Speech-language Pathology Programs Research Articles

Predicting Clinical Success in Speech-Language Pathology Graduate Students

Purpose Admissions committees rely heavily on quantitative academic variables such as undergraduate grade point average (UGPA) and scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). However, the ability of these factors to predict the clinical success of speech-language pathology (SLP) graduate students has not been substantiated. The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between academic variables (i.e., UGPA, major grade point average, GRE scores) and nonacademic variables (i.e., age, personality type, prior work experience in the field) and determine the degree to which each of these variables predicts clinical success. Method Data were extracted from academic records of 45 students enrolled in a graduate SLP program at a public institution of higher learning between 2014 and 2016. Descriptive statistics and correlation coefficients were used to identify the relationships between academic and nonacademic variables with clinical success. Results Correlation results did not identify a significant relationship between academic variables and clinical success as well as between nonacademic variables and clinical success. However, relationships between the academic variables and nonacademic variables were discovered. Predictive power of clinical success was not identified due to lack of correlations between the variables. Conclusions Academic variables (GRE, UGPA, major grade point average) nor nonacademic variables (age, personality type, previous work experience) were found to have a significant correlation to clinical success in SLP graduate students. There continues to be a lack of evidence in identifying individual variables as sole predictors for success in SLP graduate programs.

ASHA Sets 2020 Advocacy Priorities Targeting Workload, Reimbursement, and More

You have accessThe ASHA LeaderASHA News1 Mar 2020ASHA Sets 2020 Advocacy Priorities Targeting Workload, Reimbursement, and More Jeffrey P. ReganMA Jeffrey P. Regan Google Scholar More articles by this author , MA https://doi.org/10.1044/leader.AN10.25032020.65 SectionsAboutPDF ToolsAdd to favorites ShareFacebookTwitterLinked In In this era of unprecedented polarization and uncertainty, it is more important than ever that lawmakers and policymakers across the country understand the value of audiologists and speech-language pathologists. Despite the political cacophony, ASHA has hit the ground running this year, building on last year’s successes and aggressively advocating on behalf of the professions in several key priority areas. ASHA’s 2020 Public Policy Agenda guides our advocacy efforts. This member-driven and member-written resource—approved by the Board of Directors—sets ASHA’s top public policy priorities in schools, health care, early intervention, and professional practice. In schools, ASHA is advancing new legislative language to promote manageable workload, reduce excessive caseload, and streamline documentation burdens for our school-based members. We are also fighting for fair and equitable wages, as well as increased access to and funding for the services we provide. In health care, ASHA continues to advance several initiatives that would protect and expand comprehensive coverage of and payment for services provided in a variety of health care settings. We are also working to ensure fair productivity and documentation standards, and that emerging health care delivery systems and new payment models include our services. It is essential to preserve licensure and certification requirements for the professions, protect the professions’ defined scopes of practice, mitigate workforce shortages, and support a robust, diverse graduate and undergraduate student population. ASHA is working to expand state adoption of the new Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Interstate Compact, and to advance congressional initiatives that would diversify the student population in graduate audiology and speech-language pathology programs. ASHA also recognizes a commitment to the 40 million Americans who have a communication disorder. We are working on several initiatives designed to benefit the patients, clients, and students our members serve. This diverse objective includes supporting the preservation of Medicaid eligibility and benefits, ensuring that families have objective information with which to make informed decisions about treatment and care, and promoting devices and technologies that are safe for consumers. The 2020 Public Policy Agenda recognizes the pivotal role that ASHA members play as advocates for the professions, and highlights resources for members who want to stay informed and get involved, including the 60-Second Advocacy Update, ASHA Take Action, and ASHA-PAC. Author Notes Jeffrey P. Regan, MA, is ASHA director of government affairs and public policy. [email protected] Advertising Disclaimer | Advertise With Us Advertising Disclaimer | Advertise With Us Additional Resources FiguresSourcesRelatedDetails Volume 25Issue 2March 2020 Get Permissions Add to your Mendeley library History Published in print: Feb 28, 2020 Metrics Downloaded 314 times Topicsasha-topicsleader_do_tagleader-topicsasha-article-typesCopyright & Permissions© 2020 American Speech-Language-Hearing AssociationLoading ...

