school preparations
Hi,
With regards to stuttering and PWS I was wondering what do you think is one thing that you could have studied more in school that would have prepared you more for real world situations?
Thank you for your time,
~Allison
Comments
school preparations — 3 Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
In my case, it would be high-quality counseling. KW
Hi Allison!
Great question! In my case, it would be psychology.
Best wishes from
Hilda
Hello, Allison! This is a great question. I tell my graduate students all of the time that your education of stuttering is like a tree. The textbook is the roots of the tree- you must have this knowledge to function. After the roots of the tree, your gain experience which becomes the trunk, branches and eventually the leaves. Through experience, you learn so much as well. I truly didn’t know what I was doing in stuttering therapy until I immersed myself in the stuttering community post graduate school. If I wanted to be an effective clinician in treating stuttering, I needed to truly learn to listen. I needed to hear their stories, and I quickly learned that each person who stutters has an individualized journey and you can’t put stuttering “in a box.” I do feel like we need much more counseling/psychology background in our schooling- and I feel like this will be forthcoming. But even with this provided, our scope of practice with counseling can only include that of “swallowing disorders” and “communication disorders” and anything beyond that must be referred, and more individuals who stutter need referrals than we realize. ALWAYS remember that the person sitting in front of us for therapy is a human being just like yourself- I have said that a lot in my responses, but don’t be intimidated by treating a person who stutters just because counseling may be involved- talk to this person like they are a human being… you have counseled so much before. Perhaps you have counseled a friend, a family member- this can be very similar. Yes, you textbooks are now starting to cover it- but counseling CANNOT BE SCRIPTED… just like it can’t be when talking to a friend- so why try to get worked up about it and script it? Rookie SLP mistake #1: trying to script counseling like you are a robot SLP- we don’t do that. 🙂 You’ve got this! You’ve so got this. You can do this- if I can do it, you can do. Just by asking this question you have showed empathy, compassion and care for your future clients- you so have this. Seek guidance from mentors in the field- we LOVE helping others!!! Don’t act like you know what you are doing when you don’t- that can hurt the people in the therapy room that you are trying to serve and help. Be humble, but your schooling has prepared you for this… you will gain experience, but with stuttering in particular, seek guidance… talk to those that specialize in it, and gain mentors… the world needs more of those like you that are willing to ask questions like this and be bold on an international panel- you have already amazed me. So, go out there and be amazing!