#slpgradstudent

Everything is going great!

Clinic:

Both placements (preschool and adult) are going really well.

I have become much less nervous around my adult clients, which is great! I think I can still do even better, however for now I think I’m doing the best I can. 

The preschool placement is so much fun. As someone who doesn’t think they wanted to work with children, this placement is much better than I anticipated. We started speech and language screenings using the PLS-5 a few weeks ago. At first it was pretty scary trying to get through the protocol, however its really easy to go through the test now. 

The one aspect that I don’t like is the speech sample we have to gather at the end of each screening. It’s so difficult to get some kids to talk! I’m still working on perfecting the questions I can ask the child to get the most words produced. 

Classes

The hardest class is definitely my articulation and phonology disorders course. We just had our midterm yesterday and I honestly don’t know how it went. I feel like my answers were very subjective and it al depends on how the professor decides to grade it. Since the class is only once a week, I won’t get my grade back for a week unless she uploads grades online. 

My neuroscience class midterm did go pretty well. I received a 91%, which was a little unexpected because of how much information was included on the test. Additionally, my quizzes and other work have been close to 100% as of right now. 

My other classes have their midterms coming up in the next 2 weeks, but I’m not too worried right now. As long as articulation turns out to be okay, I think the rest will be fine!

Its Sunday night and tomorrow I start my fourth (omg!) week of grad school. 

Clinic:

Preschool placement: 

Its definitey exhausting, but it is really fun too! We are primarily screening kids for hearing difficulty, but we start screening speech and language on Tuesday. 

The kids are, for the most part, really sweet and funny, but some are kind of difficult to test. Especially the kids who understand Spanish better than English. 

I’m getting the hang of it though! I still have a few kinks to work out when interacting with the kids, but overall I really like it so far. 

As a bonus, all the 2nd years tell me that I’m lucky to have this placement because I have already completed 10 of my required 20 hearing screening hours and its only the 4th week!

Adult Group Placement:

This is even more exhausting than the preschool placement!

I’ve officially been to this group twice and I go again tomorrow afternoon. 

I’m assigned a small group that plays card games as a way to work on speech and language

The first week of therapy was last week. Iwas a nervous wreck. I kept going to fast and wasn’t assertive enough. It wasn’t my proudest moment. 

I’m hoping this week is a little better! We will see tomorrow.

Classes:

Classes are going very well!

The level of difficulty hasn’t really hit me yet. I am not too stressed about anything for now. (Come talk to me at midterms though)

I had my first quiz last wednesday in neuroscience and I received a 100% which I was very proud of. I have another quiz this wednesday so I hope I can keep the same momentum going!

In neuroscience, I also impressed the professor because I was the only person in the class to figure out why our fictional clinical case patient was producing fluent, but meaningless speech while being able to follow verbal commands (arcuate faciculus was damaged!)

All other classes haven’t had many assignments yet. No exams yet either! Most classes are just reading, class participation, and homework. I’m sure that will change very soon!

 Other Thoughts:

So I have officially finished my first week of graduate school! It’s been slightly overwhelming and just a little scary, but I am very proud of getting through it. 

I have 5 classes and 2 different clinical placement this semester. My first clinic placement, a neurogenic communication group, started on the very first day of class (eek!) but it wasn’t as nerve wracking as I thought it would be. Then again, I haven’t started any actual therapy yet, more just getting to know the group. 

My second clinical placement is a preschool-aged clinic. This doesn’t start until next week, so I don’t know how that one is going to go! 

My program is pretty small, so my cohort is all trying to get to know one another. As a girl who is pretty shy and a little awkward, it hasn’t been the easiest to let my real self shine through. I do feel like a little of an outsider right now. I’m hoping I get more friendly with at least a few of the girls over the next semester. 

Classes seem like they are going to be a lot of work, but I think I can handle it.My classes this semester are:

-Articulation Disorders

-Fluency

-Neuroanatomy

-Case Management

-Neurogenic Communication Disorders

They all seem relatively manageable, but I may change my mind once midterms roll around! 

As the start of grad school draws near, I’ve tried to prepare myself a little. 

Since, like most graduate students, I’m relatively broke, I have been slowly trying to buy things that I think I’ll need for the first semester. 

So far, my favorite thing I bought has been a planner from Target. I’ll admit, I’m a little basic and I LOVE the cute pastel and gold things I can find at Target. It’s a little pricey but I think the planner will definitely help me keep my life organized next semester without having to rely on my phone’s calendar every day. Here’s a link to the planner I bought. 

I also found this really cute mini-index card ring that I think will be useful for studying on the go at Walmart. 

I’m on the search for a stylish, but functional bag that I can use for class/clinic that isn’t a backpack. I’m trying to find a larger leather tote purse that will be able to fit my notebooks (I’m a paper note-taker) and essentials. 

I’ve also bought two of my textbooks from Amazon and read the first few chapters to get a little ahead of the game. 

I’m not completely sure of everything I should buy to prepare for the semester, so a lot of things are going to wait until I start. I have grad school orientation a few days before classes start, so maybe that will give me more insight into what I need (like my entire wardrobe for clinic!) 

My name is B and I am starting my SLP graduate program at the end of August (about 1 month away!) at a small midwestern school.