Practicum Midterm

[laforshey27]

Hey guys!

So I just had my midterm evaluation where my school supervisor came to observe some of my sessions and then she and my site supervisor came up with a list of strengths and weaknesses. My skills during the session were all rated great but I thought some of the weaknesses were a little ridiculous. For example, one weakness was that I don't ask enough questions. I have explained that this is just who I am as a person and have always been that way. I have never been someone who asks many questions. I learn by observing and then actually doing it myself. When I do have questions though, I do not hesitate to ask. I have also been working in the field a little longer than my supervisor has since I worked as an SLA for 4 years before I started my practicum experience and she is a newer SLP. I feel as though that job really prepared me for this. Anyway, my supervisor told me that I am now required to ask at least one question per day pertaining to a previous session. I honestly rarely have questions about the sessions because I feel like I completely understand everything we are doing. It is early intervention so it is not too difficult. I am struggling with coming up with questions and don't want to look dumb or unprepared if I ask a question that I should know or ask a question that I do know just for the sake of asking a question. This is so ridiculous and something I do not need to waste time stressing over! I was hoping you guys could help come up with some questions for me. Any suggestions? Thanks!

[slporbust2016]

Ask questions that show that you're interested in your clients and being as evidence-based as possible. Everyone has something that you can learn from them. One of my absolute favorite parts of my clinicals is having people to ask questions to all of the time and discuss my ideas with. I'm a curious person, and it works for my learning style. It seems that's not the case for you, but you've been told that you need to improve in this area. When you're in grad school, you get a lot of feedback, and it's a time to work on addressing it. 

Good questions show you want to collaborate and grow as a clinician like "I felt X was a little frustrated during that activity, is there something else you would have tried" or "I was reading about (tx intervention) last night, and I'm thinking about trying it out with Y. What do you think?" not ones that can be found in textbooks. If I was someone's supervisor, I would expect and want them to ask me questions because it's a lot easier to discuss this stuff on a daily basis and brainstorm as it's happening. 

Edited July 3, 2018 by slporbust2016