Internship

[hopefulSLP2be7]

I'm starting to make a plan if I don't get into grad school. I want something to add to my resume that is actually speech related (currently working as a preschool teacher). I am from a state that doesn't do SLPAs. Does anyone know where I can find SLP internship (or jobs near me)? Thanks so much for your help!

p.s last summer I tried reaching out to speech therapy practices and etc and barley any of them got back to me and the ones that did say they didn't have a position.

[WesttoEast18]

17 hours ago, hopefulSLP2be7 said:

I'm starting to make a plan if I don't get into grad school. I want something to add to my resume that is actually speech related (currently working as a preschool teacher). I am from a state that doesn't do SLPAs. Does anyone know where I can find SLP internship (or jobs near me)? Thanks so much for your help!

p.s last summer I tried reaching out to speech therapy practices and etc and barley any of them got back to me and the ones that did say they didn't have a position.

Have you thought of volunteering in the field?  I volunteer at an aphasia center and feel like that greatly helped my applications.  When you reach out to speech therapy practices, it may be beneficial if you word it as you're looking for a "volunteer" experience versus internship.  I feel like places are more receptive to that since internships are usually school based and have paperwork that come with them. 

[bzzzzzzz]

Hi! I just was accepted off the waitlist at my top choice, so there is still hope!

I took two years off between my undergrad and grad school. I spent the first year working as a nanny full-time. From this I learned so much about infant development, and I briefly touched upon this in my essay. Then, in an attempt to make myself more appealing to graduate programs, I sought out care jobs that could relate to the field.

The first job I found was working with an infant with moderate unilateral sensorineural hearing loss. I loved working with him one-on-one and I was able to attend all of his EI treatments and various audiology appointments. I talked a lot about this experience in my statement because I was able to have this really unique position within the family: I acted as a caregiver, close with the family, but with my speech background I was able to act as a sort of liaison between the family and the professionals they worked with. 

Next I found a care job that was with a child on the Autism spectrum. I started this job after applying to school, but it lent this unique experience where, again, I was able to work with EI and speech-language pathologists as well as the family. I think both these experiences have helped me because I’ve been able to closely see how therapy involves the entire family.

all of this is to say that I would recommend looking into care jobs, particularly with a population of interest. At least where I am, you can make decent money off of a caregiver salary, and my experience working closely with the family and the speech therapists helped me stand out in my applications. I used care.com for the most part, but if you’re in a city or other populated area you could try searching mommy Facebook groups (seriously) and posting a little bit about you, your experience, and who you want to work with. 

 

 

[DD1]

Hi @hopefulSLP2be7! I would say to try reaching out again to SLPs in your area. 

I did this and it worked for me (2/10 allowed me to shadow), and I ended up completing a month long internship. The SLP I interned with wrote me a recommendation letter as well. I was really nervous to do this because I was an outside applicant and did not think anyone would take me, but I think the experience ended up helping my applications a lot. Still, most did end up responding with "we already have someone" or "we can't take anyone," or "will you be available next year?" so I understand how this can feel discouraging!

I think what worked for me was writing a meticulously edited and formatted letter of interest and résumé- I had a friend with a degree in professional writing edit and give feedback on both of these documents. If you are not familiar with a letter of interest, it is basically a cover letter, but you are not responding to a specific job opening or posting. You can find some helpful advice for both of these documents online. I used the words "volunteer experience" and "externship" rather than "internship."

Once I had these documents finalized, I made a list of 30+ private practices in my area and started sending them out, in carefully crafted emails, until I got positive responses. I stopped after 10 because I had obtained an experience at this point.

I also shadowed at an inpatient acute rehabilitation program. This was MUCH harder to land! I could not find any email information for hospitals. So what I did was look up all of the hospitals in my area, found the ones that had speech pathologists, found a found number to call, and cold called every single one until I got someone to take me. I had to make multiple follow up calls because medical SLPs are so busy and they use landlines, so they are often away from the phone.

This definitely took a lot of effort, but I really enjoyed my internship/ shadowing experience and I think they both helped me get into graduate school.

[hopefulSLP2be7]

Thank you all so much for your help and amazing evidence! I actually got into a program today!! but this advice is awesome and I hope anyone else who reads your messages can benefit from it!!

[WesttoEast18]

7 hours ago, hopefulSLP2be7 said:

Thank you all so much for your help and amazing evidence! I actually got into a program today!! but this advice is awesome and I hope anyone else who reads your messages can benefit from it!!

Congrats!!!