Speech Pathologist Observation

The second limitation that Speech-Language Pathologists deal with when working with families is educating families. Janice Swanson, a Speech-Language Pathologist in Lincoln, NE, works with families both in a research setting through the University and also a healthcare setting through Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital. Swanson says that she engages families in their child’s therapy by educating them. She said that she provides them with strategies that they can use at home to continue to make improvements when they can’t be seen by the Speech Pathologist (personal communication, February 3, 2017). “Family members know the characteristics of their member with a language disorder more intimately than anyone else and come to share this insight with

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.

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.

Good interpersonal skills, the ability to take another person's perspective, and problem solving are crucial characteristics for a speech language pathologist. An article from the Journal of Nursing Education titled, “The Teaching Effectiveness of Standardized Patience,” demonstrated that interpersonal skills have overwhelmingly “positive, creative and meaningful results” in clinical environments (Becker, 2006). I am a powerful and positive Puerto Rican woman who is direct, uses I-statements, and possesses the characteristics needed for a speech language pathologist. I have always been quite comfortable with complex group dynamics, conflict management, collaboration, and all the varying degrees of human interaction. I have witnessed and experienced birth, death, trauma and joy throughout my college and post college career.

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

Dawn Aultman, now a speech-language pathologists (SLP) in the healthcare field, always knew she had a passion for helping others overcome speech impairments. Dawn has personal experiences with seeing family members struggle with speech and became a pathologist in the education field. In this work, students were Mrs. Dawns main priority and then she moved to healthcare. Moving to the healthcare field, Mrs. Aultman expressed the benefits she gained resulting in numerous dissatisfaction for a school pathologist. The education field has factors in the work environment that hinders the turnover rate of pathologists. According to a study posted by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association on SLP workforce and work conditions, workload/high

The charge of this committee was to make recommendations regarding the programs mission, vision, strategic initiatives, curricular changes and/or adjustments. Additionally, the SPC identifies critical strategic issues facing the program and provides recommendations of alternative strategic options. Even though, we all must remain current with trends in the profession, advances in evidence-based practices, and the needs of all stakeholders of speech-language pathology, it falls to the SPC to provide recommendations relative to those market trends, the needs of the community program and making the program more viable and competitive than it is presently. Therefore, the SPC is mandated to develop measureable strategic goals for development and implementation for five-year interim periods. In the beginning of the academic year, the SPC met with faculty and staff to review the current strategic plan and to map out potential changes and future goals that the SPC will formulate. As a former SLP program director, I am well familiar with past goals of the program (since I drafted them), including curricular changes, teaching and employment needs as well as needs of the students as they progress through their matriculation. Additionally, as a former program director I managed the elimination of the undergraduate division of the program and wrote a monograph recommending a doctoral program in speech-language pathology to be created once the university forms an infrastructure to accommodate such a program. As always, the strategic plan is student-driven. Those goals that ensure students are ready to take the board examination (PRAXIS), are ready for employment and patient engagement are the primary concerns of the SCP. As a former coordinator/program director and current associate professor, researcher and clinical consultant, student needs are considered

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

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

After my first year of college, I was preparing for a long awaited double jaw surgery for the underbite I had since I was 8 years old. One of the steps I had to follow prior to the surgery was visiting a speech language pathologist. During the session, the SLP took baseline data of my speech with an underbite since many jaw surgery patients must follow up with speech therapy after surgery due to their transformed jaw placement. From calculating my s/z ratio to observing my conversational speech, each exercise I did fascinated me. This day opened my eyes to speech pathology and the importance of effective communication.

Additionally, the speech pathologist must be flexible, enjoy working with school aged children and at a school setting, be willing to keep up with the advancements in therapy and technology, and, at last, be a team player. As stated before, many will be in school settings causing them to work with teachers, assistant principals, and parents. These people need to know what is going on and how one would treat them. Many will involve technology into their lessons because it is easy to access. But there are skills needed to be learned to diagnose patients. Some skills may include: analytical, communication, compassion, critical-thinking, detail oriented, and listening. As listed, “Communication is vital in building and maintaining strong personal

Sheridan Obrochta is a first year graduate student in the Master’s of Speech Language Pathology program here at Florida State. I met Sheridan two years ago when we started the CSD major together. However, I am one year younger than her so I chose to graduate a year later. Even though I knew that Sheridan chose to go down the Speech Pathology path while I am choosing Audiology, I thought it would be useful to interview a graduate student nonetheless. There may be similar settings, similar collaborations, and similar obstacles that we as graduate students will experience together.

I have never had a family member who was a speech pathologist nor did any of my family members have speech problems. There isn’t an exact moment that have occurred in my life that made me want to become a speech pathologist. Instead, there are numerous reasons why I believe this profession is right for me. What initially made this profession stand out to me was the fact that a child is able to transition from stuttering every few words in everyday conversation to speaking several sentences at a time without stuttering, it’s astonishing to me. This incredible achievement was due to them attending therapy sessions and learning different strategies/methods to control it. The gradual process of a client making significant improvements with their

After shadowing a school-based speech-language pathologist, I instantly fell in love with the career. I was accepted into the University of Central Oklahoma speech-language pathology program, and began taking classes in the fall of 2016. From my first day in class, I wanted to absorb as much information as possible. I want to learn as much as I can so I may be the best clinician I can be upon graduation.

For Speech and Language Pathologists, there exists a myriad of roles and responsibilities to be met, as it is stated by ASHA, they work to prevent, assess, diagnose and treat speech and/or language difficulties. But cognitive communication is also included, as well as swallowing disorders in both children and adults. From the list of Reflection Tool Summary; I have chosen one option from each of the four areas that I found most appealing to me.