LINKS
What MSU person influenced you the most during your graduate studies within the Communication Disorders Program?
I believe that one of my graduate professors, Dr. Jean Miller, had the biggest impact on my graduate experience. She continually impressed me with her knowledge of her profession and she made learning fun. Dr. Miller was also involved with our profession on the state level, which impressed me.
What was the greatest lesson that you learned within Murray's Communication Disorders Program?
The greatest lesson I learned from the program was to always let my clients know the rationale for each activity during a therapy session and make them aware of my particular goals for each session.
What advice would you give to a current graduate student?
In my experience, I believe that most important traits (I cannot choose just one) that a clinician can have is to make their clients feel comfortable, to always be open to and searching for new and innovative therapy ideas and to be an advocate for their patients in
their knowledge of their disorder and their goals for therapy. Therapy is a team effort between the clinician, the patient and family members when applicable.
What advice would you give someone think of becoming a Communication Disorder major?
Speech therapy is an extremely flexible and very gratifying field to enter into for several reasons. First, there is enormous flexibility in the field. One could work in a school system, hospital, nursing home, private practice or just contract on the side and work as many hours as you want. There are several areas of expertise to excel in from speech disorders, language disorders, voice and/or fluency disorders. One can work solely with babies to geriatrics, any age in between or all ages. The field has been most gratifying for me in the area of stroke rehabilitation and restoring someone’s ability to communicate as well as returning a patient to a regular diet after receiving a PEG tube. A dedicated speech therapist has the capability of having a profound influence in someone’s life after enduring the most devastating experience of their life; and it's a great feeling.
What does MSU's Communication Disorder program mean to you?
The thing I appreciated most about Murray State’s Communication Disorders program is the individual attention I received from my professors and supervisors.
Advice for those entering CDI
I think a lot of students choosing CDI as a major think most of their learning experiences will be either educationally based or medically based. CDI covers a broad field. It is the perfect blend of education and medical experiences both in and out the classroom. Therefore, I believe it is important to stay very open minded about your classroom work. You might think what you are learning at the time is not important to you, but I think eventually you will be glad you put that piece of information in the back of you mind. Also, get prepared for a lot of classroom information, because as I mentioned before you have to get educational and medical preparation.
Beneficial aspect of CDI to my clinical development
The best preparation for the working world is to have as much clinical experience as possible. Luckily, at MSU that is exactly what the
graduate students are able to receive through numerous practicum settings. Even thought the client load can be heavy and the semester might get long, looking back I am thankful for every clinical experience I had. I feel the variety of supervisors is also great preparation for the future. At times it was hard to have new supervisors and learn
their ways of doing things, but I think learning how to handle all types of personalities really will help me when I have a job of my own.
Motivation for becoming an SLP
I decided to major in CDI my senior year in high school mostly because I knew I wanted to work in a school, and I didn’t really want to be a classroom teacher. Looking
back that is surprising, because I actually think I am more interested in working in the medical profession when I graduate. Once I started taking CDI classes, I was motivated to continue because I really did enjoy my classes at Lambuth University. Once in graduate school, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.
It’s motivating and exciting to know all my preparation is about to pay off.
Favorite memory while in CDI program
I’ve only been at MSU for two years, so most of my graduate school memories are of staying up late and studying and being stressed out, but there are plenty of positive experiences I’ll always remember about MSU. I loved my graduate assistant job because I really got to know two great people (Andrea Austin and Tasha Morgan) by working with them. I also enjoyed working for all my professors, which helped me to get to know them on a more personal level. I also enjoyed the experiences I had getting to know the staff and faculty outside of the clinic or the classroom. One very nice memory I have was when I got to have dinner with the West Kentucky Conference on Communication Disorders speaker last November. I had the opportunity to eat dinner with Dr. Hammons, Dr. Miller, Dr. Payne, and Dr. Harris (the speaker for the West Kentucky Conference), and Tasha Morgan at J. Edwards. It was really nice!!
What sparked your initial interest in the Murray CDI program?
I started out as an undeclared major at MSU, and through the freshmen orientation course I learned about all of the programs available on campus. A CDI student spoke to our class, and I knew that becoming a SLP would be the perfect career for
me. The CDI program is the balance I needed between a profession in health or education.
What do you look forward to most about becoming a Speech-Language Pathologist?
Everyday as a SLP will be rewarding, and I
look forward to positively affecting the lives of children. I also like the wide range of different work settings that are available.
What has been your favorite class as an undergraduate and why?
Phonetics has been my favorite class because I was able to understand why I had difficulty producing /l/ and /r/ as a kindergartener.
What advice would you give to someone considering becoming a student in Communication Disorders?
I would first advise them to shadow a SLP to learn about the profession. As an undergraduate, you will have to study hard and should get to know the CDI faculty members on a personal level.
