Speech-Language Pathology
Day in the Life
Hi! My name is Sarah and I am a second-year Speech-Language Pathology graduate student here at Salus. I am from New Jersey and graduated undergrad at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) with a major in Psychology and minors in Speech Pathology and Deaf Studies. I always knew I wanted to work with children but in a developmental way as well as helping people, so that is how I came across Speech Pathology!
Beginning this second (and last) year of graduate school, it is definitely an exciting time as we have started our off-campus externship placements! This semester I am placed at a private practice serving both pediatrics and adults in my area. My supervisor also works with New Jersey Early Intervention so we do some of that as well, which is fun!
Here is what a typical Monday looks like for me with both my externship and classes:
6:00 a.m.: Wake up and get ready! This is my earliest day of the week. After I get ready, I of course need to make some coffee. I love that it is almost fall and pumpkin flavors are back!
7:30 a.m.: I typically leave my house around this time as I have to meet my supervisor at a local daycare to begin our morning of Early Intervention Speech Therapy services.
7:45 a.m.: Arrive at the daycare and meet up with my supervisor. We then go into the daycare and work with our client in his classroom. Providing this naturalistic therapy in his natural environment is very important at this young age.
9:00 a.m.: After this session, we have two more Early Intervention sessions, but this time they are in the children’s homes. This is ideal as we can get a sense for how the child interacts with their siblings and within their own environment that they are comfortable in.
12:00 p.m.: We typically head back to the office at this time and complete the necessary documentation from the Early Intervention sessions as well as brainstorm what to do with the clients the following week.
1:00 p.m.: At this time, we start to see clients in the office. These clients range from children with expressive and receptive language impairments to older adults with voice disorders. It has been very interesting to see and work with such a wide variety of patients!
3:30 p.m.: I head home around 3:30 when we have finished up my clients and discussed the sessions. It is vital to receive this feedback from your supervisor as you are still learning.
5:00 p.m.: I begin to log on for our online class! This semester on Monday nights we have our AAC course (Alternative & Augmentative Communication). This has been perfect as I am utilizing different AAC boards for some of my externship clients!
7:00 p.m.: Once class is over, I eat dinner and wind down for the night. This includes showering, picking out my business casual clothes for the next day, and maybe catching up on some shows. I am big into reality shows and have been loving Big Brother this season!
During this time, I also catch up on some homework and get excited for another day of seeing clients!
Learn More About the University's Speech-Language Pathology Program
