Taiwanese Audiology, Speech-Language Pathology Students Expand Horizons

Chi-Jung “Kiki" Chen is currently a sophomore in a bachelor’s degree program at Chung-Shan Medical University studying to be an audiologist. But in her home country of Taiwan, second-year students have limited opportunities to walk into healthcare institutions and observe audiologists and speech-language pathologists at work.

That’s why Chen recently attended Salus University’s on-campus clinical education program in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (SLP). The four-week certificate program allows students like Chen to enhance their knowledge within the professions and get an up-close look at graduate-level training in the United States.

“First of all, I wanted to broaden my horizons by going abroad to study. Attending this overseas internship program is quite an ideal way to accomplish my plan. I wanted to seize this precious chance,” said Chen. “Second, in terms of development in the fields of speech-language pathology and audiology, America is about 10 years ahead of us in Taiwan. I wanted to learn the newest technology and methods that can apply to our professional field.”

The group of three Audiology students and five SLP students also had time for some extracurricular activities outside the classroom and labs.

The program was coordinated through the Academic Affairs Division of Global, Interprofessional, and Specialized Programming (GISP) at Salus by dean Melissa Vitek, OD ‘95, FAAO, and academic coordinator Sarah Tinkoff, MEd. Audiology instruction was coordinated by Jonette Owen, AuD ‘03, assistant dean for the Practice and Assessment of Audiologic Medicine and assistant professor at the University’s Osborne College of Audiology (OCA); and the SLP portion by Robert Serianni, MS, CCC-SLP, FNAP, chair and director of the SLP department at Salus. The program included a week of interprofessional instruction and academic field trips.

Yun-Hsuan “Elisa” Chi describes herself as an enthusiastic person who wants to learn more and broaden her horizons and international perspective as she pursues her SLP career. This made the Salus program a perfect fit. 

“SLP in Taiwan is a new field. There are more assessment tools and therapy methods in the U.S. compared to Taiwan,” said Chi. “I want to own my own SLP clinic in the future and I want to gain experience in SLP in the U.S. and what the medical system looks like here. I want to combine the advantages of both Taiwan and the U.S. and think outside the box.”

Chi said she learned a lot from the clinical observation sessions, the access to therapy plans, and the debriefing after each session that she hopes to utilize back home.

“And, the way teachers taught us really inspired me. Teachers here are like our friends and we sit together to learn and discuss knowledge, instead of just sitting and listening to them talk,” said Chi. “We are equal and have mutual respect instead for each other, which makes us more comfortable and confident to learn.”

It was the first time in the U.S. for both Chen and Chi. Chen loved exploring Philadelphia and Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and the Reading Terminal Market, as well as trips to Lancaster, New York City, and Washington, D.C. 

Chi is an art lover and particularly enjoyed visits to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Rodin Museum, and the National Gallery of Art. The students were in the U.S. over the Fourth of July and got to experience America’s birthday celebrations as well. 

“Joining this program enabled me to experience the scenarios I may encounter when I'm a senior working as an intern. The experiences I learned from this program will be beneficial,” said Chen. 

This marked the second offering of the immersive Salus program and plans are underway for 2024.