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Becoming a Speech and Language Therapist

Monthly Archives: November 2017

Going the Extra Mile (Or, how I’m trying to Figure Out Where I’d Like to Work Later On)

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Did you know that we have a speech and language therapy clinic on site at City? Well, we do. And it’s ruddy lovely in there.

At Roberta Williams, adults with aphasia – language impairment following stroke- can come and receive group and one-on-one therapy with an SLT, and also have the option of attending drop-in sessions during which students help facilitate conversation with participants. So that is where we come in. Every Wednesday, a few SLT students come along and help run the group. What this actually involves varies from week to week, but can include making tea, helping someone else to make their own tea and/or encouraging a participant to use some of the alternative communication resources (pictures, maps, pens and paper, etc.) to help support their existing conversation skills. We’ll also have a weekly challenge set by Sally -the SLT in charge- which is designed to stimulate interesting discussion between everyone in the room.

Is it easy? Definitely not always. Is it sometimes tricky to get going? Of course. Do we know what to expect on any given week? Not necessarily. Is it rewarding? Without a doubt. We are not expected to go in with all the answers, or be to able to have totally flowing and easy conversations with everyone. It takes time to work out how everyone communicates and also to know how much you might be able to (gently) push someone to work on something different – maybe use a new resource, or to try and self-correct whilst they’re writing.

Of course, as Sally herself says, when you’re volunteering, you have to get something out of it too. And we do. Thus follows the popular cliché used by SLT applicants/students/practitioners all over the place…..it feels really nice when someone you’re working with comes along for a second time and says they really enjoyed the conversation they had with you, or that they went home and talked to their family a little bit more that night. Or, as happened to me a couple of weeks ago, someone who said that they couldn’t write was able to pick up a pen and do just that. So there, it does feel good.

I’ll be attending a session a week at the clinic until Christmas and I’m really thinking that this client group is one I’d like to work with when I graduate. And this really is the point of getting extra experience like this; giving yourself the opportunity to see different areas of SLT work that we may not experience during placement. Just to be clear, this doesn’t count towards my clinical hours, and I do still have to fulfil all the official clinical requirements for the course – this is an extra. Later on in the term I’ll be shadowing at a support group for adults who stammer and attending a conference on dysfluency, as this is another area I’d like to see more of and know more about. I don’t have to make any firm decisions at the moment – that might not be wise anyway – but it’s just about being clearer about what my options might be later on.

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City, University of London is an independent member institution of the University of London. Established by Royal Charter in 1836, the University of London consists of 18 independent member institutions with outstanding global reputations and several prestigious central academic bodies and activities.

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