Is anyone willing to share their letter of intent?

[nimuslp]

I was wondering if anyone would be interested in sharing their personal statement/letter of intent with me. I have no idea of where to start. I've done some research but didn't find anything helpful. Message me!

[HoneyBee03]

I don’t have a story to tell about how my lifelong goal has always been to become a Speech-Language Pathologist. I considered it at one point, but I put it off and pursued other career options. One day, when my niece was younger, she was trying to explain something to me but I could not understand her. She grew frustrated and finally said “You can’t understand me!” At that moment, it was not just my inability to communicate with someone who I love dearly, but also being fearful for her quality of life as she grows older, that made me wish I could do more. She is now a few years older and her speech has improved thanks to having received speech services. However, that interaction has remained ingrained in my mind and prompted me to take another look into the field of Communication Disorders. After a significant amount of careful research, I made the decision that I would embark on the journey to becoming an SLP.

One of my philosophies is to consider how what you pray for will help those around you. Although my undergraduate degree is in Graphic Design, I never chased a career in it following graduation because it wasn’t something that truly set my soul on fire. Half way through my upper level coursework, I knew that it was something that I enjoyed doing but was not a career field that I would love into retirement. Over the following years, I considered nursing, social work, as well as mental health counseling. The common denominator between these professions is that at their core they help individuals work towards developing normalcy in their lives, and that is something that I have always sought to do. From a young age to now, helping others has always been important to me. I have been a reading buddy, a Big Sister with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, a coach with Girls on the Run, and am currently mentoring an at-risk teenage girl. Even though I think I have an idea of which setting I want to work in, I recognize that it may change. Confidently, I can say that regardless of which setting I work in, whether it be education, home health, private practice, or medical, despite the day to day challenges of the job, the fulfilment I seek will not come from a paycheck but from seeing the individual changes and progress in the people I will encounter professionally.

Although I remain open to the variety of directions that are present within this field,
my main interest lies within education and early intervention. Also, after having worked with many children who use alternative communication devices, I am excited to learn more about assistive technology. One area of research that particularly interests me is the use of augmentative and alternative communication devices among children who have profound intellectual disabilities and are in self-contained school settings. My passion has always been for working with children, specifically in underserved populations. I realize that most of these children only receive speech services through the school system, although they need more intensive therapy. Yet despite the short amount of time their service hours allow, I have seen first-hand how pivotal clinicians have been in enhancing their lives through speech therapy.

Over the last year, I have worked in my local school system as a Communication Paraprofessional, assisting three school-based SLPs with their day to day needs such as paperwork and documentation, preparing therapy materials, and assisting with, as well as leading therapy sessions under their supervision and direction. Prior to taking on this role, I only had a vague idea of what SLPs do. However, this experience has been invaluable in forming a clearer picture of the job duties for a school-based SLP and I am extremely eager to continue and not only learn and grow, but also thrive within this field as well as use my continued education to enrich someone else’s quality of life, particularly the youngest among us.

In addition to working full-time, I have been taking prerequisite coursework in preparation for graduate level study. It is no small feat to work all day servicing children with special needs and in the same day, return to the classroom for yourself. However, unlike my undergraduate coursework, my prerequisite class content genuinely excites me and I remain anxious to absorb as much information as I can. I have maintained a solid GPA in my prerequisite courses, which is reflective of not just my dedication and determination, but also my sharp focus. I am confident that I will carry the same work ethic through my Master’s program. While I have worked with a multitude of communication disorders in children who have varying levels of abilities and have spoken with therapists from various settings who all have different years of experience, I know that I have much more to learn. I understand the program is challenging and success will require a strong commitment. I anticipate taking advantage of every opportunity I am given to learn all that I can about every facet of this profession. 

[BADASSALICE]

If you are willing to share please shoot me a message as well! much appreciated.

