SLP's Perspective: What Does Professionalism and Success with Our Clients Look Like?

After asking around to fellow friends who are SLPs and some who are SLP graduate students...

Here are some of their responses:

I asked two main questions:

• What is your best advice for working successfully and appropriately with clients for future SLPs?
• Can you list any other general information that would be beneficial to future helping professionals in the speech-language pathology field?

SLP Response #1

• While you're still in school, leave all preconceived notions behind about what part of the field you want to work in. My teachers would always poll us on if we were going to go medical or school and I was always one of the few who went for school. Now I work in a private practice, on the medical side, and 75% of those who voted for medical are now in a school system. So be open to everything in class, clinic experiences, and internships. I talk to my kids’ parents after every session and being positive about everything is super important. Even if it was kind of a rough day, put a positive spin on it. It makes all the difference to parents. As an SLP in a private practice I work with occupational therapists as well and we share clients, so having an understanding of other professionals who work with your kids is important too. With your clients I've found that setting boundaries can be difficult because it's so easy to just have fun with them, but very necessary. Good luck future SLPs!

SLP Response #2

Hi! Whew! Once I got going I realized there were a lot of things I wish people had told me : ) 

So this is from the perspective of a CF in a private practice. Our clinic specializes in voice disorders but my focus is pediatric and adult dysphagia and pediatric feeding disorders. I also see a good bit of apraxia and cognition because of the comorbidity with dysphagia.

What is your advice for working successfully and appropriately with clients for future SLPs?

• You could never prepare for every patient and situation that may arise so when you don’t know what you’re doing, you just have to convincingly pretend that you do. As a CF this will happen on a daily basis depending on your setting. You can always research and consult with colleagues to prepare better for the next session, but its important to seem confident.
• Counseling/Education- one of my CEU courses said that if the patient doesn’t follow through with the recommendations then it’s your fault for not educating them enough about why they need to do it. This is so true! When I don’t have time to do the counseling I need to do during the session (which is all the time) I make a phone appointment with them. 

Can you list any other general information that would be beneficial to future helping professionals in the speech language pathology field?

• Think long and hard about which setting you choose and if your personality fits that setting.  My fellow CF craves structure and it stresses her out to work long hours and have a constantly changing schedule-she wants to switch to a hospital or a school. I love the flexibility of a private practice and the fact that we get such variety of patients. Another colleague wants to switch to a SNF because she wants to do more of the same thing and not have to do paperwork outside of work hours.  It just depends on your personality/ lifestyle.
• Never sign a contract without meeting your supervisor and having a long chat about everything SLP. The supervisor can make or break your CF. There are lots of supervisors in this field that still do old fashioned treatment (like language treatment for fluency).  I just interviewed for a bunch of new jobs in Georgia and met some of these people. A “my way or the highway" attitude is a red flag because every patient is different/ the research as changed over time and you don’t want to be butting heads about clinical stuff.
• Don’t be afraid to bring things up with the patient’s physician- if you think the patient is ready for a PMV  or a repeat MBS then ask. I was really, really nervous at first about sharing my opinion but it was crucial because they typically don’t make those kind of changes without the SLP bringing it up first since they all see like a million patients.
• Take courses! LSVT  and LMRVT for voice, PROMPT for apraxia, SOS and TalkTools for feeding, the Passy Muir Valve website has awesome webinars for trach/vent/dysphagia patients.  There is so much to learn that we did not learn in grad school!! The classes we had in school just touched on these areas, but did not really tell you how to do the actual treatment at all.

SLP Response #3

• Make an effort to have a relationship with your clients. Remind them daily of the things they are doing well and encourage them when they are having an off-day (don’t we all have those!). Remember that success is not always measured by numbers.  Don’t forget that your clients are giving their time to you, just as much as you are giving your time to them. Take time to learn from them. These lessons are the most important ones.
• You’re not always going to have the answer and that’s okay. If you have a lot of questions, ask them. Take the time to remember why you got into the profession and what it means to you. Surround yourself with people who encourage you and remind you that you that what you are doing IS making a difference.

SLP Response #4

• The best advice I could give for working successfully with clients is to be as open-minded as possible. It is so easy to make a snap judgment based on appearance, socioeconomic status, etc and often times, it's not true. Its important to approach every client as though they are your first. Every situation is different and every client will be different.
• Know that your first job will not be your only job. There are so many facets to being  an SLP and so many possible work environments. Don't be discouraged if you don't like what you're doing right away, and never rule anything out. Each new situation requires lots of learning and new things, but after you do it a few times, its becomes so much easier. Try to stay updated with new  research and new treatment techniques. Being an SLP means trying new things and being creative every day. Sometimes strategies or therapies don't pan out like you thought, but its so great that every session is a fresh start. You can try new things and experiment to see what is best for you and for the client. 

