10 Things I Learned During My Clinical Fellowship in Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Posted in Speech-Language Pathology, Traveling

Written by: Abbey Pratt M.S., CCC-SLP

Yes, I know it sounds crazy moving to South Dakota to complete my clinical fellowship. To be honest, it was probably the best decision I could have every made. Let’s set the stage for my top 10 things I learned during my clinical fellowship.

I completed my 36 weeks, 1200+ hours clinical fellowship at a pediatric non-profit organization, known as LifeScape, located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. You heard me right… in the middle of the Midwest, where summers are blistering hot and winters are knee-deep in snow/negative degree weather. Contrary to popular belief, the location wasn’t what lured me into moving there. Rather, it was the amazing opportunity to work with medical complex individuals to increase their communication, speech, and social skills. As a bonus, I gained more experience with feeding/swallowing therapy techniques with several of my patients. From problem-solving and creating various alternative augmentative communication systems to developing a proper meal time routine to assist with problem/picky eaters, my job was never boring. It allowed me to develop my clinical skills in numerous areas and become a more confident speech-language pathologist.

10 things I learned from my Clinical Fellowship:

  1. It was more beneficial to beginning my career with a stable 9-5 job to get my feet wet in the field.
  2. Sometimes it’s about the experience you receive as a therapist rather than the paycheck you get every other week. This will pay off for future opportunities!
  3. Don’t be afraid to MOVE for your clinical fellowship… it’s literally 36 weeks. Plus, you may end up loving a new place/environment and ready to dominate the start of you career!
  4. Don’t be afraid to ask questions!!! (Contrary to popular belief, you don’t know everything about speech-language pathology after grad school)
  5. Earn your patient/client’s trust by getting to know them, doing fun activities, and engaging them with something they are motivated by rather than boring them with worksheets and flashcards.
  6. You can incorporate communication/speech goals into literally any activity… channel you inner Walt Disney!
  7. Create goals that are relevant to the individual and are realistic to their daily life and/or natural environment. Why else would you want to do therapy if it doesn’t pertain to their life?!?
  8. Physicians, nurses, dieticians, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and other staff are critical to understand your patient/client as a whole and need to communicate with daily.
  9. Educate parents and caregivers frequently as they are the ones with the individual more than the 30-60 minutes per week of speech therapy.
  10. iPads and technology is great and all…. but my suggestion is to find alternative activities to target the patient/client goals. You already know I am going to have to write another blog about this one…

Obviously, I could go on and on about the tips and ticks I learned during my clinical fellowship. I’ll do my best to keep them coming in the blogs. Here are just some right of the bat that I think will help new speechies the most!

Next blog ->> My Cali adventures so far…

Until next time!

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