Speech Pathology Term Paper

Speech pathology is a clinical practice that would enable me to diagnose and treat verbal as well as swallowing disorders, which empowers my desire to help others. As a speech pathologist, I will operate in a field that allows me to cure or minimize the agony of other people. Due to the various challenges that are faced by individuals with disabilities, speech-language pathology has become my discipline of interest owing to my desire to help the children with the difficulty especially those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). As an aspiring speech-language pathologist, I have unique perspectives, set of skills, and life experiences that have prepared me for the practice. Over and above, I have pursued various learning processes that are related to the field while familiarizing myself with the different aspects of the practice, which will provide me with the necessary abilities to succeed.

Visit this site if you need Speech Pathology paper writing help from experts!

Indeed, every profession requires employees to have particular traits to facilitate successful adaptability for the attainment of objectives. Being an aspiring speech-language pathologist, I will meet different situations with unique challenges, which will require me to adopt flexible and adaptive traits to guarantee their success. Having worked as a volunteer in different facilities such as Ahi Ezer Old Age Home and Chai lifeline Cancer center Hospital Visitation, I have gained various perspectives, skills, and life experiences, which have prepared me for the profession.

I have always shown compassion and empathy towards the disabled and always feel concerned about their well-being. As a result, I use all the available tools to improve their conditions. I particularly showed genuine concern for these patients and indicated the desire to return their situation to normalcy. Autism spectrum disorder involves children with disabilities, which makes them prone to experiencing difficulties in communicating and bonding with their colleagues. In this light, as a speech pathologist, I will care for them and show them. Since speech-language pathologists are among the first therapists that children are likely to meet in their lives, I will show determination in my work and bond with them to guarantee positive outcomes of the practice. Indeed, it is at the stage of language learning in children where parents and family members worry about the well-being of their young ones. As a result, my compassion will play a critical role in the improvement of the child’s well-being. It is worth noting that majority of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) victims are children below the age of five and speech-language pathologists must be prepared to handle the age-group. Showing compassion to these victims plays a critical role in the improvement of their conditions since they need the care and love. Figure 1.0 shows the age structure of children with ASD.

Other essential perspectives in speech-language pathology that have helped me to improve my service delivery and respect for the profession are sensitivity, persistence, and good verbal communication. Throughout my volunteering process, I realized the importance of good verbal communication and persistence in the improvement of therapy outcome in children with autism spectrum disorder and the role it played in promoting respect. Proper communication promotes respect since it made me understand various interaction cues and modes of resolving conflicts. In essence, communication has been one of my most fascinating topics. I have always been curious about how other creatures, not only human beings, can interact and promote togetherness through various forms of communication strategies. I realized that understanding an audience and their emotions play a vital role in the realization of the efficient interaction process. Patients with autism spectrum disorder are emotionally weak children who require tenderness and politeness to enable pathologists to communicate with them and identify the challenges that they face. My persistence and politeness will enable me to understand the emotions of children making it easy to evaluate the difficulties they experience. Consequently, I will be in a position to suggest the best treatments.

Frequently, speech-language pathology involves interaction and collaboration among pathologists to promote positive outcomes. As a result, my collaborative and communication skills will play a critical role in the attainment of the desired results. Furthermore, it will be easy for me to collaborate with patients to improve their open-mindedness and willingness to share their difficulties for the improvement of service delivery. Through my collaboration with senior pathologists, I could provide details regarding the progress of each intervention programs to ease the work of professionals. Other skills that are required in the practice are observational, goals formulation, and supervision skills. All these skills help in providing high-quality services. My observational skills were beneficial during the period of volunteering since they helped me to identify children with difficulties, while also monitoring their progress. Students aspiring to become speech-language pathologists must possess these skills since it enables the professionals to diagnose communication problems in children and to suggest the best therapies as well as treatments for the conditions.