SLP Response #5

What is your best advice for working successfully and appropriately with clients for future SLPs?

• It's about the client.  Don't take ineffective sessions personally as long as you are doing the best evidence based practice (EBP) you know you how to do, and don't take any negative feelings from a session with you once you step out of the elevator.   If you go a couple of sessions without progress, take a good critical look to see if something needs to be changed, with either goals for the client or the therapy you are implementing.

Can you list any other general information that would be beneficial to future helping professionals in the speech-language pathology field

• Really really do your research about the schools you are interested in to make sure your mutual interests mesh well (undergrads). Embrace technology, but don't rely on it.

SLP Response #6

What is your best advice for working successfully and appropriately with clients for future SLPs?

• The best advice I would give to an SLP just starting out would be to truly understand your client's disorder so you can give them the best care. Ask them what their expectations are from you and from therapy overall. And let clients or caregivers set realistic therapy goals with you. 

Any other helpful advice?

• Get to know what your client's likes and dislikes are by simply asking them or their caregivers. Incorporate these into therapy.

Any additional advice from SLPs reading this blog is happily welcomed! :) Just drop a comment!
Or send me an email at cfortson2@gmail.com

Turning the Tables: Describe your experience as a client of an SLP!

I have also interviewed some people about their experiences as a client of an SLP. 
Here are their responses:

Client Response #1

My son had two experiences with speech therapy.

First, when he was three years old he began private one-on-one speech therapy. The results were quickly obvious and very encouraging. It built his confidence. It was fun. I had regular communication and did "homework" with him. The therapist worked with him at his preschool for two years and then, once he started kindergarten, we met at her house. In that setting, I sat outside her office and could hear them working. After school wasn't ideal because he was exhausted and hungry and less energetic than when they met during preschool day. But the advantage of me hearing a little more closely what he was working on was very good.

In kindergarten my son also had group speech therapy through his elementary school. And when he entered first grade we dropped the private speech therapy and decided to just go with the school program.

I noticed a regression at that point and got minimal feedback from his speech thearpist at school.

Now that he is a second grader, he has "graduated" from speech at school, but I am considering going back to private speech therapy.

Client Response #2
My daughter who is almost five now has worked with an SLP since she was born as she has Down Syndrome. The SLP worked mainly toward feeding. We worked with several different SLPs over the years. We first worked with Babies Can't Wait, but decided to try something new after a few sessions. We have worked with 4 different private SLPs and seen lots of different styles/approaches. One issue we did experience was that seemed to not have as much experience with feeding. We were skeptical at first about feeding, but we have been working with a therapist at the children's hospital and have had great success. My daughter has now been weened off of the feeding tube that she has used all of her life for 4 weeks now. The SLP that made this possible was really creative - captivating her - bringing out her personality and able to get her to participate in things that we can't at home - a lot have used incentives such as bubbles - speech aspect - getting her to blow the bubbles. She gave us different suggestions as far as utensils to use - these can make a big difference - all the different options of how to drink - sippy cup, straw were so helpful. It has been neat to see the variety of strategies that SLPs use with her. Her most recent therapist who has been successful at weening her off of the feeding tube made an important decision based on her knowledge of and relationship with "S". The therapist recommended a smoother approach to weening "S" off of the feeding tube. The SLP knew what approach was best - working on personalizing strategy/plan. She made taking the tube feed away a more positive experience. And gave us strategies we could generalize into our everyday life easily. Our SLP is very accessible - which is great when we want to ask for suggestions on the weekend - ex. can we try this? The team work between different therapists and professionals (ex. SLP, OT, PT, etc.) made our experience all the better - The collaboration has been wonderful.

Client Response #3

What has your child's experience been like with an SLP? 

"C" goes to speech three times a week for 30 mins. Two days a week, she is in a small group and 1 day is 1/1. We just upped her segments in August from 2 to 3 with the one time 1/1. She has improved greatly this year. She has been in speech for 4 years now and this year I have seen the most progress.  She does much better 1/1 and I wish she could have all of her segments like that. "C" also has ADHD so 1/1 is better for her. 1/1 segments are better also because she gets what she needs for the whole 30 minutes and doesn't have to work on other children's skills. The group has similar skills they are all working on but she might have mastered them when another student has not so there is a little wasted time there but it is ok. "C" has loved all of her speech teachers. She has had 3 different ones in four years due to graduating to pre-k out to preschool disabilities then to a new school for kindergarten.

Any advice for future SLPs working with clients? 

From a school point of view, I would love to talk to the speech therapist more. I understand as a teacher it is hard but that is one down fall I have. I get a progress report each nine weeks but it is like reading Spanish sometimes and I have to ask my speech teacher what the deal is. So I would love more contact with the speech therapist.

Any positive or negative experiences?

