Beyond the Big Screen: Avatars Prepare Graduate Students for Real-World Practice

2010 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 50-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stacy Williams ◽  
Linda R. Schreiber

Abstract This article explores the potential of virtual simulation technology in preparing university students for real-world experiences. SimuCase™, a Web-based virtual simulation application designed to support best practice in speech-language pathology, is described. The research base for learning via virtual simulations also is described. This type of simulation using case studies encourages the user to select and analyze client data to improve clinical decision-making skills in the area of assessment and supports Knowledge and Skills Assessment competencies of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 54-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Leslie ◽  
Kate Krival

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are increasingly challenged by the medical complexities our patients present and gripped by the fear of litigation, if patients decline physically under our care. One response to these pressures may be to practice defensive medical speech-language pathology. We propose that best practice is ethically achieved by deliberately using specific external and internal resources to practice undefensively. We suggest how consideration of these materials and processes will help SLPs ensure evaluation and clinical decision-making processes are as effective, evidence-based, and transparent to patients, caregivers, administrators, and payers as possible.


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (04) ◽  
pp. 279-288
Author(s):  
Mark DeRuiter ◽  
Sarah M. Ginsberg

AbstractThe fields of speech-language pathology and audiology, collectively referred to as communication sciences and disorders, are driven by evidence-based practice (EBP). As accountability in clinical service delivery continues to increase, there are few who would argue that encouraging clinicians to engage in methods that have withstood the rigors of peer-review is the wrong approach. Graduate students are typically given many opportunities to learn about the evidence for their discipline, and graduate programs are required to provide these opportunities under accreditation standards. While EBP is critical to our discipline's clinical function, we assert that evidence-based education (EBE) is equally as important as EBP to our discipline's function in educating our students. This article discusses EBP and EBE with a focus on elements that may not have been considered in the past, particularly within the complex dynamic of the EBE and clinical education interface. We present current and proposed models, including a new model of EBE in clinical education. We share insights into how the new and proposed models fit within the broader context of clinical decision making and the scholarship of teaching and learning. We conclude by addressing future needs for the education of clinical educators.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (14) ◽  
pp. 104-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Cornish ◽  
Melissa White

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association's (ASHA's) Strategic Pathway to Excellence calls for increased cultural competence of association members (ASHA, 2016a). This objective, fueled by a longstanding recognition of the need to educate ASHA members about the influence of culture and language on assessment and intervention (ASHA, 1985, 2004), has resulted in a greater number of resources for acquiring these knowledge and skills. However, little has been written about how mentors can facilitate the development of cultural competence among new and future professionals. In order to share this knowledge, mentors must exercise “cultural proficiency” (ASHA, 2016b). Culturally proficient mentors demonstrate an awareness of the variables that exist between the mentor and mentee as well as the clinician and client. They work strategically to help mentees develop their own awareness of cultural and linguistic influences, and apply this during clinical decision making. This article explores the critical need for cultural proficiency in mentoring relationships with our students and clinical fellows, methods for exercising cultural proficiency, and its potential impact on service provision in speech-language pathology and audiology.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (05) ◽  
pp. 370-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arlene McCurtin ◽  
Carol-Anne Murphy ◽  
Hazel Roddam

AbstractEvidence-based practice (EBP) is a well-established framework for supporting clinical decision making in the discipline of speech-language pathology. The benefits of using evidence to inform clinical practice are acknowledged by clinicians and researchers alike. Even so, after over two decades of EBP advocacy, much clinical uncertainty remains and models supporting the evaluation of interventions require review and reconsideration. The EBP model, while promoting positive principles, can be argued to be conceptually flawed because it suffers from a lack of attention to and explicit valuing of other forms of knowledge crucial to the formation of realistic and judiciously informed decisions. We propose that the evaluation of interventions would be better supported by an explicit knowledge management approach reflecting a range of evidence and knowledge. One worked example is presented to demonstrate what using such an approach can produce in terms of intervention information.


Author(s):  
Krystal Werfel ◽  
Gabriella Reynolds

Flipped classrooms are increasingly recommended by scholars of teaching and learning, and some have argued that active learning is the key ingredient in this model’s success. This paper describes the creation and implementation of online guided case study scenarios using the test function of a learning management system, as well as evaluation of their effectiveness based on (a) performance of students on separate graded case study assignments and (b) student self-reflection of learning and feedback elicited in an end-of-course survey. The case studies were developed for use in a master’s level speech-language pathology course on aural rehabilitation that occurs during the summer semester.


Author(s):  
Catherine Easton ◽  
Sarah Verdon

Purpose Variation within languages, including dialects, takes on an indexical function, marking belonging and connection. Meanwhile, attitudes toward these speech varieties become marked by linguistic bias. Within the speech-language pathology profession, research evidence, assessment tools, and intervention programs have largely been designed for and by the White, English-speaking middle class. As such, linguistic bias with a preference for standardized dialects is prevalent in the training and practice of the speech-language pathology profession, resulting in discriminatory and racialized practices. Method To investigate the influence of linguistic bias upon speech-language pathologists' (SLPs') clinical decision making, data were collected from 129 Australian SLPs via an online survey. Inferential statistics were used to investigate the relationship between clinical decision making and SLPs' attitudes toward nonstandard dialects as well as personal and professional factors. A content analysis of extended responses was conducted to identify themes in clinical decision making. Results SLPs with more years of experience and those who had received professional development were significantly more likely to seek out more information before making a diagnosis, while those with more negative attitudes toward linguistic diversity were significantly more likely to identify a disorder than a difference. SLPs provided a range of justifications for their clinical decision making, but few acknowledged the influence of their own attitudes and bias upon their decision making. Conclusions SLPs' linguistic bias towards speakers of nonstandard dialects has the potential to impact upon their clinical judgment of difference versus disorder and lead to inequality of service provision for speakers who do not express themselves in standardized forms. Before the profession can truly move toward an antiracist approach of equitable service provision for all, SLPs must engage in critical self-reflection to disrupt the adherence of the speech-language pathology profession to standardized “White” norms of communication.


2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 100-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne K. Bothe

This article presents some streamlined and intentionally oversimplified ideas about educating future communication disorders professionals to use some of the most basic principles of evidence-based practice. Working from a popular five-step approach, modifications are suggested that may make the ideas more accessible, and therefore more useful, for university faculty, other supervisors, and future professionals in speech-language pathology, audiology, and related fields.


Author(s):  
Susan C Gardstrom ◽  
James Hiller ◽  
Annie Heiderscheit ◽  
Nancy L Jackson

Abstract As music therapists, music is our primary realm of understanding and action and our distinctive way of joining with a client to help them attain optimal health and well-being. As such, we have adopted and advocate for a music-focused, methods-based (M-B) approach to music therapy pre-internship education and training. In an M-B approach, students’ learning is centered on the 4 music therapy methods of composing, improvising, re-creating, and listening to music and how these music experiences can be designed and implemented to address the health needs of the diverse clientele whom they will eventually encounter as practicing clinicians. Learning is highly experiential, with students authentically participating in each of the methods and reflecting on these self-experiences as a basis for their own clinical decision-making. This is differentiated from a population based (P-B) approach, wherein students’ attention is directed at acquiring knowledge about the non-musical problems of specific “clinical populations” and the “best practice” music interventions that are presumed to address these problems. Herein, we discuss both approaches, identifying the limitations of a P-B perspective and outlining the benefits of an M-B curriculum and its relevance to 21st-century music therapy practice.


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