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My experience – Speech and Language Therapy at City

Tag Archives: speech and language

Reflecting on BSc 3

Posted on July 24, 2019 by Maryam Anis
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In the next academic year, I will be expected to write my dissertation project. That, in itself will truly test me, considering I have amended one sentence in this blog a mere 6 times. In order to embody this dissertation driven persona early on, I have decided to visit a local café to steal their wi-fi, write this post and find inspiration as I stare out the rain glazed windows. The next stage involves excessive latte drinking, furious typing and donning a cap to conceal the sleep deprivation and reported delirium.

Before I further tempt this dissertation related anxiety, I thought I would re-visit the high and lowlights of my third year at university.

In September, I begrudgingly walked off a plane bronzed from a holiday in Morocco with some of my university friends, then I found myself 12 hours later promoting the Speech and Language Therapy Society at the Freshers Fair.

As October was just around the corner, lectures re-commenced and I gradually fell back in to the routine of university. I purchased my monthly oyster card, started obsessing over the different ways I could prepare cous cous for lunch and reduced my leisurely morning routine to prioritise sleep.

I continued volunteering at Aphasia Re-connect throughout November, where I was involved with supporting conversations for people with Aphasia following a stroke. Aphasia can affect a person’s ability to understand speech, speak, read, write and use numbers and occurs after brain damage. Find out more information here: https://aphasiareconnect.org/

December housed countless hours at my part-time retail job, exposing my cousin to the wonderful city of London and completing coursework due in the upcoming year. I celebrated my birthday then welcomed January 2019 with open arms and resolutions that I have shockingly adhered to!

Some of my presents

The Speech and Language Therapy Society tasks really kicked off in February, we started a series of lectures relating to Speech and Language Therapy for anyone to attend. The image below is from a lecture by Richard Cave about Voice Banking for people with Motor Neurone Disease.

In March the society continued on with our efforts, and we participated in the Swallow Awareness day to bring to light difficulties that can be experienced by people on a modified diet. I also received an Academic Achievement Award, and a nomination for the hard work I put in writing these blogs (thanks for this)!

April was jam packed with countless weddings, days grieving on Twitter after Tony Stark died (if you have not watched it by now, you deserve this spoiler) and dusting off my notes from the year in preparation for dreaded exams.

There is not much to say about May; it was definitely challenging to balance fasting for Ramadan whilst revising. Days after our fourth exam we entered June and my summer placement in an Adult Community setting commenced. I refined my clinical skills, and one of my proudest moments during placement was presenting for an hour on the relevancy and need of Speech and Language Therapy in the acute mental health client group.

A doodle drawn during peak revision hours

On the second of July I beamed with joy as I skipped out of my final exam for the year. Next week I welcome a new experience as a helper on an Intensive Stammering course for children and teenagers.

Reflecting has highlighted just how much happens in one academic year, as when you are in it time flies by so fast that there is barely any time to relish in the successes. Writing this blog post has also uncovered some changes I would like to implement in the next academic year – such as increasing my productivity by following soft deadlines and reducing the amount of time I spend completing BuzzFeed quizzes. What would you do differently next year?

Psychology & Speech and Language Therapy: What else do they have in common, other than rhyming?

Posted on January 25, 2019 by Maryam Anis
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Quite a lot actually – even when we overlook the awful title of this blogpost.

Psychology, as you probably know, is the scientific study of the brain that encompasses various disciplines including Freud’s Fabulous Theories. Many of these disciplines link with what we learn on the Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) course, for example social, language and behavioural development, learning, cognitive processes, absences of those cognitive processes – or the possibility of those cognitive processes being there, just not switched on?

At the start of the course, you explore early cognition and development in children. This knowledge proves invaluable when observing children on placement and is a great way to impress the family when watching ‘The Secret Life of 4/5/6 Year Olds’. Once you have grasped the workings of neurotypical children you learn about atypical development, and theories as to why a population may act a certain way. It’s all tantalising stuff; what’s even better in this degree is that you might get to meet, and even work with the populations that you learn about. Countless people who are interested in pursuing other subjects further are deterred by the level of experience needed, without realising SLT placements might get them where they need to be!