Developing an Acute Care Simulation Lab and Practicum

The benefits of simulation-based education have been well-documented in health-related disciplines and are emerging in speech-language pathology. Several clinical training paradigms for acute care speech-language pathology skills have been successful when implemented in high fidelity, nursing simulation labs with price tags that are cost prohibitive for most speech-language pathology programs. Through funding support from a grant and a four-phased simulation development program, the authors developed an acute care simulation lab dedicated to speech-language pathology students for under $9,000 and simultaneously piloted a one-credit, acute care, adult- and geriatric-focused clinical practicum course. The clinical practicum was structured to scaffold student learning using task trainers, computer-based simulations, and live simulations with low fidelity manikins and standardized patients. The authors are hopeful that this article provides speech-language pathology programs a practical framework for structuring a dedicated, simulation space and course, while empowering faculty to more fully integrate simulation-based learning experiences into their curricula in a way that is evidence-based and in keeping with the best practice resources that are currently available in the field of speech-language pathology.

Empathy and Regard: Perspectives Held by Graduate Students of Rehabilitation Sciences

Purpose: Empathy and regard are understood to be critical to high-quality health care. The purposes of this study were: 1) to increase the representation of the rehabilitation sciences within the literature, 2) to refine the distinctions between empathy and regard, and 3) to examine the relation between empathy and regard within the context of two medical conditions with disparate amounts of associated stigma (cerebrovascular accident [CVA] and human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome [HIV/AIDS]). Method: Utilizing the Jefferson Scale of Empathy – Health Professions Student version and the Medical Condition Regard Scale, levels of empathy and regard were assessed twice in first-year graduate students of clinical doctoral programs in occupational therapy and physical therapy and a master’s speech-language pathology program, once each in the contexts of CVA and HIV/AIDS. Results: Findings indicate that students of the rehabilitation sciences have empathy levels similar to published levels for students in other health professions; empathy and regard are distinct characteristics, where when assessed in the context of a stigmatized condition, empathy was similar but regard ; and empathy and regard positively vary with one another in the context of a stigmatized medical condition Conclusions: This study suggests that there may be unmet potential for training in empathy and a need for increased education on stigmatized medical conditions to enhance regard.

Reading comprehension in dyslexic schoolchildren after an intervention program.

To develop a Speech-language Pathology (SLP) program and verify its effects on the reading comprehension of dyslexic students. Participants were eleven 4th and 5th-grade Elementary School students, eight boys and three girls, aged 9-11 years, diagnosed with developmental dyslexia. All individuals underwent the therapeutic program, which was composed of 16 sessions divided into four levels of complexity. A text adapted according to the Cloze technique and reading comprehension and orthography tasks were used in each session. The schoolchildren had their reading comprehension assessed pre- and post-program using a text available at the Test of Reading Comprehension of Expository Texts, adapted for application of the structural Cloze technique without support, according to the Evaluation of Reading Comprehension Levels. The participants showed better performance in reading comprehension at the post-program assessment not only in the filling of blanks in the text adapted according to the Cloze technique and in the Responses to Reading Comprehension Questions, but also in the level of reading comprehension achieved. The SLP program improved the reading comprehension performance and increased motivation to reading of dyslexic schoolchildren. Both the Cloze technique and the Reading Comprehension Questions were useful tools to develop and identify changes in the reading comprehension of the students assessed. This study is relevant because it prepared and verified the effects of a specific remediation program for schoolchildren with dyslexia by proposing the use of texts adapted according to the Cloze technique combined with other various tasks of reading comprehension and orthography.

