Speech Language Pathologist

During my interview with Speech Pathologist, Deborah Kirsch, I learned countless details about the Speech Pathology career field. When we first began talking, I learned that Mrs. Kirsch works out of a company called “Professional Therapy Services”, where she is contracted out to work for “Eunice Smith Nursing Home” which is located in Alton, Illinois. She has been working at this facility for about a year. She is a newly found graduate from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and she graduated in May 2011. Another thing that I learned about Mrs. Kirsch is that she originally did not go to school to become a speech pathologist, this was a career that she found later in life. After she had graduated from SIUE, the first time with a bachelors in Psychiatry, she started working at a nursing home around this area. She came to know a Speech Pathologist that worked there and she quickly found the field very fascinating. She had always been driven to help others, and she witnessed some of the exercises being done with individuals at the nursing home and decided to go back to school to get her masters in Speech Pathology.

While I am learning an abundance of valuable information at Clarke, my background knowledge derived from my undergraduate studies. I double majored in Speech Pathology and Psychology at Brooklyn College because I believe they compliment each other well when it comes to the studies of speech. Different aspects of Psychology including cognitive science, neuroscience, and biology are essential in understanding speech disorders, language processing, production, acquisition, and comprehension. In my second year at Brooklyn College, I observed children at a nearby elementary school for 50 hours. During this time I observed how children at the kindergarten level interacted with each other. I shadowed the teacher in order to learn different teaching strategies that will be beneficial and applicable as a Speech Therapist.

There are many requirements that involve education and training, as well as personal requirements and aptitude. To be a Speech Language Pathologist, one must have a sincere interest in helping people, sensitivity, resourcefulness, and imagination. One must also be able to communicate orally and in writing. Michigan Works, an agency that assists with employment, posts jobs that display education and background requirements for obtaining a job as a Speech Language Pathologist. Some requirements include a master’s degree from a speech and hearing program certified by the ASHA, American Speech and Hearing Association, post-certification experience in an institutional setting. Home health experience is also desirable. One must graduate from high school and pass courses in biology, physics, social sciences, English, mathematics, public speaking, language, and psychology. Undergraduate courses should include a strong Arts/Science focus, linguistics, phonetics, anatomy, psychology, human development, biology, physiology, math, physical science, semantics, and social/behavioral science. To be an applicant for an SLP position, a graduate degree is required and also three hundred to three hundred seventy-five hours of clinical experience. Applicants have to pass

Keaunna Knox has been a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) since 2007, and has worked ever since 2000 with children with special needs who had speech and language disorders. She began as an “Instructional/Speech Aide” at Pasadena Unified School District working with children with moderate and severe intellectual disabilities. All the students she worked with had speech and language disorders, and, since the Districts therapy was overloaded Keaunna implemented the communication goals she wrote. Based on that experience and many others, Keaunna decided to enroll at Cal State Los Angeles to pursue her professional career in teaching. She received her Master’s in Mild-Moderate Disabilities in Special Education from Cal State Los Angeles and a second

My intensive Speech Language Pathology coursework at California State University- Fresno has provided me with the skills to implement treatment plans, assist during speech and language assessments, and keep formal documentation of client’s progress in speech therapy. These are the necessary skills required to be an effective Speech Language Pathology Assistant and will make me as asset to have in the school speech setting.

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

Speech-language pathologists play a significant role in evaluation and intervention with English Language Learners. More and more SLPs are playing a teacher role in the academic environment. The role and responsibility of a speech-language pathologist is essential when identifying the most ethical and appropriate services to meet the individual needs of the student. However, evaluating ELL students can be challenging from a clinical standpoint and typically is complicated by many factors including, personal, institutional, and society interests. Many school based SLPs are not proficient in a second language and therefore are not adequately trained to provide nonbiased bilingual assessments. Current practices in speech-language pathology support the decision making process for the family and their priorities when identifying assessment and treatment options. Consideration for implementing strategies that will benefit the student most should not be overlooked.

