5 Great Games for Speech Therapy

You can use virtually any toy or game and modify it to make it suitable for speech therapy. Here are some examples:

Where should you go to complete your graduate SLP externship?

Speech-language pathologists work in so many different settings, including schools, hospitals, private practices, rehabilitation facilities, and skilled nursing facilities (SNF). Some graduate programs only require one externship to be completed, while other programs may require two.

Awesome Language Learning Tips & Secrets

8 Critical Mistakes to Avoid When Learning a New Language: Learning a new language can be difficult, but helpful techniques should not be a secret. Here are some methods that worked for me...

Language is the blood of the soul...

#communication  #SLP  #language

Science Proves Pets Good Idea for Children with Autism?

As graduate students in speech-language pathology, many of us are likely to work with individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at some point in either grad school or during our future careers. Check out Autism Speaks for helpful information about autism. 

There has been recent talk about how children with ASD are improving their language and social skills through interaction with animals, especially dogs. As a huge lover of animals, I am all for this strategy and, more importantly, it seems to be helping! When I think about it, this is not overly surprising, since animals are great listeners. The relationship is allowed to be relaxed, with low expectations and minimal pressure. The best part is that there is still the benefit of social interaction.

This idea is catching on and some are taking it even further. Already there are some children with ASD who have live-at-home therapy service dogs. In these instances, the dogs undergo extensive training that is specific to the needs of the child. I expect that these service pets will become increasingly more popular for children with ASD in the coming years. 

Here is the full article by The Huffington Post: Pets May Help Improve Social Skills of Children with Autism

What do you think? Are service dogs a good idea in this case?

SLP Grad Talk is on Facebook!

What is it really like to be a grad student studying speech-language pathology? Like our new Facebook page and stay up to date with all the talk for SLP students. The page will have links to blog posts, helpful articles, and is a great place to leave comments or ask questions!

Here is the link: SLP Grad Talk Facebook Page

8 Recommendations for New SLP Graduate Student Clinicians

1. Wear a watch during therapy. Your first semester of clinic is a good time to dust off that old timepiece you haven't worn since 2004 and put in a fresh battery. When working with a child who may be easily distracted, consider wearing the watch on the wrist that is furthest from the child. I unfortunately learned this firsthand and precious therapy minutes were lost as a consequence. If you simply can't stand wearing a watch, make sure you have another time-keeping device with you (aka a cell phone), but be aware that it may be distracting and seem unprofessional for you to keep pulling out your phone.

2. Dress professionally and comfortably. Dress for the occasion. You'll likely want to be business casual (uncomfortable heels for ladies and low cut shirts are not recommended), but consider that if your client is a small child, you could be doing therapy on the floor.

3. Minimize possible distractions. Children, with their curious nature, are often easily distracted. In addition, certain diagnoses can further influence a client's distractibility. For example, dangly, shiny jewelry can be distracting. Lots of toys in view around the room could affect your other clients. After a short time, you will begin to better understand your client and can adjust the therapy setting accordingly.

4. Take breaks (and learn to recognize when they're needed). As student clinicians, we often feel that therapy must take place for the entire session. While this is the ultimate goal, remember that we are working with real people and they are not always attuned to our therapeutic agendas. Due to my own inexperience as a newbie graduate clinician, my very first client ended up crawling under a table during our third session together. I was terrified and spent the last fifteen minutes of the session trying to regain control and resume therapy, worrying mostly about lost time. After the session, my supervisor and I discussed what had gone wrong. Fifty minutes of therapy is a long time for a three year old and we hadn't taken a break. For the rest of the semester and with my remaining clients, I implemented a two minute break, generally twice during an hour session, or as needed for the specific client. These two minutes of play (during which I sometimes snuck in speech practice) allowed for my clients to rejuvenate and refocus on the task at hand. The goal is to recognize when your client needs a break. If you miss the signs, they could have a "breakdown," just like my three year old client. Unfortunately, breakdowns can be difficult to come back from.

5. Have a back up activity. This is a good practice for the student clinician in case a planned activity doesn't pan out- perhaps the client did not respond well to it, or it ended too quickly. As we become more experienced, we will likely be able to implement back up activities without having to plan in advance. However, until you become experienced, consider that planning and preparation will take more time. 

6. Avoid using indirect language. Research shows that women typically use more indirect commands in speech than men. However, if you say to a client, "Can you tell me what you see?," be prepared for the possible response "no." Now what?... Thus, I encourage you to reconsider the use of such language since you, as the student clinician, need to maintain control of session. In this instance, a direct statement would have been, "Tell me what you see."