Clinical Simulations in Academic Courses: Four Case Studies Across the Medical SLP Graduate Curriculum

Simulation practices are growing in both popularity and necessity within speech pathology programs. Simulation use can serve to not only minimize client risk but to increase student confidence and competence prior to patient contact, particularly with low incidence or medically fragile patients. This paper describes and reflects on four individual simulation experiences within one graduate speech language pathology program and their outcomes. The use of both simulated patients and mannequin training resulted in an increase in students' perception of knowledge and confidence in their clinical skills with medical patients.

Educational Speech-Language Pathology in the curricula of Speech-Language Pathology Programs in Brazil

ABSTRACT Purpose: to investigate the inclusion of Educational Speech-Language Pathology in the curricula of Speech-Language Pathology programs in Brazil. Methods: a descriptive, exploratory, documentary research based on information from public domain documents. Data were collected from the search on the website of the Conselho Federal de Fonoaudiologia, each institution’s curricula being analyzed. Results: a total of 72 higher education institutions in Brazil, offering a Speech-Language Pathology bachelor program, was found. Of those that had their curricula available on the website, 34 offered at least one course on Educational Speech-Language Pathology. In most institutions, such courses had a study load of 40 hours or more, and 87.88% were exclusively theoretical. Conclusion: the presence of Educational Speech-Language Pathology in the curricula represents a progress. However, there is still a long way to go and there are many adjustments to be made for the speech-language pathologist’s training to satisfactorily include the field of education.

ERRATUM: Educational Speech-Language Pathology in the curricula of Speech-Language Pathology Programs in Brazil

ERRATUM: Educational Speech-Language Pathology in the curricula of Speech-Language Pathology Programs in Brazil

Today's Graduate Students, Tomorrow's SLPs: Enhancing School Practicum Experiences

Purpose In this article, we describe a standards-driven, workforce-focused model of school practicum offered by an accredited graduate speech-language pathology program. Method To prepare more than 50% of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association's membership for the school-based workforce, graduate students require real-life practicum experiences in the schools. Practicum experiences should be standards driven, anchored in the graduate curriculum, and paired with academic coursework to foster the growth of student clinicians' background knowledge prior to engagement in a school-based practicum. Results We outline the main content areas and minimum practice experiences that should be incorporated in a school-based practicum and provide suggestions for balancing the requirements across the graduate curriculum. Collaboration with school systems is essential for locating and maintaining high-quality placements. Conclusion School practicum experiences provide an important foundation for future school speech-language pathologists to enter the workforce with adequate preparation.

Service and Learning at a Residential Parenting Program for Incarcerated Mothers: Speech-Language Pathology Student Outcomes and Maternal Perspectives.

Purpose This article reports preliminary outcomes from a service-learning (SL) experience for graduate students in the Speech-Language Pathology program with incarcerated mothers who reside with their infants at a residential parenting program. We present an ecological model to serve as a framework for interpreting the impact of the experience on student learning and maternal perceptions. Method Graduate speech-language pathology students (total n = 30) participated in an SL project, called the Partnership for Healthy Parenting. With faculty guidance, students implemented parent education and child development workshops designed to foster secure attachment relationships, enhance the quality of mother-child interactions, and promote communication and language development. Students completed self-report scales measuring civic attitudes and self-efficacy before participating; they also provided written reflections about their experience that were analyzed qualitatively. Mothers completed voluntary feedback surveys after each workshop. Results Student reflections revealed a variety of perceived positive learning outcomes related to personal attitudes and beliefs about their role as a clinician, family-centered practices in early intervention, and knowledge about the population of interest. Feedback surveys administered to mothers who attended the workshops indicated satisfaction relating to the value of the services provided. Conclusions SL programs may benefit students, faculty, communities, higher education institutions, and the relationships among all these stakeholders. Results, limitations, and implications for strengthening university-community collaborations in the field of communication disorders are discussed.

Speech, Language and Hearing Science at the Federal University of Bahia: a historical approach

ABSTRACT Purpose: to investigate, from a historical perspective, the path that led to the creation of the Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Undergraduate Program of the Federal University of Bahia. Methods: this qualitative, cross-sectional study adopts an oral history methodology, using document analysis and interviews. Results: a narrative was developed, bringing to light the history of this program and pointing to specificities that involve the training in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology offered by UFBA. It also highlights the collaboration given by the student activist movement to these accomplishments. Conclusion: the results of this research comprise a memory that can contribute to an in-depth reflection of the training in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology in Brazil, making evident, in the process, the inseparability between educational and health demands.

