MH13

Look on Quizlet. I took and passed my Praxis in September just fine. I only used the big praxis exam book for a class. My university did praxis crash course during a maymester. I thought I failed all of the practice tests and nah. I did fine. But really, the answers and questions from ETS are all on quizlet. When you register for the praxis you get 90 days of one set of practice tests for free.

I would def. hold off on Simucase subscription for now- your program may have a discount or provide you with the subscription (it's rolled into your course fees). During these Covid times, universities are relying on Simucase for competencies and clockhours as some medical establishments are not accepting students or very few students. Same with Speechpathology.com subscription. We've completed some of those for additional information from lectures. They are really good and packed full of evidence based research information. Epson EcoTank printer. I cannot stress how much I LOVE my ecotank. I didn't think I would print as much as I have in grad school, but I was wrong. This will come in handy when you are printing notes for class or materials for therapy. I do have a small personal laminator, but meh. I have been a SLPA for 6 years so I have had unlimited access to lamination at work. If I choose to leave the schools or go to a new district with lamination limits, I can probably take it to a store like Mardels (Christian books/teacher store) and pay for lamination. It would probably come out cheaper and not be super stiff like the lamination pouches are. I would suggest the Giant mouth model- https://www.amazon.com/Ultrassist-Brushing-Teaching-Childrean-Toothbrush/dp/B0842N6W9B/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=Mouth+Model&qid=1626828311&sr=8-5 I unscrew the tongue sometimes because it can be hard to demonstrate tongue placement. Def. be prepared to spend some good money on TpT resources, but there are a ton of good freebies. Same with boom cards. With TpT, if you buy a growing bundle early on, you save serious money later on as they add to it. Its one time and you get all of the updated material. I lucked out with some freebies that turned into paid files-I get those updates too! I would also invest in the Super Duper 6 in 1 therapy center. https://www.superduperinc.com/products/view.aspx?pid=mir78#.YPduoehKg2w Its pricey at $99, but I love it and use it a LOT. The mirror is actually great quality and when I am in a therapy spot without a mirror, its been a lifesaver. If you have an iPad, get the Mr. Potato Head app. I've used it so many times and esp with Covid, you can wipe the screen vs all of the Mr. Potato Head pieces. I would also watch for the Articulation Station/Stories apps. They are pricey but go on sale at least 1 time a year. Games- connect 4, Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, Uno, playing cards, fishing game, etc. Those are super motivating in therapy. I would definitely use the clinic's games BUT keep an eye out for these during Black Friday sales and start building your therapy stash now. Plastic organization items. I have one that was meant for scrapbooking- its how I store a language bundle I bought on TpT and a second one for cycles bundle. https://www.michaels.com/rainbow-photo-and-craft-keeper-by-simply-tidy/10468242.html A LOT of these things are probably available to you as a student in the university clinic site. You may not have access to some of this in an outpatient facility and you need to supply some of your own items. I would slowly start buying this while you can so once you've graduated and an intern it won't make your wallet hurt as bad.

Add Texas Woman's University to your list. Cycle 11 just started during Memorial day weekend. I am in Cycle 10 and graduate in 14 days (not like I'm counting or anything). We are a separate program from the on-campus (different program directors and course sequence). You are asked to commit to working as a school SLP in Texas for at least 1-3 years after graduation. Preferred to be a SLPA in a school (makes that school placement easier) and will handle the medical externships in the summers. First summer, no externship, but you have one the next 2 summers. It is 2 years and 3 months of hard work and tears.

I’ve done about 10 hours total of teletherapy and I will say it’s gotten a lot easier. I don’t think I would want to be full-time teletherapy SLP, but should this kind of shut down ever happen again, I will be more comfortable and confident in my abilities to conduct teletherapy. I know some of my classmates were looking into how much you can make as a teletherapist and it’s much more than I expected!

