[nabs-l] speech-language pathology or special ed

[Sandra Gayer]

Hello again Kelsey,
Speech Pathology has many different areas in it and some are more
visual than others. For example, it would be very difficult to assess
the effectiveness of someone's swallow in a laryngoscopy. If a person
had had a stroke and could only communicate non-verbally, how would
you assess their cognative abilities and their perception of language.
There are various medical tasks an SLP has to undertake such as
suction if someone has aspirated food. (Some SLPs ask nurces to help
with this whether they see or not. It's something you have to feel
your way around anyway so sight makes very very little difference).
However, helping someone work through stuttering, helping someone to
readjust to their face after a  cleft pallet operation, teaching
people to use their voices again after throat operations such as
correcting Sulcus Vocalis... these are  far easier for a blind SLP as
you have to use your ears more than anything else. If you're doing a
Masters in Speech Pathology, you have to consider every area in the
field but, once you qualified, you could specialise in certain
aspects. Look at a few masters degrees and their book lists. If you've
read all the books on a booklist, have spent time shadowing speech
pathologists  and are still wholeheartedly passionate about Speech
Pathology, you have your answer. There's a Speech Pathologist on
Career Connect. I remember you asking about an online Speech Pathology
degree. This is a spectacularly bad idea! You will need all the hands
on experience you can get and doing it in person is the only way to
go.

I'll echo everyone else when I say that it's important to choose the
career path you are most interested in. It's no good going for
something because other people recommend it to you as they won't be
the ones doing the job for over 40 years. Pick the career path you
truly love and persevere.

 Very best wishes,
Sandra.

PS I haven't introduced myself to this list yet. (I know Kelsey from
another list). I'm Sandra and I'm a Soprano Singer and Broadcast
Presenter. I also teach Braille Music.
Very best wishes,
Sandra.

On 9/13/13, Carly Mihalakis <carlymih at comcast.net> wrote:
> Good afternoon, Kelsey, and other interesteds,
>
>  From what you have learned of a potential speech language pathology
> direction, does it seem that you can do the job? Now, I'm not
> talking' that shit about "as well or better than ol' Sighty." You
> gotta make your strategies related to working in the field of speech
> language pathology, your own.
> Don't worry about anyone's standards or, the way they think it should
> be. You don't need that.unless it will help you feel motivated if not
> entirely comfortable. I am thinking about getting a masters degree in
> speech-language pathology.  However, I was talking to my former
> second grade teacher yesterday about it.  She said that she doesn't
> think I would be successful with this because of the high degree of
> visual tasks such as being able to see how someone is moving their
> mouth during speech or things like that.  I indicated that I could
> maybe do it by feel, but she still feels that this would be too
> visual.  This came from having talked to the speech therapist at the
> elementary school.  On the other hand, I have also considered the
> special education field.  I have been tutoring two students in
> Braille since June and really enjoy it.  My sister thinks that I'd
> make a good Braille teacher.  So I am wondering which field would be
> better suited for a totally blind student.  I want to make sure my
> money is being well spent.
>>In other words, I don't want to go through the speech-language
>>pathology program only to find out that I cannot do it.  Any
>>opinions on this would be greatly appreciated.
>>Thanks in advance,
>>Kelsey Nicolay
>>
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Soprano Singer
 www.sandragayer.com

Broadcast Presenter

www.insightradio.co.uk/music-box.html