My Internship
I recently completed a Speech and Language Pathology Internship at Guiteras Elementary. Guiteras is part of the Bristol Warren School Department in Bristol, RI. My supervisor was a licensed Speech Language Pathologist. I shadowed her a twice a week within the school. We worked with children ages 6-11 who had different speech and language disorders as well as other neurological impairments. I began strictly observing the therapy sessions and slowly became more involved to the point where I was able to plan lessons and use them in the sessions. I was exposed to many different disorders and situations over the past 3 months and am more eager than ever to pursue a career in Speech Pathology. There is only so much that one is able to learn in a classroom. In my opinion, it is the real-life, hands on experience that prepares you for a future in a particular career. The experience that I have had thus far has been invaluable and I’m more grateful each and every day to have had it.
The first objective I had was to administer, evaluate, and record results for CELF (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals) Assessment and/or for other formal evaluations. I was able to observe my supervisor on multiple occasions administering the CELF assessment as well as well as numerous other assessments. In Speech and Language Pathology, evaluations are the basis for education and treatment plans. Without them, SLPs would be unable to properly service their students and patients. I felt that this was an important objective because this will be a necessary part of my future profession. It was rewarding to be able to observe the many aspects of the assessment process, and to fully understand the many components that comprise a treatment plan for a student or patient.
The second objective I had was to develop a therapy session for students with articulation and phonological processing disorders. I geared my lesson plan towards an articulation group. The group was comprised of six 6-year old kindergarten boys all possessing articulation problems. The lesson was individualized for each child and based around the book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.” The objective of the lesson was to get each child to correctly produce the speech sound presented to them and from that they earned a “reward” of sorts. The words, which contained the speech sounds, were all found within the story. I learned from this lesson that each child learns differently and at a completely different pace. I knew this going into the lesson but actually carrying out a speech therapy session brought it to life for me. My patience, my planning skills, and my ability to carry out a lesson that I had produced myself were all tested. I am confident that I am capable of developing and teaching in the future.
The third objective I had was to learn the process of developing and writing an IEP and how to participate in a formal IEP meeting. An IEP is an Individual Education Plan. In another section (Annotation 3 and Evidence) I have described in greater detail what an IEP is and the reason they are used. I worked with my supervisor and other Special educators to learn what an IEP is and how to write one. My overall goal was to develop and write an IEP for a student whom I’d been working with. As part of this process, I was able to observe my supervisor assessing this child to attain present levels of functioning. My supervisor and the other team members developed appropriate goals and objectives for the individual needs of this child. I felt that this was an important objective because I will be, as a Speech Pathologist, writing and implementing IEPS as part of my service plan for individual children.