This heavily depends on the school you want to go for your master’s. My cohort is pretty split on bachelor’s in communication disorders and 1 year of leveling. I have my BS in comm disorders and I’ve also been a SLPA for almost 5 years now. I can say that the actual hands-on experience of being a SLPA has helped me more than the extra year of courses. If you’re worried about your GPA affecting your chances of getting an acceptance, you may want to go the extra year. It heavily depends on where you want to go. If the university is mainly concerned about the GPA of your last 60 hours, you need to get your most recent transcript, a copy of the course plan with amount of hours and count up 60 hours. If you hit the 60 hours with 1 course of a semester, you will need to count ALL courses for that semester and determine what the GPA would be at the highest and lowest with the year of leveling classes. If it’s not where you want it, add in that extra year and figure a possible GPA and see where you stand. I have been reading that CSDCAS does not compute for the last 60 hours. If your grad program utilizes that service for admissions, you may be better off doing the 2nd bachelors to raise the GPA. I’m not sure about that- someone please clarify on that. I didn’t apply through CSDCAS- my program doesn’t use that for the distance program, so I don’t know how that works. One more thing- check the prerequisites for where you may want to go and make sure that the leveling and your previous work has covered all of that. I had to take chemistry before starting my program. I took it after I was accepted and completed the class before my cohort started. When I completed my BS comm disorders, it wasn’t required- just a physical science. I took astronomy and the ASHA guidelines changed and specified physics or chemistry, which went into effect Jan 2020. I’ve been reading a lot of programs require aural rehab before applying. Check where you want to apply and see if that is required. If so and it’s not part of leveling, ask if you can take that with leveling so you can be ready to apply.

I wouldn’t risk deferring. I’m a distance SLP student. Y’all. It’s not bad at all. I miss the interaction within the cohort, but my program had that pre-covid 1x a week and 1x a week at our homes online. There are some things you do need to do in-person and I know the COVID-19 restrictions will postpone that until we are allowed to go back to our regional educational service centers here in Texas. As of right now, we are strictly online with Simucase and possible teletherapy options right now, hopefully allowing externships to resume in the fall. It’s not that bad y’all. I’m a year into it and it’s been great. If anything, you may be able to get some teletherapy experience and if you ever want to do teletherapy as a CCC- SLP, you will be more marketable.

You’re in luck. I’m a cycle 10 student and I have 2 kids- 1st and 2nd grades. I will say it’s hard balancing it all, but it’s so-able. You might not be super mom, but that’s ok. I can’t believe I’m almost done with my 1st year. I work full time as a SLPA in my sponsoring district, attend class full time and still able to attend a good chunk of my kid’s activities. There’s a LOT of reading. Lots. But as far as lectures go, all of them are recorded- even classes that meet at the ESCs- so it’s so helpful to go back and rewatch them. The professors And program directors are amazing and want you to succeed. Is it easy peasy? No. Neither is being a SLP. Do I feel like I will be prepared? Yes-absolutely. Wish I was in a different program? Nope. Do I have to study outside of class? Absolutely. In fact my group has a zoom meeting this weekend to complete the WAB for neuro. It will probably take us every single bit of the 3 hours we have blocked off to write the report. I also have to do and record my PowerPoint presentation over dysphagia for adult dysphagia by Tuesday. It’s a lot of work, but absolutely worth it. Oh- I know you didn’t ask, but by the time I’m done, my tuition will be just under 30k, another 2800 or so for the fees we have to pay to the ESC for them to hold our Tuesday classes and sending any work they require to be completed on paper/scantron. The region fees should be more than 2800 BUT due to COVID-19 we haven’t been to the esc since the beginning of March and won’t return until August at the earliest. Everything right now is on collaborate/zoom. We will get some adult competency via Simucase since we most likely won’t be able to complete externship this summer.

Hey- I’m in cycle 10. I was looking at the page with my coworker who may be applying. I think they are waiving the GRE requirement for Cycle 11 due to COVID-19. As far as difficulty to get in, I know you need 3 solid recommendations- I got mine from 2 SLPs- 1 previous supervisor and my current supervisor. My 3rd recommendation was from my special education director. I’m sure that helped a lot to have my sped director’s recommendation letter since you need a sponsoring school district. I also had a really good, honest personal statement letter outlining why I needed to transition from a SLPA to a SLP and how that will benefit both myself professionally and my district. My GRE scores were in the 150 area and a 5 on my writing. Since that’s not going to be factored in, I would HIGHLY suggest that you do extremely well this semester and summer if you’re taking summer courses to have a good GPA. Mine was 3.75 I think for my last 60 hours. I think now, more than ever GPA of your last 60 hours of credit, great recommendations (preferably from professors, those in the field or someone like a special ed director where you will obtain your practicum hours at) and personal statement will count most. For me- the process of applying was pretty simple. You will attend an informational meeting, most likely Zoom now rather than attend the meeting through the regional education center. They give you a TON of information, and it’s required to apply- that’s how you get the packet to apply. The wait for decisions can be difficult- I decided to just not think about it until it was close to time for acceptance letters to be emailed. I checked my TWU email a week before the acceptance letters were due to go out and I had been accepted. After I emailed my acceptance I took chemistry online to fulfill my conditional acceptance requirements. The classes are what I expected for graduate level classes. The professors are amazing and always there to answer questions. Same goes for Mrs Chance and Mrs Lynch (program directors). They seem kinda scary, but they aren’t. They’ve helped me navigate the WORST practicum supervisor in history through the fall semester (she was fired). Right now, we are 100% canvas/zoom due to COVID-19. Practicum has changed- depending on our districts and whether we are providing teletherapy. We are going to use Simucase for adult competency this summer, as most of us- if not all will not be able to do this externship. Normally we go to our region ESC on Tuesday afternoon-evening for class, Thursday is home on collaborate, but that’s changed due to closures for COVID-19. Do I like the program? YES! I’m able to continue working full-time and attend full time. Is it hard? Yes. It is difficult because being a SLP is difficult! I know I have heard from people who have worked with graduates from this program and other university programs, they say TWU grads are more prepared and competent than grads from other programs. I feel that although we do more than other programs (weekly lesson plans for practicum students), group and individual projects, we are going to be better prepared to work with a variety of clients in a variety of placements.

