Current CF Open to Questions!

[AlwaysaFalcon]

Title is pretty self explanatory but I"m a current CF and open to any questions you might have! Anything from applying to internships to picking a setting and more!

Edited March 4, 2021 by AlwaysaFalcon

[futurespeechpath1]

Is it true it's difficult to get a job as a medical SLP without getting a medical placement in grad school?

[AlwaysaFalcon]

13 hours ago, futurespeechpath1 said:

Is it true it's difficult to get a job as a medical SLP without getting a medical placement in grad school?

So I currently work at a school for my CF so from personal experience I can't answer that, but I do know the slp that previously had my position worked in the school and then once she was done moved out to California and now works in a hospital. It may be more difficult to get a medical cf but it's not impossible. It all just depends on what you are looking out of from a cfy experience. Traditionally I know it's easier to get medical settings such as snfs compared to hospitals unless you have that connection with a hospital because snfs, especially during COVID are more open to hiring cfs but in this case you may be more willing to jump into the deep end with less support because of productivity standards. You could take continuing education CEUS during your CF but they won't count towards your CEUS hours needed after you obtain your CCCs. I hope that makes sense. I also recommend shadowing medical slps if you can if your goal is a medical cf. 

[bibliophile222]

Great idea! The vast majority of people on Grad Cafe are applying or maaaybe in grad school, so there are very few actual SLPs on here to provide advice (although there is the Reddit SLP sub, where I'm pretty active.)

I'm also a CF and am free for questions, although it looks like we're both school CFs, so we might not have very different insights on things. I recognize your username from when I was applying, and it's awesome to see that we both made it through and are real-life SLPs!

[jomyers.online]

@bibliophile222 & @AlwaysaFalcon,

What was your experience with the time needed to complete externships, clinicals, internships, and other placements? I'm still a little in the dark about what each of those terms would encompass in the world of SLP grad school. 

For reference, in my undergraduate education degree, I had multiple fieldwork experiences in my sophomore and junior year, with one full-time 12 week placement the first semester of my senior year and one full-time 16 week internship during the spring semester. Our college classes were held after school during our placements.  While I am fully anticipating that the cognitive load will be greater when I move into graduate placements, would you say that your schedules were similar in your programs? Could one expect to spend more or less time, in your experience, working in the field over the course of their program?

Thank you for offering to answer questions on here!

 

-Jo

[bibliophile222]

This definitely depends on the program, but mine was as follows:

1st semester I had one client in the on-site clinic and 4 or 5 classes. Clients were scheduled around the daytime classes, which were T-Th. I also had to keep Fridays free for meetings and evaluations, but I only had one eval all semester. I only got about 15 clinic hours all semester.

2nd semester I had two clinic clients, one evaluation, and 6 classes (but some of them were only 1-2 credits). All but one class was during the day. At the end of this semester I had a total of about 50 hours.

3rd semester (summer) I had one online class, but it was a prereq so not everyone had to take it. It was condensed and required at least 2 hours a day of work for 5 weeks. I also had a medical placement 4 days a week (7:45-4:15), two clinic clients,  and one evaluation. In addition to that, I was doing RA work and did some evals for that. My summer was BUSY! I got 190 hours, so my total at this point was about 240.

4th semester was definitely the roughest.  I had placement 3 days a week at a school (8:30-2:30; I got to arrive a bit late because I had an hour commute) and 4 evening classes. I was also doing a research project and RA work, so I had very little free time. I don't think I had a day off from school stuff all semester. I got about 100 hours, putting my total at 340.

5th semester was easy for me because at this point I was almost done with my hours and we were done with classes. I just had an audiology block which was half a day a week for four weeks and placement two days a week at another school (7:30-3:00), so I had plenty of time to finish my research project, and had plenty of time to take the Praxis and apply for jobs. However, some students who needed more hours had full-time placements.

Now, from what I've read, some programs are set up quite differently.  Some don't have an onsite clinic, many only offer two externships instead of three, some might have 5 or 6 smaller placements or special tracks to move through. You might not start clinic in the first semester. Some might give you a full-time placement in your last semester even if you're done with hours. Some schools might still have classes in the last semester and others might have you finish all your classes before starting placements. Take anyone's schedule with a grain of salt because yours may very likely be different.

