices here at Purdue
University. She has worked as a professor in the Speech Language and Hearing Department at
Purdue for 24 years. Before this, she has had much experience with young children by working
in school districts dealing with cognitive impairments, motor and hearing impairments, speech
impairments, and traumatic brain injury patients. She has been the AAC consultant for schools
doing a lot of work by going around to multiple schools, fitting kids with devices, giving text
support to teachers and staff, etc. She now deals with adult based disorders such as neurological
problems and traumatic brain injuries. She is 60% involved in administration and 40% in direct
service still today.
Traumatic Brain Injury is a very common disorder in many individuals. It is the brain
dysfunction caused by an outside force, usually a violent blow to the head. Mary Lou spends a
lot of her time dealing with patients with TBI. The severity of traumatic brain injury patients can
range from a mild case such unconsciousness for a few seconds to a severe case that causes
personality change, complete memory loss, loss of motor functions, and even seizures. Once you
are diagnosed with TBI, it is hard to ever go back to normal. Most patients are sent to
rehabilitation centers for intervention. They can attend rehab dealing with with Speech Language
and Hearing, PT/OT, psychology/psychiatry, etc. These clinics help the patient progress back to
their normal lives as best as they can after an injury. Mary Lou takes a functional approach to
intervention. She focuses on helping patients with memory loss, organizational skills, fine motor
skills, etc. Her goal is to have her patients live independently again. Mary Lou isi successful with
her patients by meeting therapy goals, as well as, improving quality of life at the same time.
There is ongoing research to better understand TBI and the effects it has on the patients.
Researchers are working on better prevention skills too. Research will help clinicians develop
better intervention skills that will help limit the brain injury that occurs days after trauma to the
brain. Another plus about research is that it allows clinicians to better understand the therapies to
treat TBI and how to improve long-term function and improvement.