I did not level, but as someone who is currently in TWU distance Cycle 10 program, almost half of the cohort did. I know from those in my region, 5 out of the 7 of us leveled through TWU and they completed the observation and direct therapy hours as a course through TWU this past spring, completing the course a couple of weeks before kick off week in Denton. The other girl and myself were already SLP-assistants and got our 25 hours of observation through Tech. We just completed the direct therapy when we were hired for our first SLP-A jobs. When I applied for my license, I had something like 60 days to complete my direct therapy but that’s changed since they switched to TDLR. Depends on what your plans are. I know you need to have certain courses completed by the time you apply for licensure but I don’t think it’s a set thing for your hours. If you plan on becoming a SLP, your observation hours MUST be university directed or you will need to take the course, regardless of your licensure. I had to submit to TWU a letter from Texas Tech HSC that had them done in their program so ASHA will accept them.

Don’t let the competitiveness scare you. There are multiple components to admissions, such as diversity factors and letters of recommendations. Those can help boost your application!

Oh Lord. Those are literally THE worst questions to ask. I mean, you obviously want to be a SLP to help people. Maybe you had experience receiving speech services, but so do several applicants. I understand your aggravation- I felt it too! I was like UMMMM you want me to put it down on 1 page and sell myself? I’m NOT good at selling myself! That’s not my strong suit at all. If you had prior experience with speech such as you received services or a family member did and you had a memorable experience, write it for those that ask why you want to be a SLP. For me, my mom was a reading interventionist and I saw the correlation between reading and speech and wanted to help kids before they hit the reading learning years and became frustrated. That was my first letter of intent. What got me in was that I’ve been a SLPA for 4 years and in order for me to grow as a professional I must obtain my master’s degree... and in my title 1 district 98% of our students only receive services in school and can’t access outside therapy for a variety of reasons. THAT got me in. Lol. Both letters were my truth, but one stood out more than the other and was the difference in acceptance and waitlist!

Do your schools of choice have a set question/prompt? The first time I applied to my program, I was all about this is why I wanted to be a SLP. It was good BUT guess what? Still didn’t get in. It was like too many others is what the program director told me. It didn’t stand out. This last app Cycle, they had a prompt about why you want to attend their specific program. I stuck to the prompt and was very real/blunt about how I was a perfect match for the program. Needless to say, I was accepted! So, if they’ve got a prompt, for sure stick to it. If not, I would say why I would fit with that school. They read TONS of I want to be a SLP and change the world type letters. Unless it’s super unique and your story would stand out and be memorable, your letter will blend in with the others.

Yes! I do this and it was SO helpful when I had to do a partner project with my partner who is 7 hours away from me! I made a joint filter on google drive with her and we used it to make our notes and script for our “podcast” episode for cultural and linguistic diversity class.

Oh I would be annoyed about that too!!! That’s one of those tricky questions that doesn’t make a hill of beans when it comes time for the praxis. I loathe those questions!!!

Yes! Several of us in my cohort are renting and will buy if we feel it was a good resource. I will say, never cracked the cultural and linguistic diversity book, barely opened and read part of 2 chapters in speech sound disorders and read 1 chapter in my diagnostics class. It really depends on the professor I think.