Speech and Language Thearapy

wowza!

Hey Everyone!
I am in fifth year and just wondering if there is anyone out there who is a speech and language therapist who would be able to give me an overview of what the course is like and the job itself?

I am also wondering if you can be a speech and language therapist but specialise in music and/or drama therapy? I love Music and drama and would love to be able to incorporate it into this job.

Any further details about this area of work would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

The Speech Centre

wowza! wrote: »

Hey Everyone!
I am in fifth year and just wondering if there is anyone out there who is a speech and language therapist who would be able to give me an overview of what the course is like and the job itself?

I am also wondering if you can be a speech and language therapist but specialise in music and/or drama therapy? I love Music and drama and would love to be able to incorporate it into this job.

Any further details about this area of work would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Hi, I am a Speech and Language Therapist, and I work with The Speech Centre. We are a private clinic, and offer both child and adult services. Communication involves one person 'sending a message' (verbally through speech, nonverbally through body language, tone of voice), and another person 'receiving the message' (decoding the speech and language used and combining it with nonverbal clues to find the meaning of the message). A speech and language therapist works with ANYBODY who may have a difficulty communicating.

I find myself predominantly working with young children. Some children have speech difficulties, these are children who are not easily understood e.g. 'green cat' may be said as 'deen dat'. Other children have difficulties using the correct grammar, or pronouns etc. A big part of my case load is children who are on the Autistic Spectrum. I also see some adults who need voice therapy, they may present with a very hoarse sounding voice, and therapy targets breathing exercises and techniques. I also see elderly in residential care facilities with acquired communication difficulties, after a stroke or as a result of a degenerative disease, e.g. Parkinsons Disease. I find working as a speech therapist very rewarding, helping someone to acquire the necessary skills to communicate; or to learn new methods of communicating, is a very satisfying job to have!! Also, it is a very diverse area to enter into, your case load can be very broad which means you develop skills acorss multiple area's.

I studied Speech and Language Therapy in National University of Ireland, Galway. It is a 4 year, pretty intense course. The subjects studied include linguistics, communication across the lifespan, audiology, child psychology, phonetics, mental health, voice, acquired communication impairments, anatomy, physiology, developmental communication impairments, and clinical education. During the 4 years you complete clinical placements (one day a week in first and second year, block placements in 3rd and 4th year). The curriculum has been changed sine I graduated, but it can be found on the University's website. http://www.nuigalway.ie/faculties_departments/speech_language_therapy/about_the_course.html

A music therapist is a different health care professional, this can be studied as a post-graduate degree in University of Limerick, unfortunately I do not know a whole pile about the course but I'm sure there would be info on their website.

Hope this will be some help!