Edited March 7, 2021 by bibliophile222

[jomyers.online]

@bibliophile222 this is immensely helpful! I'm sure my schedule will be different, I was just wondering what I could expect. Thank you for the very detailed response!!

[meadymalarkey]

@jomyers.online What @bibliophile222 describes is pretty much what my program has been like thus far. My program has lots of clinics that were able to pivot to telepractice -- not all programs did that. My first quarter I had 2 clients (adult language), this quarter I have 1 (preschool), and in the spring I'll have 3-4 (fluency). For those that didn't get placed with live clients, they completed a clinical term via Simucase. We usually take 3-4 courses (if 4, two are usually worth fewer units) and meet 2-3 days per week, never the same day as clinics. 

That said, because of telepractice, most of us with live clients tend to spend a lot of unrecognized extra time preparing digital materials from scratch in the lesson planning process. I'd say between 1-2 hours extra per 50 minute session (usually clients come twice per week), unless you end up with a caseload where the materials you create are easily generalizable or you invest in pre-made options (Boomcards, TPT resources, etc). If we had access to campus, this wouldn't be a factor because we'd be using physical resources provided by the department. 

Externships start in summer or fall depending on the person and tend to be 35-40 hours per week. The majority will likely be in person because we've all been eligible for vaccinations. It may be different in other states though. Our course-load shifts significantly in year 2, so we're expected to complete things like electives, theses/culminating experience projects, etc at that time. 

[jomyers.online]

@meadymalarkey Thank you so much! I've had this horror story in my head about a 40 hour/week internship or externship + clinic clients + after-school classes in the same semester (I don't remember where I found it, probably reddit). Glad to know this isn't the typical experience!

 

What's the difference between an internship and an externship? I've heard this differs depending on the program.

Edited March 8, 2021 by jomyers.online

[meadymalarkey]

@jomyers.online Ah! That does sound horrific. I did see that a few 2nd-year-students participated in clinics this past term, but I believe that was likely because the externships that they got weren't offering quite as many hours/opportunities due to Covid and the fact that the abroad trip for the bilingual track had to be postponed for two summers. Hopefully that's not the case for you or the program you end up attending. ? 

RE: externships vs. internships - it's a pəˈteɪˌtoʊ / pəˈtɑˌtoʊ situation IMO. I think it's really about the nature of the field you're attempting to enter. Internships are usually more about participating on a project basis in either non-profit or for-profit settings, usually with the bulk of it being "unskilled" grunt-work / free labor but with the promise of access to relationships in a particular industry. Externships are more about shadow experiences in highly-trained person-centered fields (non-administrative healthcare, therapy, teaching, etc), where you take on supervised tasks that are more hands-on with clients. Kind of like SLPA work ultimately, but for college credit. Networking is definitely a part of it but the main point is applying the things you've learned to novel situations. 

 

[AlwaysaFalcon]

On 3/5/2021 at 10:06 PM, jomyers.online said:

@bibliophile222 & @AlwaysaFalcon,

What was your experience with the time needed to complete externships, clinicals, internships, and other placements? I'm still a little in the dark about what each of those terms would encompass in the world of SLP grad school. 

For reference, in my undergraduate education degree, I had multiple fieldwork experiences in my sophomore and junior year, with one full-time 12 week placement the first semester of my senior year and one full-time 16 week internship during the spring semester. Our college classes were held after school during our placements.  While I am fully anticipating that the cognitive load will be greater when I move into graduate placements, would you say that your schedules were similar in your programs? Could one expect to spend more or less time, in your experience, working in the field over the course of their program?

Thank you for offering to answer questions on here!

 

-Jo

Like others have said it depends on your program but in my experience my first two years of my programs were classes and the last three semesters were experiences off campus since my program does not have an on campus clinic. 

My school placement was 13 weeks long

My "special populations" placement (clinic, private practice, speciality school) was 11 weeks long

My medical placement was 11 weeks long

I hope that helps!

