So, you wanna know how to become an SLP?

Helllloo everybody!

I’ve been on a huge hiatus- grad school has been kicking my booty! But now that spring break is here and I’ve had a second to breathe, I’ve committed to getting back on the blog lifestyle!

Since grad school has been taking up most of my time lately, I thought I would do a post giving some information on my program!

Choosing to major in Speech and Language Pathology has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made- it is such a rewarding career path! I truly believe that in order to feel fulfilled, I need a career in which I can help others and hopefully help to better someone else’s life, if even in a small way! I think people don’t realize how important the ability to communicate is until theirs has been impaired. When I’m on my deathbed, I want to know that I made a difference to someone.

So before choosing to become an SLP, it’s important to realize that it is a challenging path and requires dedication. But like I said before…SO WORTH IT!  

Here is some info about becoming an SLP!

1. A master’s degree is required to become a licensed SLP, and getting accepted into these programs can be difficult. My cohort consists of 23 students that were selected from about 150 applicants. So make sure to get those A’s in undergrad!

2. Once you’re in, you will have classes, but on TOP of that, you are an advanced clinical student. This means that you will have your own clients that you will give therapy to (for us, its three clients, twice a week). Side note: For me, this is the scariest part! Clients can range from nonverbal two year olds to elderly patients who have had a stroke. Figuring out how to treat all of these different patients is challenging for a new clinician!

3. The first three semesters consist of classes and clinic, while the last two consist of a medical and then a school based externship. The medical externship takes place at a hospital, skilled nursing facility, rehab center, etc. The school externship takes place in a school (duhh). During the externships, we work under a licensed SLP and get hands on experience. I will start mine next fall, but from what I’ve heard, you are basically assessing and providing therapy all on your own (with supervision of course, but still- SCARY, EEEEK)! 

4. In our program, you can either write a thesis or take comprehensive exams. The majority of us take comps. There are four doctorate level professors in our program who will each come up with one question. The questions can be about literally ANYTHING that we have covered the past two years, or even in undergrad. And you have to pass them all in order to graduate. K, I have to stop talking about it before I break out in hives.

5. Lastly, you will need to pass the PRAXIS exam. It is a statewide exam you have to pass in order to become licensed. But from what I’ve heard in my program, this test is cake compared to the COMPS exam.

…..And then you can be a Speech Pathologist! Simple right? ;) I don’t want to scare anyone off, rather I want it to be known that if you want to be an SLP, you have to really want it. I’ve seen so many people either not have good enough grades to get into graduate school or decide that it was too much schooling for them.

*You can choose to work in either a medical setting or a school based setting. A medical setting would include things like dysphagia (swallowing), brain injuries, stroke patients, etc. I want to work in a medical setting, specifically with the elderly (probably at a skilled nursing facility). I love me some grammy and grampies!

If you have any questions about the journey to become an SLP, I would love to answer them for you!

P.S. Other programs may run things slightly different and/or require different things, but this is how Fresno State does it! 

23 Things That Love Is

With Valentines day coming up...I found this super great article about love and had to share! This is SUCH a great reminder of how God wants us to act within our relationships. Not just with a significant other, but with friends, roommates, parents, coworkers, etc. Although the bible talks a lot about how to treat others, sometimes I find myself wanting more specifics of how to actually relate what it says back to my relationships. Here are those specifics! I know I could definitely use this reminder :) Printing and putting on my closet door!

Here is the article. 

On My Bookshelf

My absolute favorite past time is reading. I like any type of book, but mystery and dystopia books are my favorite. BUT LETS JUST LET IT BE KNOWN THAT NO BOOK WILL EVER BE BETTER THAN HARRY POTTER. I just had to put that out there.

Anyway, here is a list of what books I am currently obsessing over:

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. This book is soon to be a movie, so hurry up and get your hands on this one (because we all know the book is always better than the movie-always).  This book is fast paced and keeps you flying through the pages. The book features a married couple that loses their jobs in New York and is forced to move back to the husband’s small hometown. Soon after, the wife goes missing. In a unique turn, the narrative changes halfway through the book, which makes for a nice new perspective. Unlike many mystery novels where the reader can guess what the outcome is, this one keeps you on your feet until the very end.  

The Divergent series by Veronica Roth. Anyone who is a Hunger Games fan will like this series! Every time a series comes out that I love (Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Twilight..yeah I said it, I like Twilight) I am always depressed after and convinced that no new series will ever compare and I will be forever stuck in a reading rut. Not dramatic at all, right? HA! Anyway, this book is the next big series! In this dystopian version of Chicago, every teenager must make the choice of which “faction” to join when they turn sixteen. Each faction dedicates itself to a specific virtue (selfless, honest, brave, peaceful, and intelligent).  If you choose a faction different than the one you were raised in, you have to leave your family and start a whole new life. Can you imagine? This is one of those books where I sit there in awe at how brave the characters are. It's inspiring! This series is definitely going into my “forever favorites” vault!

Horns by Joe Hill. This book definitely has a dark twist to it, so be prepared to read some creepy stuff. The book follows Ig Parrish, who wakes up one morning after his girlfriend was found raped and murdered to discover that he has horns growing out of his head and devilish powers. Everyone he encounters begins to spill their darkest secrets to him, and it takes a toll on Ig. The book also follows the mystery of who murdered his girlfriend, and why he grew the horns in the first place. Like I said, this is not a happy read, but it really makes you think. If you like mysteries, you will enjoy this page-turner.