The other great thing about SLT placements is that you might be able to try out some of the experiments you learn about in university – just in case you were worried that the evidence behind an experiment was not strong enough. Talking about strength of evidence, we do explore a lot of this in the course which really helps with evaluating journals, writing dissertations (next year for me eek!) and knowing which interventions to use with individuals. The SLT course is so Psychology rich, that at times it is difficult to disambiguate the two.

So, if you are interested in Psychology, then I encourage you to see what doors SLT might open for you.

What went down in first year

Posted on March 21, 2018 by Maryam Anis
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First year seems so far away; getting to grips with living away for the first time, cooking a few meals (buying a few more pizzas), managing my own timetable, making friends, finding paid work, budgeting, oh and how could I forget learning? The life of a first year student is both exhilarating and all-consuming. On an average day I would wake up, get ready, make breakfast following this well-known recipe: 

  1. Take out bowl, cereal and milk 
  1. Pour cereal in to bowl 
  1. Follow with milk  
  1. Stir and enjoy  

Followed by a short walk to university where I was greeted by a maze of lecture rooms. Shortly after I had located the room, the lecture would start and I would frantically note every word they said as I tried to soak in every drop of knowledge. Luckily, most lectures are captured for consumption at a later date, and can be a vital tool for those with auditory learning styles. Often another lecture, or lunch would follow where you’d eat lavishly at one of the food outlets on campus, or have microwave leftovers – solely dependent on whether your loan has “dropped”, as mentioned in many student memes:  

Then we might have another lecture or be free to do as we please. Usually I would book in a shift at work on those days, with the plethora of paid opportunities available to us as students at City. Work can vary drastically from delivering campus tours to mentoring college students beginning their university journey  – I’ll dedicate an entire post to working whilst being a student another time.  

After this long day, I would typically return to my flat, make a fool out of myself copying a Just Dance video on YouTube, make dinner than do a tad bit of revision or file away the notes I’d made that day. I wanted to keep on top of my learning, as the information from first year creates a stable foundation for learning to come. As a future Speech and Language Therapist this foundation has a heightened need, as I will use what I’ve learnt for the rest of my working life.  

After this I would fall in to a deep sleep, to a different schedule the next day as the university timetable differs daily.

Hello!

Posted on March 13, 2018 by Maryam Anis
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Hi everyone, thank you for visiting my little post here on City, University of London’s website!

I am currently a second-year student studying Speech and Language Therapy, with a few weeks of learning left before the exam season commences – university life goes very fast! Let me rewind a little to explain how I got here in the first place.

I started university in September 2016, along with 1000s of other undergraduates; some finding their feet in this city for the first time, and others using a different route on city mapper. I am of the latter category, but I prefer Google Maps. Each one of us started with a unique story, at least 18 years of experience built up behind us and a desire to expand on that. My experience was slightly longer in fact, as I spent a year pursing a qualification in Business Administration, whilst working within the hub of TV and Film. During my second year away from formal education, I began working for a social enterprise that helped young people start their own businesses.

Then I started university, fresh faced and ready to absorb all the information that I could. You might wonder what inspired the change from Business to Speech and Language, and a few key reasons that stand out to me are being able to work in an environment where I was able to empower and help others, a career where I would be constantly learning and having work that varies on a day to day basis.

Everything that I expected has come true, we are constantly learning (even on placement) and everything we learn varies on a day to day basis. On Monday we could be learning about swallowing difficulties and then an hour later I would be learning how to teach a child about differentiating between a /t/ and /k/. Even on placement, I am often seeing children with voice difficulties in the morning then travelling to a primary school to have a language session with a child. I have not had one boring day on placement!

As I continue with my amazing journey here at City, I look forward to sharing my knowledge of what I enjoy doing around the university, how my life as a student is and other things I am involved in.

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