In addition to the perspectives and skills, I have acquired various life experiences which I can I bring to the speech-language pathology department. My background gives me an upper hand in pursuing speech-language pathology, to begin with. Since communication plays a crucial role in enhancing interaction among autism spectrum disorder patients, the ability to speak different languages such as English, Spanish, Arabic, and Hebrew improves my capacity to succeed in the field. The multicultural background also gives me the ability to understand the impacts of cultural difference in communication. Another life experience which improves my chance of succeeding in the field is the work experience I gained while volunteering in various healthcare facilities. By working with children with autism and other vulnerable population such as the elderly and those suffering from chronic conditions, I gained sufficient experience to enable me to excel in the field. Over and above, the above life experiences, skill sets, and perspectives make well suited to become a successful speech-language pathologist and students should master some of these traits and abilities to enhance their chances of succeeding.

It has always been my dream to assist various members of the society especially the those with disabilities and speech-language pathology gives me the perfect opportunity. I have had the yearning since the years of my elementary and the desire has always grown over the period. It was during my childhood when I saw a nurse administer treatment to my brother who was undergoing a speech therapy that I decided to pursue a career in speech-language pathology. Having previously sympathized with him due to his communication disorder, I was intrigued by the treatment the nurse was administering and immediately knew my passion for the career. Particularly, her diligence, patience, passion, and care she showed throughout the process made me join her profession. I keenly observed the entire process and the nurse realized my fascination with the treatment process. She consequently recommended the qualities I should have and the skills I require to succeed in the profession. The advice motivated me further to pursue the career.

Apart from the initial motivation which led me to the path of pursuing a career in speech-language pathology, the employment opportunities and the multiple experiences associated with profession have been a motivating factor behind the choice. Notably, speech-language pathology is one of the most rewarding careers for the right people given the satisfaction that is derived from enhancing the lives of individuals, especially the disabled (Burnett 1). For many people, independence is a great determinant when choosing a profession. It is worth noting that speech-language pathology provides the chance of unconventionality through a transition from the academic aspects of the career to independence. Essentially, speech-language pathology is a therapeutic process which mainly deals with the abilities, qualities, and experience of a professional. The little medication required by the therapy makes it easy for the professionals to embrace independence. The career will, therefore, support the independence which I contemplate.

Since speech-language pathology requires qualities which promote humanity such as empathy and compassion, pursuing the profession will enable to focus on the morals and ethics which promotes fulfillment. My commitment will assist me to understand people more, especially by understanding emotions to determine the best course of action to take while administering treatments. Additional, learning various aspects of communication has been one of my areas of interest for years. Given that good communication skills are one of the most important traits required in the profession, I will have the chance to learn more about modes of interaction which gives me an opportunity to become a good speaker.

In addition to acquiring exceptional communication skills, speech-language pathology improves the appreciation of people’s ability to interact through both verbal and non-verbal communication. Notably, humans have different ways of communicating their ideas while those with disabilities have limited ways of expressing their opinions. Through speech pathology, individuals realize the disparity in the population enabling them to appreciate every member of the society and such processes can be beneficial in promoting the welfare of persons with communication disorders among other disparities. The various methods of interaction incorporated by human beings also show the difference existing between humans and animals. Overall, my determination to become a speech-language pathologist began with the empathy towards my brother’s communication disorder coupled with the nurse’s diligence, care, and compassion. Thereafter, various elements of the profession such as its association with humanity and appreciation of communication abilities of human beings enhanced my desire to pursue the profession. Due to the discipline’s association with the promotion of the well-being of the society, I am dedicated to learning its every aspect while upholding the standards required by the profession.

In speech-language pathology, professionals occasionally encounter multiple projects and have to prioritize the operations without jeopardizing the quality of the outcome. While learning the course and familiarizing with various Communicative Science and Disorders (CSD) Programs, I countered challenging incidences where I had to prioritize tasks to enable me to handle them without ignoring any operation. Having scored a GPA of 3.7 both while studying Bachelor of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology and Psychology (Dual Major) at Brooklyn College and when pursuing Early Childhood Education at Kingsborough Community College, I acquired enough multitasking skills and could easily switch between tasks. Throughout the learning process and while volunteering at various health care centers, I countered several occasions where the administration and tutors expected me to showcase my ability to handle multiple projects correctly. Although such incidents were my greatest challenge, I managed to overcome the difficulty by prioritizing the tasks. Significantly, the qualities I acquired around that period contributed to my academic success and will also help me to succeed in the profession by translating the qualities into the daily activities.