“That’s So Much More Important than the Grades”: Learning Client Centered Care through Experiential Learning at Aphasia Camp

Interventions aimed at increasing life participation for people with aphasia (PWA), such as camp-based programs, are being increasingly implemented throughout North America. Such camps present a unique experiential learning opportunity for students in speech-language pathology (SLP) programs. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of participation in aphasia camp on SLP students’ acquisition of the skills and attitudes required for client-centered care for PWA. Ten SLP students who volunteered at a weekend-long aphasia camp participated in focus groups examining their learning outcomes following their camp experience. Conventional content analysis was used to analyze the focus group transcripts. Several themes emerged which were categorized into specific learning outcomes and contextual factors that facilitated the learning of these outcomes. Learning outcomes included: 1) students began to think of people with aphasia as more than their disability; 2) students developed more empathetic perspectives of people with aphasia; and 3) students improved their skills in supporting communication. Three contextual factors were also identified: 1) absence of evaluation; 2) absence of client-clinician power differential; and 3) interdisciplinary environment. These results demonstrate the potential utility of aphasia camps as a medium for learning client-centered care and highlight possible factors that encourage active learning.

Speech-language Pathology Services Delivered by Telehealth in a Rural Educational Setting: the School’s Perspective

Introduction: Access to speech-language pathology services for children in rural and remote communities is often limited. Telehealth is increasingly used to provide these services to schools, demonstrating high satisfaction with both service providers and recipients, but the requirements for successful program implementation are as yet unclear. We aimed to explore the implementation requirements for a telehealth speech-language pathology service for children from the perspective of a rural school. Methods: A qualitative approach, supplemented by program activity data, was used to understand the experiences and perceptions of the benefits, limitations, enablers and barriers of a telehealth speech-language pathology program delivered to a school servicing approximately 400 children in a small rural town in the state of Queensland, Australia. Thematic analysis was conducted of transcripts of individual semi-structured interviews with nine school teaching staff and field notes of informal discussions regarding 85 speech-language pathology telehealth sessions (n = 9 children) during program establishment and implementation. Results: The speech-language pathology telehealth service was acceptable to teaching staff at the rural school, who cited improved access, the suitability of the technology for child engagement, and perceived effectiveness. Implementation issues were highlighted as critical to program success and scalability, particularly staff workload, technological issues, communication processes, and sustainability. Conclusion: School-based speech-language pathology services delivered via telehealth were perceived as a suitable way of increasing access for children by rural school staff. Future implementations of telehealth speech-language pathology programs should prospectively consider workload implications and develop strategies to communicate with and involve school staff.
 
 

National Survey on Curriculum of Speech-Language Pathology Programs in Korea

배경 및 목적: 국내 대학에 언어재활전공이 처음 개설된 1988년을 기점으로 2018년 현재 총 50개의 대학(대학교, 전문대학, 대학원)에서 총 87개의 프로그램이 운영되고 있다. 이러한 양적 팽창이 이루어진 현 시점에서 각 프로그램들의 운영 현황을 살펴보고 미래를 준비하는 노력이 필요할 것으로 판단된다. 이에 본 연구에서는 전국 대학에 개설되어 있는...

Speech-language pathology program for reading comprehension and orthography: effects on the spelling of dyslexic individuals.

