This month I have learned two valuable lessons as I have worked on the practicum project.  The first and most important is the role and process of the IRB.  Just as most of the students in my class have been finishing up their practicum projects, I have just received approval to begin!  The IRB application was sent in early spring and has taken this long to be reviewed and approved.  My practicum project involves a research study with a protected and fragile population – newborns, which is why it has taken so long to be approved.  The second lesson I have learned about tongue tie is that the definitions of tongue tie vary according to the different specialists and the assessment tools they use.  A lecture I attended at the 2014 ILCA conference mentioned 8 different definitions of ankyloglossia.  To make things more complicated, there are several assessment and classification tools. These tools are named after the key individual defining the assessment:  Hazelbaker, Watson Genna/Coryllos, Murphy, Griffiths, and Todd-Hogan being the main tools.  Our practicum project will be using the Hazelbaker assessment tool for frenulum function.  It is felt to be superior and very accurate.  We anticipate evaluating all newborns for tongue tie beginning next month for a three week period.  Before the assessment starts, the lactation consultants doing the evaluations will have a review training on the Hazelbaker assessment tool. I was fortunate to be able to purchase this training video at the conference and visit with Alison Hazelbaker.  This month I have continued to review articles pulled from the systematic review of the literature and am getting ready to work on the parent handout.