newbie here

[bettybeetle]

Hi everyone,
My name is Betty and I'm a speech pathologist in Australia working with
children with disabilities. I noticed there hasn't been any threads for
about a year now. Is this group still running? As mentioned by others,
this is the only group I can find for speech pathologists and it would
be a good way to share ideas and info.
I'm relatively new to real world speech pathology as I graduated only
at the end of the last year. It would be a great opportunity to learn
about SP practice in other countries through this group, as well as
share information. I get some interesting things (EBP and info) at work
as well that I could definitely share with everyone here if they were
interested.
Let me know if this group is what I'm looking for
Betty :)

[Meg Hughes]

Hi Betty

 

I am a student SLT in London, having just finished the 1st year of my 2 year Post Graduate course. It would be good if we could get this group up and running again - always nice to have others to swop thoughts/questions with!

We have a similar one running at uni, but it is only for those on my course, different perspectives always welcome!

 

Meg.

 

[CAS]

Hi Betty,

I'm a husband of an SLP at Loma Linda University Med Center, in
Southern California, and opened up this Google Group because my wife
was looking to discuss with other SLP's and the only inet discussion
group available was a limited one through her university. As you can
see, this Google Group has yet to take off, but I'll continue to leave
it open and maintain it in the hopes that there will be future
activity.

Cristian

[Tara Nicole <3 )~]

Hello,

My name is Tara and I am a Speech Pathologist in Illinois, USA. I have
been hoping some people would start posting on this, as I was probably
one of the few posts a year ago looking for people to connect with. I'd
love to make some connections and share therapy ideas, experiances, and
problems I need help with .... Keep up the posts!!

Tara

[bettybeetle]

Oh how fantastic! People are responding!
How about we share a little about what we do? This way we can ask each
other specific questions if they come up. I'll start.
As I've said, I'm a newbie and working with school age children with
disabilities (mostly mod-severe-profound developmental/intellectual
disabilities). So I do lots with communication books, PECs, PCS,
Makaton sign. I also do so swallowing management. Though my main SP
interest is in aphasia.
Your turn!
:) b

[Tara Nicole <3 )~]

I work with early intervention in a preschool in central Illinois. I
actually don't start until August. I just graduated in May with my
masters degree. My main passion is the hearing impaired community. I am
proficient in sign language and just adore teaching speech and
vocabulary. My new job will have me working with two other speech
therapists and students who are labeled "at risk" for language and
speech delays (low socioeconomic status of family, young mothers,
family history of disorders, diagnosed disability, etc). I had many
internships in graduate school in both preschools and public schools. I
love younger populations, but have had a great time working with
aphasic patients too! I pretty much love EVERYTHING speech-path .... as
long as you don't question me too much on all that anatomy ;)

Tara

[Meg Hughes]

Well, as I said I am half way through my post-grad course, so 1 year left before I join the real world! Can't wait!

My placements last year were with adults, both out-patients (voice, stammering, aphasia) and in-patients (aphasia and dysphagia). I enjoyed most of it but must admit that I found the in-patients quite emotional. I guess it takes time to get used to the hospital environment, let alone the feeling of knowing what I'm doing!

 

I haven't yet decided which area I would like to work in, and am waiting until I have some child placements next year. I have experience of teaching children (I teach ballet part-time) and enjoy that, so am with-holding judgement until I have more SLT experience!

 

[bettybeetle]

Cool, sounds like we have a nice spread of people already. I noticed
both Meg and Tara did postgraduate degrees. Can people become SPs
through undergraduate programs or just postgrad in your countries? In
Australia you can just graduate from a SP specific undergrad course,
which is what I did.

I wanted to know what is the schooling system for children with
communication difficulties? Are there special classes or schools for
children with autism, hearing impairment,
developmental/intellectual/other disabilities?
I'm only just starting to understand how it works in my state. Here,
kids can be in mainstream, mild, moderate intellectual units, special
schools (e.g. non-verbal, severe-profound kids) and schools for kids
with autism and hearing impairments.

Oh and what is the terminology for us in your country? We are called
speech pathologists here. But I sometimes say therapist for parents who
having difficulty understanding English.

[Meg Hughes]

In England you can do a 4 year undergraduate BSc course or a 2 year Post-Graduate course. The post-grad qualifies you to practice, and then if you want to you can complete one further year to obtain a Masters (MSc) degree. I think this involves a piece of research which you do whilst working. Obviously I haven't quite got that far yet!

 

In terms of schooling, I know that there are some special schools for children with various difficulties, I visited one school for children with autism and one for children with visual impairments when I was doing observation prior to my interview for the course. More and more I think there is a policy of inclusion for all children, but it is contraversial for obvious reasons. I have also heard teachers say that they don't receive enough training to deal with children with special needs. I don't have any child experiences yet though so I could be all wrong!

 

We are called Speech and Language Therapists in the UK but in my (limited) experience I think that can sometimes put people off. Eg, in adult voice clinics I have been in, some patients, especially older men, hear the word "therapy" and don't want to come. Just a thought.

 

[Meg Hughes]

Hi all,

 

Anyone still around on this group?!

 

I am trying to find out some info about working in the USA. I have now been working in Speech Therapy for 2 years, and have always wanted to live/work in the States for a bit. I have been told that I may have to have a Masters degree to do this. I currently have a Postgraduate diploma and I did have the option to upgrade to an MSc but due to various personal issues over the past 2 years I haven't been able to do this. I think the deadline for this has just about passed so am worried that I might have missed the boat :(

 

I emailed ASHA some time ago and got this response:

"Unfortunately, the information you have received about your graduate qualifications not being sufficient to permit you to work in the US may be correct.  Almost every state (48 of them) has licensure laws/regulations that qualify someone to work within the state.  While there are some states that will recognize your degree from the UK, there are others that might not. "

 

All very "may/might" and not very definite! I understand that I would have to take the Praxis exam and apply, but other than that does anyone have any more definite ideas about if or where I could potentially work in the states with my current qualification?

 

Any info appreciated!

 

Thanks,

Meg.