The first time I was required to prioritize multiple projects was at Imagine Academy where I was a student volunteer. The professionals I assisted required me to observe and to carry out behavioral analysis of the children undergoing an autism therapy while witnessing the treatment procedure of children with feeding disorders and those experiencing mild-to-severe speech and language impairments. Since all the activities took place in one locality, I could easily switch between tasks after identifying the activities with required the most attention. In truth, the treatment process requires extreme caution through identification of the most appropriate drug and following the correct procedure during its administration. Therefore, I prioritized treatment over behavioral analysis owing to the caution required during the drug administration process.

Another incident with required prioritization of multiple projects was at Strivright Auditory School of NY where I had to prioritize between observing the administration of speech and language examination and studying the implementation of a planned treatment program. In this occasion, all the activities were equally important since treatment proceeds after an examination. I gave the examination the most priority the process it more elaborate and determines the types of treatment issued. Besides, there is no need to know how to administer a particular treatment without knowing the incidents which lead to the medication.

It is important to note that in both cases where I had to prioritize a project, I continued monitoring both tasks without neglecting any activity. The process required objectivity, accurate evaluation techniques, and collaboration with other professionals to promote understanding. Objectivity allowed me to correctly choose the activities which worth the priority while collaboration promoted understanding of the situation to eliminate possible misunderstanding owing to the inability to complete all the tasks within the stipulated time. The ability to switch between tasks improved my usefulness in the collaborative team and earned me respect in the process. The methods I learned were closely related to the learning habits I acquired in college where I gained the knowledge of prioritizing the situations which required urgent handling and those which could wait. The idea will help in the field when I have different activities to handle at the same time since such occurrences are common in health centers where the ratio of patients to medical officers is very high.

With the increased diversity, various careers are changing to adapt to the changes and speech-language pathology is one of such professions. Language and culture are some of the aspects of the way of life with go hand-in-hand and influence each other. As a result, I must possess the necessary knowledge to promote my social conscious for the purpose of understanding how the changing social life of the society affect language acquisition and communication, especially among children. In addition to knowledgeability and social consciousness, the use of technology will improve my understanding of various occurrences and administration of treatments.

By working in various organizations such as Flatbush Yeshivah and Deal Sephardic Network, I gained sufficient experience to enable me to handle various occurrences in preparedness to succeed in the profession. Some of the techniques I used were collaboration, teaching basic skills, provision of necessary learning materials, encouraging the children, and monitoring their activities. In the development of an evidence-based practice, speech-language pathology constitutes the incorporation of various practices such as involving the children with communication disorders in various activities where professionals provide relevant learning materials, monitor their progress, and encourage them where necessary.

As an aspiring speech-language pathologist, I have realized that good communication skills, social consciousness, strong values, collaboration with other professionals, and technological capabilities play a critical role in the success of the profession. As mentioned earlier, speech-learning therapy currently focuses on diversity due to the changes witnessed in the discipline. With the changing cultures, I will meet patients from different backgrounds and ethnicity which require previous knowledge of the issues before handling. It is on such occasions where technology plays a vital role. Notably, the use of technology has fastened the process of detecting autism spectrum disorder by enabling its detection in the first two years after birth (Burnett 2). Henceforth, together with social consciousness, technology will provide me an easy way of understanding the behaviors of children which will quicken the treatment process.

In a nutshell, my collaborative skills and strong values will enable me to succeed in speech-language pathology. Some of the strong values that will promote my success include compassion, sensitivity, empathy, and good communication skills. Since compassion and empathy yield persistence, I will dedicate my time to finding a solution, which, in the end, improves service delivery. On the other hand, my good communication skills will promote the development of collaborative groups where professionals can share their information, especially while prioritizing multiple projects. The collaboration will also allow me to involve some patients to evaluate their response to various treatments

Work Cited
Burnett, Debra L. “Preparation of Speech-Language Pathology Graduate Students to Work with Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.” The Open Education Journal, vol. 7, 2014, pp. 1-6.
Pringle, Beverly A. “Diagnostic History and Treatment of School-Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Special Health Care Needs.” Center for Disease Care and Prevention, 2012. cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db97.htm. Accessed 25 Sept. 2018.