 

[AlwaysaFalcon]

On 3/5/2021 at 8:43 AM, bibliophile222 said:

Great idea! The vast majority of people on Grad Cafe are applying or maaaybe in grad school, so there are very few actual SLPs on here to provide advice (although there is the Reddit SLP sub, where I'm pretty active.)

I'm also a CF and am free for questions, although it looks like we're both school CFs, so we might not have very different insights on things. I recognize your username from when I was applying, and it's awesome to see that we both made it through and are real-life SLPs!

Glad we made it out alive  haha

[summerlovin123]

Any advice for studying for comprehensive exams or praxis?

[cheekyspeechie]

What can I do now, as a future grad student in the 2021 cohort, to try and get a medical placement? Would shadowing a medical SLP over the summer help? 

[AlwaysaFalcon]

On 5/10/2021 at 4:51 PM, summerlovin123 said:

Any advice for studying for comprehensive exams or praxis?

I bought a study guide book online and I also split 4 practice exams between a couple of friends! for the Praxis! Really just taking as many practice questions as you can helps! Also if you have to take it again it isn't the end of the world. I'm not a great standardized test taker and I had to take it four times. 

As far as comprehensive exams goes I always studied 1-2 weeks in advance and would study a little bit everyday instead of cramming the day before or couple days before. I used/made study guides. That personally helped me. I hoped that helps

[AlwaysaFalcon]

On 5/13/2021 at 10:16 AM, cheekyspeechie said:

What can I do now, as a future grad student in the 2021 cohort, to try and get a medical placement? Would shadowing a medical SLP over the summer help? 

Are you referring to a medical placement in your graduate program or a medical placement during your CFY?

If you are able to shadow I definitely think it would help as far as a medical placement goes and for experience to put on your resume. As far as I'm aware most graduate programs will provide you with a medical placement or have options for you to find one so I wouldn't be worried about gaining medical experience.

As far as a medical CFY it's not impossible to get! I know a couple of my classmates that work in SNFs for their CFYs and in my experience/from what I've heard SNFs are more desperate/willing to take a CF compared to a rehabilitation clinic or a hospital unless you already have prior experience at that facility. However, if you don't get a medical cf that doesn't mean you'll never be able to work in a medical facility. You can work per diem to gain experience or shadow or take CEUs. I hope that helped!

[ZSLP]

I am finishing graduate school at a university in California. For my capstone project, I created a resource guide for first generation BIPOC students  for applying to graduate programs. This guide is catered to schools in southern California, but has tons of information you can use to help you. I hope this guide is helpful, it is a product of self-reflection and personal experiences. I hope it will be a valuable tool for you use to use. Please feel free to share freely and widely.  Also open to suggestions & questions! 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Dqr4omQdPKXQgLLVDUd2gtH-FDYsbE2H/view?usp=sharing

[SLPending]

Hello, I'm curious how CF and SLPs negotiate your salary offer. How can we know it's a good offer compared to other peers in the area or even within the company? This is such a taboo topic so how do we make sure we are in a good position?

Within the package, if salary is not high, what benefits can we negotiate to make up for the pay? Sign on bonus? Relocation bonus? promissory projected increase? what else? 

[bibliophile222]

On 8/5/2021 at 5:58 PM, SLPending said:

Hello, I'm curious how CF and SLPs negotiate your salary offer. How can we know it's a good offer compared to other peers in the area or even within the company? This is such a taboo topic so how do we make sure we are in a good position?

Within the package, if salary is not high, what benefits can we negotiate to make up for the pay? Sign on bonus? Relocation bonus? promissory projected increase? what else? 

This is pretty dependent on setting. For instance, I tried to negotiate in my district hire school job but got nothing because all pay and benefits are laid out in the union contract. You should always attempt to negotiate just in case, but generally in schools you're SOL.

As far as other settings, you might have some luck on the SLP reddit. A lot of people in various states have asked about salaries in different states, and one user even made a website with a good amount of salary data sorted by state. 

As far as additional benefits you could try for, ask about stipends for materials, CEUs, and ASHA dues, plus, you know, actual benefits like health insurance or sick days. Sadly, not all places offer it.