My negative would be having different therapists work with "C" a week. Because our county is short speech therapists, "C" sees her speech therapist 2x a week and sometimes three, but most of the time she sees a fill in for the third time. I know everyone doesn't teach the same way so having one time a week with another teacher seems like we are messing things up for her if they do not teach the same way or she might not get enough out of the segment if she is shy and takes 15 mins to open up.

What are some characteristics to you that make up a successful, professional  and helpful SLP?

In my opinion, a good speech therapist explains goals and give examples to parents. A soft spoken person seems to be better for my child. It is also important that they have patience and understand that it is a marathon not a sprint. 

Client Response #4

I have interacted with both school and private speech language therapists from birth to primary school years for articulation errors due to a moderate-profound hearing loss. At school, I had small group therapy that focused on language, articulation errors, and grammar. The therapist provided games and lots of reinforcement for participation. Games allowed me to enjoy the therapy time during a school day with my SLP and peers for something that I found could be frustrating at times. My private SLP was individualized to a one to one setting that provided more constructive feedback and positive reinforcement.  I always enjoyed attending private speech because she always had different activities each therapy session. I was always anticipating what she would be doing at the next session. They ranged from art, sensory, academic, and gross motor activities that made learning/interventions engaging and fun.

A successful, professional, and helpful SLP is one that accommodates to meet the individualized needs, strengths, and interests of the client. Differentiation and using the interests/strength of the client are the keys to providing the greatest impact on the client.  All clients learn differently. If at first you don’t succeed, look for another strategy that works for the client. Use the strengths/interests to find what engages your client. The more engaged the client is, the greater the interventions results will be. A SLP needs to be understanding and nurturing for both the client and parents.  Communicate effectively and connect with the client and his/her families. Most importantly…enjoy your job!!

SLProfessional in the Making...

To start... I'd like to share some information from my clinical procedures class on professionalism as an SLP clinician. According to my notes (Marcotte, 2014)...

What is professionalism?

• The ability to do or display
• the work specific to a workplace
• the generic work assumed by a workplace
• the individual affect and behavior assumed by a workplace
• interpersonal affect/behavior

What does an appropriate PROFESSIONAL appearance look like?

• Clean, simple, conservative clothing
• Keep it simple!
• Make sure you are appropriately covered
• Wear clothing that you can move around in and get messy in
• Positive body language

Appropriate ATTITUDE

• Positivity is KEY
• Be confident - jump in there!
• Be an active listener
• Neutral, pleasant
• Have respect for colleague's and client's time

Appropriate RELATIONSHIPS

• Maintain a therapeutic relationship with appropriate boundaries
• Maintain a working relationship based on trust, respect and communication
• Relationships with supervisor, director, superior
• Be aware of and open to cultural differences

References:

Marcotte, A. (2014, February 17). Professionalism. Retrieved

from https://uga.view.usg.edu/d2l/le/content/518637/viewC

ontent/9903208/View?ou=518637

SLProfessional intro

Hi! I'm a Communication Sciences and Disorders graduate student looking forward to working as a speech-language pathologist (SLP) as my career in the "near" future. With Early Childhood Education as my undergraduate degree, I have become very accustomed to working with people, especially children, on an everyday basis, which is really what I love to do. Coming back for graduate school has been a huge life change, not just with the work load, but with the change I have made from teaching my own class of third graders in Quito, Ecuador for my student teaching, as well as subsequently working as a substitute back in the US up until graduate school. I have found myself missing the "people aspect" of my life, working and collaborating with other teachers and most of all, the silly kids!

This being said, I am so looking forward to having clients in the fall in my university's clinic, beginning my journey back to working with kids on the reg. I feel I have had a lot of experience so far in my life to prepare me to work appropriately with colleagues as well as children in a teaching atmosphere. Now, I am hoping to take my people skills and grow into a successful clinician in speech-language pathology. My clinical procedures class this semester is designed to prepare me to become a successful and professional SLP and clinician and give me the tools to do so. For my class project, I want to share with you, future SLPs, maybe even current SLPs, what I have learned about being the best helping professional I can be. How can we best help out clients whether these clients are infants, preschool to elementary school age children, sometimes the more difficult preteens and teens, adults, baby-boomers or the elderly?

Because I feel that I still have a lot to learn about being a future SLP clinician, I plan to center this project on discussing how to be a successful, professional clinician and speech-language pathologist in the field. I think one of the most important aspects of reaching this goal of being a professional clinician is putting the patients/clients first in your everyday practice as an SLP. But with just one year of graduate school under my belt, and two year more years to go, I am asking SLPs who are currently working out in the field to share any helpful advice they may have for future SLPs. I will share their advice anonymously in the respect of their work as helping professionals and I will also share advice I have learned in my clinical procedures class. How can we be SLProfessionals and guarantee that our clients are always cared for with the utmost respect in an appropriate manner?