My Path Into Speech Pathology

Within my year and half of clinician experience, I constructed a few future goals that I would like to achieve while in graduate school. One goal is to continue growing my knowledge with working with children with language impairments. This goal is one reason that drew me towards The University of North Texas. With the hands on experience from the preschool for children with language impairments, I could work towards my completion of this goal. Another goal of mine is to gain more experience with working with adults. My clinical experience was centered on children; therefore I would like to become better rounded as a clinician by getting the opportunity to work with adults who may have diverse impairments. Lastly, I would enjoy learning new therapy techniques and how to ultimately become the best Speech-Language Pathologist that I can

The opportunity to observe the work overview of a Speech Pathologist, has tremendously solidified my interest in this field. At the Diana Rogovin Speech Center at Brooklyn College, I observed clients of various ages with different speech language disorders including articulation, language, voice, fluency and accent modification. Observing clinicians at the speech center gave me the opportunity to learn how important client-clinician interaction is for the session and how essential it is to build a good relationship with the client. Although I learned the

The qualities I possess to make me a successful speech language pathologist include compassion, open-mindedness, knowing how to be a team player and how to live out the FISH philosophy which is an approach dealing with workplace issues. Compassion is important to have in order to be patient with my future clients. Throughout my college years, I served on the executive council for my sorority for two years as Vice President of Member Development. While sitting in those meetings, I learned how to be open-minded to others’ opinions on certain topics being discussed. I also had to meet with people who were having a hard time maintaining good membership status. Sitting down and talking to those individuals taught me to be objective about the individual’s circumstance and to be as fair as possible. Not only does a speech language pathologist need to be skilled in speech treatment but also with counseling the parents and loved ones of the client who feel hopeless and helpless. Being empathetic helps create a trusting relationship between the clinician, client and family. Another quality of a great speech pathologist is being able to be a team player. Most cases require the collaboration of the speech pathologist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, schoolteacher, paraprofessional, orthodontist, audiologists, and social services to

Through speech pathology, people are reached and shown compassion who are typically considered outcasts in society. SLPs work with individuals who are struggling with various sets of problems and help to solve those problems through undivided attention and spirits of patience and willingness to aid people with speech, language, and mental impairments. I believe this would be a good career fit for me due to my heart for people and my teaching spirit. My mom’s perspective of me pursuing a career as an SLP is that it would be a good fit due to my kind and gentle spirit and conduciveness with working with struggling individuals. I also have an immediate family legacy of multiple speech pathologists that work in both the medical and educational fields which increases my knowledge and familiarity with the career. While I believe that speech pathology would ultimately be a good fit for me, I tend to struggle with patience, a key component of working as an SLP, which is a challenge that I would have to work to overcome in order fulfill my role as a speech pathologist.

Language is beautiful and wondrous phenomenon. Not only is it a crucial component in everyday communication, but it also accentuates the culture of those that speak it. As a student pursuing a career in speech-language pathology, the aspects of communication, such as language, are the pillars of my future profession and will be deeply embedded into my daily life. There are many reasons I have chosen this path, but my childhood friend, Jasmine, can be accredited with my finishing decision to become a speech-language pathologist. When I was in elementary school, Jasmine was one of my closest friends, but I did not always get to play with her at recess because she frequently had to see an audiologist, or go to speech therapy. Jasmine had a congenital

I am Samantha Peterson, as a child I was taught to be independent in my beliefs and to always follow my heart wherever it led me. I have always been one to go after what I want and never give up until my dreams are fulfilled. I plan to finish my associate degree at AB Tech and transfer to Western Carolina. I plan to graduate from Western Carolina with a master’s degree in speech pathology. Once I complete this phase in my life I hope to pursue my career and start a family of my own. To begin my career, I hope to still be employed at Mission Hospital, but as a speech pathologist rather than a medical assistant. As a speech pathologist I hope to make life changing improvements in people’s everyday lives that I cross paths with. While beginning

Some of the duties of a speech pathologist are, but are not limited to, evaluate patients’ levels of speech, language, or swallowing difficulty, identify treatment options, teach patients how to make sounds and improve their voices, work with patients to develop and strengthen the muscles used to swallow, and counsel patients and families on how to cope with communication and swallowing disorders (Duties, www.bls.org, 2015). ‘If the speech-language pathologists work in medical facilities, they work with physicians and surgeons, social workers, psychologists, and other healthcare workers’ (Duties, www.bls.org, 2015).