Purpose Prepare a Speech-language Pathology Program for Reading Comprehension and Orthography and verify its effects on the reading comprehension and spelling of students with Developmental Dyslexia. Methods The study sample was composed of eleven individuals (eight males), diagnosed with Developmental Dyslexia, aged 09-11 years. All participants underwent a Speech-language Pathology Program in Reading Comprehension and Orthography comprising 16 individual weekly sessions. In each session, tasks of reading comprehension of texts and orthography were developed. At the beginning and end of the Program, the participants were submitted to a specific assessment (pre- and post-test). Results The individuals presented difficulty in reading comprehension, but the Cloze technique proved to be a useful remediation tool, and significant improvement in their performance was observed in the post-test evaluation. The dyslexic individuals showed poor performance for their educational level in the spelling assessment. At the end of the program, their performance evolved, but it remained below the expected, showing the same error pattern at the pre- and post-tests, with errors in both natural and arbitrary spelling. Conclusion The proposed Speech-language Pathology Program for Reading Comprehension and Orthography produced positive effects on the reading comprehension, spelling, and motivation to reading and writing of the participants. This study presents an unprecedented contribution by proposing joint stimulation of reading and writing by means of a program easy to apply and analyze in individuals with Developmental Dyslexia.

Scaffolding Interprofessional Education: Unfolding Case Studies, Virtual World Simulations, and Patient-Centered Care.

Fragmentation of health care negatively impacts quality; one of the contributing factors may be ineffective collaboration among health care professionals. This article describes the implementation of an interprofessional education curriculum for graduate students enrolled in nursing, psychology, and speech-language pathology programs. Over 3 semesters, students engaged in interprofessional collaboration modules, unfolding case studies, virtual simulation, and shared case planning experiences. The curriculum's impact on students' attitudes and values toward interprofessional collaborative practice was measured.

Increasing African American Student Success in Speech-Language Pathology Programs

At this time just under 8% of the speech-language pathologists in the United States identify themselves as minorities (ASHA, 2016a) despite the efforts of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association to increase diversity. African Americans are poorly represented in the field at 3% of the membership (ASHA, 2016a). In order to identify potential mechanisms for increasing the diversity of the field, 11 African American Speech-Language Pathologists were asked to provide recommendations for improving African American student retention in speech-language pathology undergraduate and graduate educational programs. Participants offered recommendations for how to increase the success rate of African American students in speech-language pathology programs, including providing culturally competent and caring mentorship, co-mentoring opportunities in educational programs, and connections to critical resources.

Predicting Graduate School Success in a Speech-Language Pathology Program

Graduate programs in speech-language pathology continue to experience high volumes of applicants seeking admission. There appear to be as many configurations of admission criteria as there are graduate programs. Yet, what evidence do we have for these criteria making a difference in graduate student outcome? Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores, undergraduate grade point average (GPA), prerequisite GPA, letters of recommendation, and letters of intent are valued differently by programs. These variables were investigated for their value in predicting successful graduate school outcome in a program of speech-language pathology. Three measures proved predictive: the verbal portion of the GRE, the quantitative portion of the GRE, and the grade in the speech and language development course taken prior to admission.

Impact of Virtual Simulation and Coaching on the Interpersonal Collaborative Communication Skills of Speech-Language Pathology Students: a Pilot Study

Communication between clinicians, teachers, and family members is a critical skill when addressing and providing for the individual needs of patients. However, graduate students in speech-language pathology (SLP) programs often have limited opportunities to practice these skills prior to or during externship placements. The purpose of this study was to explore the use of virtual-reality based rehearsal with coaching on the interpersonal collaborative communication skills of SLP graduate students when delivering information regarding a singular patient to different stakeholders. Three graduate students completing their third semester in a SLP program participated in the study. Each participant was provided a clinical case scenario and asked to deliver recommendations related to the client’s communication abilities to a single adult avatar portraying either a parent, teacher, or pediatrician. This task was repeated twice to allow assessment of performance across multiple trials. A brief reflection and coaching period was provided between trials with the same avatar. All interactions were scored using the Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation, and Communication (SBAR-C) tool. All participants demonstrated improved communication skills between their first and second trial with each avatar as measured by the SBAR-C. Social validity surveys with participants revealed that they found the intervention to be valid and acceptable.

An International Service Delivery Model for Sustainable Practices: Insights From Cambodia

International speech-language pathology programs aim to provide services that are culturally relevant, holistic, and sustainable within a biopsychosocial model of health care. International setting...