Category: 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!

• Blog
• Social Media
• Welcome to the chaotic life of a Traveling Speech-Language Pathologist!
• Work hard, travel harder.

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

Hello again,

Thanks for coming back to read another random blog I write. Today, I thought I would dive into my thought process when deciding to become a traveling speech-language pathologist. Let’s begin…

Travel therapy was first introduced to me at a job fair my university’s program put on my junior year of undergrad. The representative from Med Travelers (now apart of AMN Healthcare) and I talked for hours discussing the life of a travel therapist. From then on, I was hooked. This was my ticket to see the world while making money. What could be better than this?!

Fast forward to grad school. Half way through my second semester we get the nation wide notice of the pandemic. Classes go online, internships on hold, and clinical hours are through teletherapy. It was an experience to say the least. Upon graduation, it was still difficult to find a clinical fellowship position that would heighten by clinical skills. I was in contact with a recruiter from Med Travelers and discussing possible clinical fellowship options. I was all in and ready to start; however, there was one thing holding me back… placement options. See, within the traveling world of a speech pathologist as a new graduate, you are limited to either a school or skilled nursing facility setting. Not that these won’t get the job done, but I was looking for something more. I wanted a job that could expedite my clinical skills to make me more marketable for future jobs.

Long story short, I ended up accepting a SLP position at a pediatric, non-profit organization in Sioux Falls, SD. Don’t worry, I will write another post about this adventure. Although this was an amazing experience and rewarding job, traveling therapy was always in the back of my mind. So, what did I do? Created a trusty-ole pos and cons list of course!

Pros + Cons List:

In my opinion, the pros outweighed the cons. I am a 25-year-old, single female ready to adventure! Within my search for the right, first travel placement, I came across an opening at a pediatric outpatient medical facility. Sent it to my recruiter and interviewed within a week. I was offered the position starting early September and made the world-wind decision to accept it! No turning back now… I was doing what I had wanted to do ever since the day I met the recruiter at my university’s job fair.

Of course, there were some road bumps along the way, but we will save that for another day. Right now, I am enjoying my first adventure in Fremont, California and am excited to see what the future hold for your new travel speech-language pathologist!

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

(Bare with me as I write a basic bio about myself)

Hello my fellow travelers and/or speechies!! I am so excited you decided to join me on this journey. I figured you may want to know who is this random chick trying to create a blog… so, here we go! My name is Abbey Pratt, and I am an ASHA certified Speech-Language Pathologist. I graduated with my bachelor’s and master’s degree in Communication Science and Disorders from the University of Montevallo in Montevallo, Alabama. As of April 2022, I completed my clinical fellowship at a pediatric, non-profit organization located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Recently, I jumped ship and became a traveling speech-language pathologist, which brings us to the present day. Currently, I am in Fremont, California on my first travel assignment! Let’s just say, this should be interesting…

Fun Facts about Me:

• Born and raised in Greenwood, Indiana (Hoooosier)
• Played college and professional softball
• Sports fanatic
• LOVE to travel (hence becoming a travel therapist)
• Have traveled to 29 out of 50 states (so far)
• Love the outdoors (hiking, going to the beach…literally anything in nature makes me happy)
• Enjoy a good workout (throwing some heavy weights around, running a half marathon, hot yoga, or just going for a nice, long walk)
• Best quality: loves to cook/try new new dishes and bake my grandma’s family recipes
• Minored in Deaf and Hard of Hearing, where I learned some ASL and use within my practice
• Would love to pursue getting my Ph.D. in Speech-Language Pathology in the future

The future of this blog – adventure!

Hopefully, I didn’t bore you to death with the first post being about me. However, I thought it would be nice to get to know me on a personal and professional level. Now, for the fun part… adventure!

Future blog posts include: My clinical fellowship experience, reasons/tips for traveling, and adventures (with pictures) along the way! I am so excited to share this journey with y’all and hope you stick around to see all the cool places and experiences along the way.