Clinical placements for Speech Language Pathology students can make or break a grad school experience. All programs should follow a standard curriculum to meet all state and ASHA requirements and prepare you for the praxis. But your clinical placements are really going to be where you learn the ins and outs of being a practicing SLP.
- Get the basics from the schools you apply to. Most SLP grad programs are 5 semesters long – but what does that mean for clinical placements? Find out how many different placements you should expect to get and how class schedules are worked around clinic schedules. Will you be expected to do class at night after clinicals, will classes be online, or will you go only go to clinic on off days? Does the program offer a clinic onsite or will all placements be off campus? How far do students travel on average to go to their clinicals? Talk to current students about how satisfied they are with their placements
- Get to know your advisor and your program’s clinical coordinator, right away. Be sure they know your name and your interests. Each program should have one person dedicated to securing placements for all students each semester and if they know you well, they will be able to better match you to an appropriate site. If you aren’t sure of your top setting just yet – that’s ok too! Being flexible and having a variety of experiences in grad school can make you a more well rounded clinician.
- Know the options. You probably won’t know exactly where all of the placement opportunities are. This may be something that the clinical coordinator can share but if not, try and do your own research. Find out where SLPs are working in your areas, and what they specialize in. Think: schools, hospitals, inpatient rehab, outpatient rehab, private practices, skilled nursing facilities (“SNFs” or “sniffs”), early intervention, home health, ENT, specialty clinics or support groups (ie down syndrome, parkinsons, TBI). Decide if you’re more interested in pediatric or adults – or if you’d like to see a little of both. Narrow down your areas of interest within of speech and language, voice, feeding and swallowing, cognitive communication. Consider developmental disabilities (ie autism, cerebral palsy, developmental artic, specific language impairments) vs acquired neurogenic syndromes ( ie stroke/aphasia, TBI, ALS) vs medical conditions (ie head/neck cancer, seizure disorders). SLPs can cover more than 1 specialty, but very few do it all. As such, you won’t see everything during grad school so try to at least narrow it down to a few areas of interest.
- Learn program protocol for connecting with new placements. As stated above, clinical coordinator will be primarily responsible for securing contracts with supervising SLPs. Most programs should already be well connected with local clinics within the community, but there are certainly gaps. If there is a placement you are interested in that doesn’t currently have a contract with your school, find out how to get connected. Some programs require all communications to go through the clinical coordinator, so you can ask them to reach out on your behalf. Others may allow you to make cold calls to introduce yourself directly and then pass along information to get a contract set up. This may be especially relevant if your program allows for a “distance” placement – if you can take a summer or semester with online classes and do your placement in a community that isn’t local to your university, such as your own hometown or a location you are looking to make connections for post grad school. Talk with your clinical coordinator to understand how to best connect with these sites.
- Nail the cover letter or interview. Some community placements are assigned by the clinical coordinator based on their ability to vouch for the student, but other placements prefer to hand select their grad students by either asking for an application, cover letter or interview. If they are requesting a cover letter, please DO NOT use chatGPT. An aspiring speech language pathologist who can’t communicate their own interests for themselves does not make for a good first impression. If you really must, only use it for the very basic outline but make the details personalized and get rid of any phrasing or vocabulary that doesn’t sound natural to how you’d speak in a professional conversation. Whether in writing or interview, let them know what prior skills you’d bring to that placement, and what you’re most interested in learning. Every supervisor has different preferences, but for me personally, I choose the student I think is most interested in my setting, regardless of their prior experiences. It might feel like you’d increase your chances of a placement by listing multiple areas of interest, and in some situations it might! But for me, I know your clinical placements are limited, and I won’t make an offer if you tell me your dream is something else, but they’re “open” to my site as second or third choice. I don’t NEED a grad student, and I don’t want to hold you back from your dream either.
Even if you don’t get to experience your TOP setting, there are so many opportunities to prepare yourself for your career. There are many simulated clinic experiences available. Your CFY will be an additional time for exploring the field with close supervision and support. And continuing education and mentorship are huge pillars of our field. Happy placements!
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