While speech-sound errors may occur in a typically developing child, if these errors persist beyond the expected age, it becomes indicative of a speech disorder and requires treatment (Peña-Brooks & Hedge, 2015). Speech-sound disorders in children will not only affect intelligibility of the individual, but can also have pervasive effects on communication skills, social involvement, and future employment, leading to an overall reduced quality of life (Johnson, Beitchman, and Brownlie, 2010). However, if individuals with speech-sound disorders receive speech-language services in childhood, evidence supports these children are likely to become effective communicators (Johnson, Beitchman, and Brownlie, 2010). Speech-language pathologists

As mentioned, I noted that Jason uses behavioral, and social interactionist approach in his work. There is also a cognitive aspect as well. The behavioral approach deals in the realm of unlearning to learning a new behavior, cognitive deals in the realm of memory, how one learns and process, and social deals in the realm of culture and social with the interaction with adults. A Speech Language Pathologist encompasses many roles, and has to be agile in all approaches to meet the needs of a diverse clientele. There is no one size fit all

While at MTSU, I have been fortunate to take a full course load of communication disorders and audiology classes. Not only have these classes have given me an extensive knowledge of the field, but they have also exposed me to the various areas of the field, such as early intervention and rehabilitative speech pathology. Additionally, I have had the opportunity to take a clinical practicum at the MTSU Speech Clinic. During my first practicum, I have worked with a 15-year-old boy with Down Syndrome on receptive and expressive language, articulation, literacy, and an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). The practicum experience has been so valuable as I have learned so many things that difficult to learn from a textbook, such as using treatment techniques and behavioral management strategies.

I choose to interview a Speech Language Pathologist. She works with children in early children intervention. She works with children birth to 3 years old with developmental speech delays and disabilities. She provides home base services that focus on the family goals. She helps identify learning opportunities to provide materials and emotional support, demonstration, information, and resources for the family to help their child learn, and develop to their full potential. She also helps with parents and caregivers to help with their children to be as independent as they can. She also works with Hispanic speaking backgrounds and she is also a translator. She also does hearing screenings, developmental, and speech language evaluations, OAE, typangram

I plan on pursuing a career as a speech-language pathologist (SLP). As a speech language pathologist, I would be assessing, diagnosing, treating, and helping to prevent communication and swallowing disorders in patients. As a result for my passion to work with children, I became highly interested in psychology and child advocacy. I believe all three fields are interrelated because they share a common interest to understand the basic needs of a child. In addition, these fields help assess the influence of family and other social contexts on children’s’ socio-emotional adjustment, cognitive development, behavioral adaptation and health status. One of the reasons, I decided to pursue a career involving advocating for children, is because children always fascinated me. One of my inspirations is my younger cousin who suffers from hypotonia, which is a poor-muscle tone disorder. Therefore, it affects muscle strength, motor nerves and the brain. As he got older, he needed a SLP to help with the muscles associated with articulation. Before then, I didn’t know much about speech pathology, but I can appreciate the career because I saw how speech therapy helped my cousin. In a professional experience, I am currently volunteering in the Alder Aphasia center in West Orange, helping individuals with aphasia, practice speech therapy. As a result for volunteering, I plan to become a member of the NJ SHA multicultural committee advocating for children and

s an undeclared first generation college freshman, I relentlessly completed career interest surveys, read through career descriptions and listed and categorized my interests in search of an ideal profession. Although I was certain about my passions, which included languages, cultures and social and human services, it seemed as though the possibilities were infinite. It was during my second semester of college, after several attempts at narrowing down the options, that I was first introduced to the field of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. Prior to learning about the field, I took general education courses from a variety of different fields but none seemed completely fulfilling. As my discouragement in not finding the ideal field increased,

• Identify any structural, oral-motor or sensory deviations that might explain a presenting speech disorder

Adults may require a Speech-Language Therapist’s (SLT’s) services for a number of reasons. Certain injuries and medical conditions create communication disorders, which may hamper a person’s self esteem and be very hard to surmount alone. No matter what your age is, we are trained to help rebuild the mental and physical components of language after injury, as well as to provide caring support as you progress through the challenges of rehabilitation. Several areas of difficulty are more commonly the cause for an adult to reach out for support from a SLT – these are briefly reviewed below.