7. Laminate materials for later re-use. You don't know where your career will take you and you're just getting started, so save and laminate any good materials. We had access to a laminator at my school, but I decided to purchase an inexpensive one that I could use conveniently at home. It has been worth every penny thus far. 

8. Time each of your session activities. Time management is obviously important, as you are expected to provide therapy for a certain amount of time. I have had activities that unexpectedly were completed very quickly and I had to think fast to come up with something else to do to fill the remaining time. This is less likely to happen if you estimate beforehand how long you expect the activities to take. On my copy of the session plan, I write the expected duration of each activity, including breaks, as shown below.

Activity 1 (10 minutes), Activity 2 (8 minutes), Activity 3 (5 minutes), Break (2 minutes), etc.

This method helps me gauge my time throughout the session so I can shorten or extend certain activities if needed.

I hope you find some of these tips helpful, whether you are just starting clinic in graduate school or are just looking for more insight into the field of speech-language pathology. 

Do you have recommendations you'd like to add?

Beginning Clinic for SLP Grads

Once grad school begins, schedules and situations will likely vary from school to school. In some SLP graduate programs, the first semester focuses primarily on coursework. In my school, we did not start clinical practicum until the second semester.  Clinical practicum, or just "clinic," as we lovingly call it, is a very big part of what makes the SLP grad student's experience unique. Grad students are usually assigned clients with whom they will work throughout the semester. We provide therapy for these clients as graduate student clinicians under the supervision of a certified speech-language pathologist. 

Placements vary depending on need and availability. At one point, I only had one client I was seeing once weekly. At another time, I was doing therapy three different times a week (once a week with one client, and twice a week with a second client). During my three semesters in clinic, I worked with both children and adults with varying difficulties in expressive/receptive language, articulation, fluency (stuttering), and others. While this may sound intimidating (we were all slightly terrified at first), clinic provides students with invaluable hands on experience. Additionally, supervisors are present to guide students and share their own brilliant insight.

Clinic is a time when you begin to learn what works and what doesn't work for you as a clinician. Skills that you thought you already had, like talking to other adults, may have to be slightly relearned as you begin conversing with parents about their child's speech needs (though a supervisor will also typically be present when you do this). Other skills like taking data, time management, and client behavior modifications should also improve during clinic.

Do you have a question or a clinical experience that you'd like to share? Post it in the comments below or send me a message via the link at the bottom of the page. I look forward to hearing from you about your own experiences as a SLP grad student!

Got into Grad School? What Next?

If you have been accepted into a graduate program for speech-language pathology- congratulations! This may well be the one of the most challenging parts of grad school. If you have not yet been accepted or may have to wait another semester or year to reapply, do not despair. At the current time, getting accepted to a graduate program in this field is fairly difficult but more and more, the shortage of SLP's is being recognized, especially with the aging baby boomer population. I was lucky enough to gain acceptance to one of my top two school choices, but it was the only program to which I was accepted (I applied to six schools). A few girls in my class were not accepted to any graduate programs the first year they applied and had to wait another year to reapply. 

Why did they have to wait so long before reapplying? 

In many cases, SLP grad students are admitted as part of a cohort. That is, you will generally move through the graduate program with the same group of students for the duration of the program. This can be great for many reasons. Being part of a cohort affords you the opportunity to get to know and love your fellow classmates. Making friends in a program like this could lead to lifelong friendships, and at least future professional contacts! For students who have had to leave home to attend school, cohorts can ease the culture shock (and possible boredom) since you may have new friends to go out with.

However, the downside of cohorts is that classes may not be available every semester. In fact, in my program, if a student does not pass a class, the class will often not be offered again for a full year! That can potentially delay graduation by...well, way too long! This can add pressure, but remember, you're friends with your classmates in SLP grad school and everyone should quickly realize that you're all in this together, which will make you great allies and even better friends!

Hacking Grad School for Speech-Language Pathology...

Maybe you are a current graduate or undergraduate student studying speech-language pathology, or perhaps you are curious to know more about the field and the possibilities it may hold for your future. Speech-language pathology is a rapidly growing and evolving field that encompasses the lifespan. That is, a speech-language pathologist (SLP), may work with children or adults. It is a more flexible field than some, with a large percentage of SLP's working part time and/or making their own schedules. This information is nothing new, and can be found through various online sources. What I am here to share is my journey to becoming a speech-language pathologist, which includes a very unique graduate school experience. It has been said that one should write about what they know. As a current second year graduate student and hopeful future SLP, perhaps my experiences and adventures can provide you with some rare insight into the complex, yet rewarding existence of the graduate SLP student.