SUMMER 2019,

Over the summer, I was given the opportunity to shadow an SLP at Christus St. Elizabeth’s hospital in Beaumont, Texas. There was a process I went through in order to become a volunteer. I had to go an orientation, get a TB tests done, and get a badge ID for when entering the hospital. Once that was all complete I had my first day.  I was able to witness the processes of applying treatment to phonological and articulation disorders with older adults and children. While working with some of the children I was able to reference back to phonetics; when a child implicates velar fronts or palatal fronts and how to reverse those changes. Final consonant deletion was a major issue that children suffered with. I was able to see the therapy used in helping overcome some of these problems. The SLP would read story books and make the child articulate their words in which ever area they needed help in.  Some of the therapy included learning the correct way to make sounds, learning to identify when sounds are right and wrong, practicing sounds in different words, and practicing elaborating utterances. Many of the older patients had dementia, aphasia, or had a serious brain injury in the past that required the treatment for both articulation and phonological disorders. The older adults treatment was slightly different due to other health conditions.

Learning about these two disorders in classes and finally being able to apply them was self-rewarding. I was able to actually make connections and understand from a clinical perspective than just reading scenarios in the textbooks. It was also rewarding when children successfully pronounced words correctly. The children really enjoyed therapy, as it was actually benefiting them; when they came back, they would be excited and ready to practice. It was finally a relief to see and apply my knowledge in a clinical setting about articulation and phonological disorders. I will continue to learn more knowledge in this profession and I will be able to use my previous experiences to help understand the new information.