My internship has caused me to think a lot about my future. I do like the possibility of speech therapy, but I also have a potentially conflicting interest in math and science. I also know that the best speech therapy programs tend to be found at larger public universities (such as SDSU), which is not the type of school that I am currently looking into. It would be possible to go to a smaller liberal arts college and still get into a Master's program, but it would probably take me an extra year or so to make up specific speech-therapy-related classes that I would miss during my undergrad years. My mentor mentioned audiology as a potential career option, since it combines a lot of the aspects of speech therapy with a more scientific and math-based field. That would require a doctorate, which of course means a lot more school, but it's certainly something to look into.
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The above link will take you to a PDF version of the handout/workbook I created as my project. My project is important because it is actually being used with students in order to help improve their story comprehension and re-telling skills, their ability to recognize the thoughts and feelings of others, and their overall language and communication. Throughout this past week, I've been able to watch students work through the packet I created, and it's been really interesting to see how different groups have responded to it. Some students have done incredibly well recalling different aspects of the story, while others struggle to even name the main character a day or so after reading the book. Completing the project was relatively simple; I discussed with my mentor about what she usually does when creating these types of language units, and essentially followed that. Most of my internship revolved around observation and some interaction with the students, and therefore creating a tangible project wasn't quite as prominent. The link below will take you to my POL slides.
So far during my internship, I tried to make a somewhat meaningful contribution (even though I’ve mostly been observing) by always helping out where I can, such as practicing conversational language with some of the younger students or running through mock Biztown interviews with the fifth graders. I’m also getting in some solid exercise by walking groups of kids back and forth from speech to class. Even though I’m very temporary in comparison to the teachers and other staff, I try to still make an impression with the kids by talking to them and getting them to use their social skills in a natural and low-pressure way, since I’m not quite as authoritative and scary as Jillian or their teachers in that way. Essentially, I’m pretty low-stakes.
I firmly believe that the skills I’ve been developing throughout my internship will be almost immeasurably beneficial to my “real” life. I work with kids almost every day at my job, and I believe that I’ve observed a lot of strategies that I can use when talking with my students and explaining concepts. Even though most of the kids I work with at Mathnasium don’t have autism or another type of learning disability, like the kids I see at my internship, many of the techniques are still applicable and useful. I’m also just learning a lot more about children’s development in general, and just overall how they function. One thing that I’ve learned to appreciate a lot over the course of my internship (other than the ever-necessary hand sanitizer) is just the actual, natural ability to communicate my own thoughts, feelings, and interests. After observing all types of speech students, most of which are impacted by autism, and noticing how difficult it is for them to communicate and use their language, I’ve definitely gained a new appreciation for that. For example, there’s one student that I’ve observed while working with the school’s other SLP, Beth, who is completely non-verbal, apart from some very un-language-like sounds. He’s only in preschool, but he’s still way below any sort of language standards for his age, and he has practically no ability to communicate what he wants or thinks. Beth has been working with him on a “picture exchange,” where he swaps some sort of image (for example, different colored cards which coordinate with different colored crayons) for what he wants. In the few weeks I’ve been at my internship, I’ve been able to observe him making a lot of progress with this. Just recently, he was doing picture exchanges almost perfectly when playing with Mr. Potato Head (his favorite). After that, and watching other students consistently struggle with expressing their thoughts or communicating what they want, I’ve really gained a new appreciation for my own language abilities. So far, the idea of self-advocacy hasn’t been super applicable to my internship, since I’ve mostly been observing my mentor and her work throughout the day. However, I have been making sure to ask plenty of questions when confused about a technique or method, or I just want more information about something. For example, when there are breaks between groups, I ask my mentor about different students and some of the ways that speech therapists work with all different types of speech and communication issues. Since I don’t get to be very hands-on, I try to gather as much information as possible so I can come away from this internship with quite a bit of knowledge about the field.
My internship project is pretty straightforward: I’m working with my mentor, Jillian, to create a comprehension and language-related lesson plan around a kid’s book called “Rufus Goes to Sea.” We chose to use this book since it has pretty simple characters and characters as well as a distinct problem and solution. So far, we’ve collaborated to create a character/setting/problem/solution map and a thoughts/feelings page, both of which the students fill out after reading the story. The map is used to help kids identify different aspects of the story, and the second page allows them to put themselves in the characters’ places, since being able to recognize emotions and thoughts is something a lot of spectrum kids struggle with. She and I are planning to use this lesson throughout the next couple weeks for a couple of her older groups. Most of the actual preparatory work has already been done, and now we will hopefully introduce the book to some of the students pretty soon.
When talking to my mentor, I tried to make it more of a conversation than a formal back-and-forth style interview. Officially, Jillian is the head speech-language pathologist for the entire Poway Unified School District (from what I’ve heard from her so far, this is pretty stressful, especially since everyone else seems to suck at their jobs). I also learned how she first became interested in speech therapy as a career. When she was in her senior year, her high school held a job fair where students were encouraged to attend three different presentations. She chose to look at marketing, teaching (at first, she thought she might want to be a teacher for the deaf), and speech therapy which she loved because it was a job where she would get to help people with disabilities and “give the gift of communication.” To get her degree, Jillian attended San Diego State University, which has a very strong speech therapy program. She stayed there for six years, obtaining both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. Apart from the education-related skills, she also says that the greatest skill required to work in speech therapy is flexibility. Since every student that she works with has different needs and different levels of communication ability, she has to manipulate the typical “textbook” solutions and create individualized plans and goals for every kid. In addition, she also has to be flexible in the more traditional sense, since autistic children can be very unpredictable, and she always needs to be prepared to switch up the daily plan if required. As challenging as this career may be, Jillian finds it incredibly rewarding. She says that the best part of her job as a speech therapist is watching the students experience “breakthroughs” in their communication, and getting to see them make progress throughout their time together.