         *Okay after I wrote that review, I feel like a weird creep because it sounds so depressing. But this         book is also being made into a movie..starring Daniel Radcliffe! So technically my Harry Potter obsession is what inspired me to read this. ;)

Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. My favorite devotional! It has a new devotion and a few short bible verses for everyday of the year. Its nice because each days devotion is only a page long and speaks in easy to understand terms, but is packed with so much inspiration! I love that it includes a few bible verses along with each day, so I can spend my day reflecting on them. I wake up 10 mins earlier everyday so that I can spend a little time reading this and reflecting on Gods word. It is such a positive start to each day, and a good reminder to keep God involved in your day and how you can do that! This book has really helped to guide me on my spiritual journey!

Now get to reading! xoxo

Five on Friday...Happy Friday!

So I’ve been stalking all the link-ups that I can find, and decided that the Five on Friday one is my favorite! The week can be so hectic sometimes that Friday is also the best day to have time to write :) So here is my first link-up with the Good Life blog!

On that note…HAPPY FRIDAY! Yay! I could not be more excited for this weekend just to relax and get some work done. Here are some exciting things that happened this week.

 

{one}

The Daily Positive. I stumbled across this website this week and I love it! You enter your email and every morning you are sent a positive thought/article. It’s a great little boost of inspiration for your morning! Plus, I just love any happy articles, and especially ones that have lists (e.g. today’s email “46 Positive Truths Everyone Needs to Hear”). Any article that has a list format- i'm all over it!

{two}

I finished my first week of clinic! Woo hoo! For my speech pathology graduate program we get our own clients for the first 3 semesters. We are in a clinic room that has double sided windows and our supervisor, the client’s parent or spouse, and undergrad students all observe you through it- kind of intimidating! But I have 3 clients who are 3, 5, and 7 and I am OBSESSED with them all! It was an exhausting week and I am soo glad that it’s over! This is probably boring news to everyone, but quite exciting for me! :)

{three}

My new nail polish and rings! The nail polish is Revlon Eclectic, and was less than $4 at Target. I got the rings on etsy (here) for 6.99 plus shipping. I have already reapplied the polish because I love it so much and have been wearing the rings every day. I feel like my hands actually look cute for once!

 

 

{four}

This week I cleaned out my phone pictures. I don’t know about you, but I am constantly snapping screen shots and taking pictures of things that I need to remember. Then I’ll scroll back a month later and random pictures of like, someone’s Instagram page that I wanted to go back and look at or an appointment reminder that I had to send to a friend. For someone who is a minimalist, I cannot staaaand clutter. So its got.to.go. This can apply to other aspects of life as well. Have an overflowing junk drawer- clean it out! A stuffed closet? Clean it! You will feel so much better. Remember, the most important things in life aren’t things. Here’s a quote that I really like concerning clutter and “things.”

 

{five}

Oceans (Where Feet May Fall) by Hillsong United. This song. I love it. We have always sang it at church, but this week I’ve been listening to it over and over at home, at work, and in the car- I just think the lyrics are so beautiful! Listen to it here.  

 

 

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

Donald & Daisy Duck Costumes

I’m typically not the most creative crayon in the box, buttttt I’m actually pretty proud of this one! My boyfriend happened to mention to me that Donald Duck was his favorite cartoon character, so when the next event that we needed a costume for came up (for one of our formals in college), I thought Donald and Daisy Duck would be perfect!

After browsing the Internet, I could not find any duck costumes (I guess people don’t typically dress up like ducks? Lol), so I had to take matters into my own hands. Here’s what I did:

            Materials:

·      Cheap yellow stretchy skirt from Forever 21

·      Two white feather boas from Party City

·      A plain pink shirt

·      A pink headband with a bow on it from Claires

·      Red felt

·      An orange visor from the dollar store

·      A sailor hat from Party City

·      White shorts from Target (for him)

·      Plain blue shirt (for him)

·      Big white buttons

·      Puff paint pen

·      Glue gun

1.     For my pink shirt I actually had a friend make it at her work since they had a machine that could heat press rhinestones, but you could also just buy a little pack of rhinestones and glue them on yourself.

2.     For my skirt, I just hot glued the feather boas onto it! The trick is that you have to glue it on while you are wearing the skirt, or it wont be able to stretch after you put it on! Just be careful not to burn yourself (I definitely came away with some battle scars)!

3.     For Jesse’s hat, I just cut a piece of felt to fit on his sailor hat, wrote Donald on it in puff paint, and glued it to the hat.

4.     For his bow tie I cut a square piece of fabric and pinched the middle together. It is a little hard to make it straight and look good, so you just have to mess with it until you figure out what looks good. Then to secure it, I used safety pins, but you could also sew it or use hot glue. Then just hot glue it onto the shirt!

5.     Lastly, I glued the white buttons onto his shirt!

And that’s it! So easy! Here’s the finished product:

A new kind of ICE CREAM!

Okay, I have discovered something that EVERYONE NEEDS TO TRY! Seriously.

Personally, I am an ice cream freak. I eat ice cream as much as possible.  That doesn’t work out very well when I’m trying to be skinny be healthy. But I have found a pretty good alternative:

SO Delicious Coconut Milk Ice Cream Sandwiches! These things are seriously amazing. I think I like them even better than a regular ice cream sandwich (which I never knew was possible) AND I don’t feel so guilty when I eat them! They are only 100 calories. They are also dairy free, so they would be perfect for anyone who is lactose intolerant!

So far I have only found them at Trader Joes, but I have not looked very hard anywhere else either. I’ve seen vanilla, coconut, and banana split flavor. Funny thing is, I don’t even like coconut, so don’t let that scare you off- it doesn’t actually taste like coconut!

The family I babysit for eats very healthy and organic and they alwaaays have these in stock, the kids love them!

So yeah, try them! J You will fall in love.