Hi!
I’m attending school for SLP and was just curious what is one of the best ways to help people that have speech issues to know that they are not alone? Also, how is it being able to help others with the way they speak?
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Hello, I was wondering what the hardest part about clinicals was?
I believe the hardest part of clinical practicum is devoting time to the appropriate aspect of therapy. Rather than spend time developing goals and therapy plans, let the client develop their own goals and direct therapy. Be in the moment with the client, listen to them, let them educate you.
Hi! Somehow there are two questions within one here. So I will answer this question here in reply to Rita and the other in a main reply. This is a great question but a very general one. 🙂 For me, the most difficulty part about clinical as a graduate student was finding my own routine. That was also an extremely exciting part, however… I had finally reached the point to start finding my own routine! 🙂 As a graduate student, you pick what you like and don’t like about your supervisors, and you make it your own for your own clinical practice. Someday, you will be the SLP, and your supervisors will not be there watching… make sure to ask questions.. even if you feel like you are asking too many- you aren’t. As supervisors, we get more spooked if you don’t ask any questions at all as a graduate student than if you do (you are new at this, you should have questions.) So, while it takes time to find your own routine as a clinician, and this is a somewhat challenging learning process- to me it was simultaneously very exciting. I hope that helps answer your question! Be well.
Hi! Thank you for asking questions to the professional panel. I am so happy to be answering them for you. The first thing I want to say, is if you are a student, then welcome to the amazing world of speech-language pathology. My answers to these questions are of my own personal practice, and how I teach my graduate students to be independent thinkers in the clinic room. The first thing I noticed about your questions were the words in your questions. Some individuals who stutter are sensitive about words, some aren’t… just like we are sensitive about some words and others we aren’t- as humans, right… So the first words I noticed were your use of “speech issues”- how do those words make you feel and how do you think they could possibly make a future person that you serve for therapy feel? My point telling you this isn’t to make you feel bad at all- it’s to teach you that one of the first conversations I like to have with an adult who stutters who comes to my office is: what terms do you prefer to use? What does this person sitting in front of me call THEIR OWN stuttering? If they say they “stutter” then that’s what you as their speech pathologist needs to call it around them. If they don’t like the term stuttering, then you don’t need to be using that term around that individual. Does that make sense? When forming a therapeutic alliance/bond with the person sitting in front of you, you must develop a trust relationship- and a huge part of that is knowing what this person prefers. It even works this way with kids. If a six year old doesn’t call their “bumpy speech” so to speak, “stuttering” yet- I am not the one to call it that first. I let them call it that first. It’s not my stuttering. It’s not my place to call it that for them- it’s theirs. So if the child decides to call their speech characteristics “stuttering” one day in the therapy room, then we start calling it that. If their parent calls it that and they come in calling it that already- then we call it that- and sometimes I say, “what do you want to call your speech/talking?” I like to give even children as much control as they can have in therapy.
With that being said.. to actually answer your questions… The first one being how do we show people who stutter that they are not alone- the best way to do this is via support groups. Now again, some people who stutter may not be ready for a support group yet. For some people, they maybe have never met another person who stutters ever in their life. Going to a group of people, who stutter, is a big deal as a person who stutters. And then, if you decide to participate in that group for the first time and talk about your own stuttering- that’s a huge deal too. Imagine the entity in your life that is the biggest deal about you- you walk into a new SLP’s room, the new SLP asks you all of these personal questions about it- let alone experiencing stuttering itself which, if you don’t stutter, you have no idea how that really is or what it really is like…. So keep in mind, that we have such a desire to help people who stutter- but our questions we ask people mean something- and our activities we do in therapy mean so much too. We have to be on the same page as our individuals we are serving- whether it be children, adults, parents, guardians- constant communication about therapy goals and what we are doing is a must. It’s a trust relationship- and back to the support groups- some people who stutter are all for them right away, and for some people it takes them ten years to go to their first meeting…. it’s a personal preference. THEY THEMSELVES need to be ready for this. As much as we as the SLP want to encourage them and help them, again we can actually really hinder them by trying to FORCE HELP them. Does that make sense? 🙂 Stuttering therapy is my favorite and can be so beautiful- it’s such a mutual process, but really as Rita mentioned earlier- the person who stutter steers. I have my graduate students draw a ship on their papers. The ship is the SLP- we provide the template for therapy with our educational background. The steering wheel of the ship is the child who stutters paired with the parent/guardian, and/or PWS, steering the direction of therapy. One cannot work without the other in the therapeutic alliance- they cannot- but the SLP must understand that the PWS is the steering wheel… and it’s such a beautiful journey together. Your second question, “How is it being able to help others with the way they speak?” I LOVE it. I am a talker. I’m a speech-language pathologist because my brother is a person who stutters, but also, I love communication. I love helping people to communicate, in any means/way possible that they can whatever that may look like for them. It’s a life passion, and it’s pretty fun. I hope that this helped answer your questions; take care.