So far, I have to say that one of my favorite aspects to my internship so far is a little bit unexpected- I love the drive there and back. My usual drive to school is generally pretty terrible; I don’t think it’s ever taken me less than 45 minutes, and the drive is pretty boring, as San Marcos isn’t exactly known for its scenic beauty. Pomerado Elementary School, on the other hand, is less than 15 minutes from my house, and I don’t even have to get on the freeway. It’s incredible! My internship, no matter how unsanitary (seriously, kids have no idea how to use tissues- I apply hand sanitizer at least 8 times a day) is still incredibly fascinating to me. Not only am I gaining skills that will be useful in my regular life (communicating with kids, mostly), but I’m also learning a whole lot of new information related to speech therapy that I never knew before. If I do decide to go into the field, I’ll definitely have an advantage over others in that I would already be familiar with some of the terms. Move over, dogs: man has a new best friend, and it’s hand sanitizer. At least, it is when you work around children for hours on end. I never considered the ability to wipe one’s nose an actual skill until now, and I also never expected that so much saliva could be transferred from mouth to hand in such a short amount of time (seriously, is there a world record for this yet? If not, I know some strong contenders). Tragic as it might be, this is just the tip of the iceberg regarding the several slightly disturbing insights that I have had into the lives of teachers.
Of course, my internship so far hasn’t been all germs and tissues- there’s been some real positive highlights as well. For example, I met the cutest child in the entire universe (for confidentiality reasons, I can’t include his name, but trust me on this: it practically doubles his cuteness factor). He’s in preschool, and struggles to pronounce words that start with the letter s. Yes, it’s exactly as adorable as it sounds. I do, however, have similar feelings towards many of the kids I’ve interacted with, so that’s quite a bonus. Most of the kids really are sweet when they aren’t having a meltdown, which unfortunately happens rather often. Potentially my favorite part of my internship so far is simply observing the array of kids my mentor works with, with speech-therapy-worthy problems ranging from a lisp to severe autism. It’s also really interesting just seeing the different techniques used for students based on their issues: for example, where one student might simply be practicing speaking words starting with a specific letter, another might need to work on basic conversational skills through role-playing activities. I find it really interesting learning more about how autistic students’ brains and thought processes differ from my own, and from the students who I generally interact with at work, especially when it comes to conversational skills and comprehension. I also think that this internship will allow me to build a lot of good skills regarding working with kids on the spectrum that I believe will help me in my outside job. The career day that I experienced, as I understand it, was far from typical- in the span of only a few hours, I witnessed an entire room of first grade students descend into absolute madness, a light dice-related game turn into a run-the-gauntlet-style battle, and an actual blood-drawing biting incident. At this point, I think it’s fair to say that I’m in for an interesting four weeks. If I’m lucky, however, a day like this will be rare (and, God willing, far less violent) in the future. In theory, a typical work day is pretty structured; blocks of time are set aside for group sessions, in which three to four students (often times on the autism spectrum) will work together in the speech room. During their half hour, the group explores communication, ranging from developing the ability to form basic four-word sentences to deciding how to react in certain social circumstances to simply learning how to pronounce certain letters and sounds. Typically, Jillian (my mentor) will work with around 15 to 20 students in a day, all with individualized education plans (IEPs) and specific speech or communication-related needs. For example, we worked with one student who, while generally high-functioning socially, was working on putting together full and coherent sentences. Today, I listened to him fully participate in all of the group’s activities, asking questions and voicing his thoughts properly. After we had walked him back to class, Jillian told me that when he had first started speech therapy, he was struggling to even put three or four words together in a way that made sense. Given that he wasn’t even through his first year of kindergarten yet, he had made incredible progress.
Regarding general work policies, I’m expecting that my internship will be relatively relaxed, given that my mentor is essentially in charge of the speech therapy program at the school. My hours appear to be pretty flexible- she lets me leave early or arrive late, based on school traffic or on other personal needs. So far, it looks like I’m going to spend a lot of my internship time observing, since speech therapy is a pretty specialized job that, as of now, I don’t have the skills for. However, the process and group activities are very interesting and engaging to watch, so I’m not worried about getting bored or tired of my internship. Jillian has mentioned that I may be able to design a sort of “lesson” for the students. Utilizing a traditional kid’s book, we will ask the students comprehension and language questions, hopefully helping them to better understand the story and the communication involved. I feel pretty prepared for my internship, since High Tech High’s group project work has allowed me to develop the skills to work well with all types of people and communicate my ideas and opinions well. In addition, I already spend a lot of time working with younger students at my outside-of-school job, and I’m generally pretty skilled at problem-solving and dealing with unreasonable kids. |