[NatRose]

    Culture shock lent its weight to the frustrations I experienced upon my return to
the United States after a romanticized childhood in the Caribbean. I felt disoriented at
the stark cultural differences between the collectivist island exalting community above
all, and the nation renowned for emphasizing individual advancement. Always
embracing a methodological approach, my twelve-year- old self determined to learn the
culture and its customs by analyzing the language and colloquialisms employed by my
peers vocally, and written during the advent of social media. As a simultaneous bilingual,
assimilating still took years—this consideration reveals only a glimpse into the extent of
the difficulties endured by those with communicative difficulties, whether they are non-
native speakers, or have special needs.
     The rise of interest in neurodiversity has led to productive new perspectives,
which allowed newfound autonomy and voices to some of the most stigmatized people:
namely, those on the autism spectrum. When this often-misconstrued neurodivergence
combines with the additional stigma of originating from a family of non-native speakers
(and, potentially, immigration status), the hurdles may seem insurmountable.
Unfortunately, finding a bilingual speech-language pathologist who specializes in ASD
and bilingual language development proves a difficult task. I hope my clinical pursuit
can ease the gap between demand and practicing specialists: I grew up not just as a
native Spanish speaker who often helped my parents navigate between linguistic worlds,
but also as the daughter of an autistic father and sister of not one, but three autistic
brothers.
     Overcoming communication difficulties has defined a significant portion of my
own development, fueling my fervor toward helping the disadvantaged accomplish the
same. I am keenly aware that passion alone cannot sustain a career: this is why I want
to continue what I began at UCF, and join the master’s program for speech-language
pathology. As a Fall 2015 graduate, I am already familiar with the UCF community, but
at this point in my life, earning the master’s from my alma mater is the best fit for my
goals and interests. I am passionate about bilingualism and interested in eventually
earning a PhD in this field not simply because of the professional experiences I gained
at UCF, but because of my current career as a speech language pathologist assistant at
a private outpatient clinic.
     Since earning my undergraduate degree, I have had the privilege of working with
children and watching them learn to express themselves. There is simply no comparable
feeling to witnessing a non-verbal child utter their first word after years of treatment. I
have had the experience of working with families to see that some of the communicative
hurdles my family faced were not unique, and I have applied my experiences to their
specific needs. It has been humbling, rewarding, and daunting to see appointment requests
from parents and children who continue to have a positive response to therapy;
in turn, their progress has inspired me to increase my skill set to become a more
responsive clinician who exceeds their expectations. Determined to expand clinical skills
and contribute to the profession, I am eager to dive into research with renowned experts
in the field.
     I am particularly eager to work under Dr. Anthony Pah-Hin Kong, as his research
intersects with my interests: he is one of the few experts specializing in both bilingualism
and adult neurogenic disorders. His research on the interactions of bilingual Cantonese-
speaking brains with a variety of neurogenic disorders inspires me to someday emulate
his work on my own native tongue, and help expand the field’s knowledge on bilingual
brains. Working with someone who can help me hone my ability to research these topics
would be an honor, and although I am comparatively a neophyte in the field, my work
and personal experience could help provide additional data and perspectives.
     The trajectory of my professional life so far has been working with children,
particularly with those who are doubly stigmatized due to neurodiversity or due to
immigration and linguistic status. I feel called to work with this population and not just
advocate for them, but to empower them to advocate for themselves. The dominant
paradigm for the neurodiverse is to train them to be more “normal,” but I want to find a
way to help this population use language and build bridges so that people accept and
engage with them as they are. In this regard, there are many parallels with bilingualism,
since the dominant paradigm for bilingualism is to train people to achieve fluency in the
English language and cultural norms, leaving their culture by the wayside. In this
dynamic, I recall my early childhood, when my newly-single mother brought our family
back to her homeland in the Dominican Republic—both growing up there, and upon our
return to the United States, the onus was on us to leave behind who we were, and to
become new people who fully assimilated, leaving behind our linguistic and—in the
cases of my brothers—neurological identities. In this dynamic, I wondered if there might
not be a better way: a way to help people learn to use language without letting go of their
identities.
     This goal aligns with the ASHA Code of Ethics, and is a challenge I relish on my
professional life. I will uphold the aforementioned code diligently: my responsibility to the
welfare and autonomy of my clients comprises an integral facet of my role a speech-
language pathologist. I will ensure that my clients are well-informed about the risks and
nature of the provided services, and will obtain their full consent to administer evidence-
based treatment. I will collaborate with professionals within and outside the field to
provide the most effective treatment within our capabilities and competencies. I vow to
never discriminate against clients or professionals, nor to ever misrepresent my clients,
their eligibility, my competence, and my services. Among other roles delineated in the
Code of Ethics, these objectives constitute my professional goals, and I would be
honored to have the opportunity to rejoin UCF’s communication sciences & disorders
program in 2018 so that I can pursue it.