I would like to begin by saying thank you to all of the therapists and technicians from Sunbelt Apopka for making me feel welcomed. Also I thank the therapists for allowing me to volunteer and observe this summer. Out of all the places I could have had my first shadowing experience I am so glad it took place at your facility. This opportunity allowed me to learn more in depth about careers in speech, physical, and occupational therapy. I now know that speech-language pathologists are not limited to treating only speech problems; they are capable of treating patients with swallowing complications as well. As you guys may know, I am still indecisive between pursuing a career in physical or occupational therapy. Volunteering however did help me to better understand their differences and similarities. Both physical and occupational therapy focus on working with patients with their body movements. More specifically, physical therapists provide services in helping patients in restoring functions and improving their physical mobility. While occupational therapists work with patients to improve their ability to perform tasks in their daily living and working environments. Based on my observation, all these rehabilitation professions serve an equal importance in the healing process of a patient.

There are hundreds of career paths and options, which can be overwhelming and exciting. I have looked into many possibilities and wanted to talk to a speech pathologist about their career and responsibilities. Speech pathologists, also known as speech-language pathologists or speech therapists, help individuals with a multitude of disorders, associated with swallowing, speech, and language. They can work in schools, hospitals, specialty clinics, or through private practice. I chose to interview Sherri Anderson, a speech pathologist for Rock Creek Elementary School in the Beaverton School District in Oregon. Ms. Anderson originally got a degree in English, and worked for a bookstore for a decade before going back to school to become a speech

When I began my undergraduate career in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology at UNT, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But after taking a handful of classes, I was excited to find out that the major had many interesting aspects to it, including my favorite; science. After being in the program for a year, speech therapy began to grow on me more and more. Not only was I fortunate enough to actually enjoy something blindly chosen, but for once in my life I was beginning to feel passionate about

Through each session I target each students needs through daily lesson plans created from the goals assigned by the licensed speech pathologist. I feel it is important to build a strong relationship that has a powerful effect on the students therapy progress, so I attempt to put myself in my students' shoes. It is important that I am compassionate, empathetic, and supportive to their needs. There is a quote by BJ Gallagher that states: “The land of opportunity is an attitude. It is an openness to new ideas, a willingness to listen, an eagerness to learn, a desire to grow, and the flexibility to change.” This quote reminds me why I love this career.

Ashley Marshall is a healthcare administrator and speech language pathologist at Zionsville Meadows. Although she was trained to provide speech therapy to patients, she is now a rehabilitation service director who is responsible for planning, directing, and coordinating health services in a nursing home setting. Her management makes the Zionsville Meadows rehabilitation department succeed in the treatment of adult patients.

I want to educate, and help break down those communication barriers that I became aware of while working in the hospital. I want to help patients succeed both socially and academically. I want to help children unlock their full potential and I want to build upon the fulfillment that I have already felt as a teacher. Becoming a Speech Pathologist and attending Master’s school will allow me to combine both of my passions. Therefore, I feel that given this opportunity I will be able to make a phenomenal Speech and Language

I released a nervous breath as I looked in the mirror smoothing the wrinkles on my thank top, hoping this isn't to fancy or to casual for my first day at The University of London. It's so shocking that I even got in considering my grades in my years of high school were not the best but to be honest, I think my mom had something to do with it since she is the new vice president after the last one retired. But I don't really care as I'm now studying to become a Speech-Language Pathologist, becoming a Speech-Language Pathologist is my dream job and I hope that dream can become a reality.

While on my path to be a future Speech Language Pathologist, I cannot in good conscience continue without having a decent knowledge of basic conversational American Sign Language (ASL). Before I chose this career my parents took the time to educate me in the ABCs and simple signs, I have continued to learn more as time has gone on. Even with my limited knowledge it has already helped me greatly through out my professional career. However ASL is not always beneficial, primarily with those who are born deaf or hard of hearing. Do you have a favorite book, from any age? Or do you feel a love and passion for writing? Are you good at writing, have you always been? Children who are born deaf or hard of hearing are typically taught to utilize American Sign Language as their primary means of communication. The biggest struggle that deaf or hard of hearing children face is making the transition to text-based literacy, this conflict lies not only in their first language syntactical hindrance but also in the struggle one deals with to make the connections required for such development. While Sign Language gives them a way to verbally communicate, it also places them at a disadvantage for the American English written word. This disadvantage is typically linked back to the fact that since American Sign Language stems from French Sign Language (LSF), and has a similar syntax to the French language. As well as according to Delaporte and Shaw (2011) linguists and anthropologists have long