There are several areas of this profession that capture my interest. So far, it seems as every CD class I take, I always find myself saying well, maybe I want to do this. For ex. I really have my heart set out to work with kids. However, when we learned about dementia and saw some therapy on how to work with these patients, it changed my view on working with adults. I think I could work with adults where as before I only wanted to work with children. However, we’ll see as I get to experience working with both. However, the things that I am most interested in are articulation and phonological disorders in kids and TBI’s.

An articulation disorder is when a person has not learned a sound and fails to use it. For a phonological disorder, it is when a person can say the sound but they can not use it correctly. I know that we have spent a lot of time telling the difference between them both but sometimes I have a hard time. I feel that if I have to do this I am always afraid that I will misdiagnose someone and I do not want to do that. However, I find articulation and phonological disorders to be a challenging and rewarding process. I remember working with the kids at the daycare for the lab and it was so hard for them to answer our questions (phonemic awareness and we worked on stories); half the time I was on my hands and knees trying to understand their answers. Overall, I know the end results of working with these children and accomplishing my goals would be rewarding.

As for TBI’s we recently learned the different types, risk factors, how to tell if you are in a coma, how to assess ones progress, and we learned how to put a treatment plan together. I find this area to be really interesting. Here, a speech pathologist would have a different plan. They might not always being helping someone with their sounds. Here they may work with memorization skills, orientation, and how to interact appropriately with the environment, etc. This is why I love this field so much there is so much diversity. Supporting this is the fact that speech pathologists not only help people with sounds but also with skills such as memorization, orientation, etc. Speech pathologist are not limited to one thing and one thing only.

There are several things about both TBI’s and articulation and phonological disorders that I do not know about. We have learned a lot of information on what they are, how to develop a plan, and ultimately how to help them communicate better whether it is my helping them correct sounds or helping them with memorization skills. However, I would really like to know more about how the disorder affects them (Self-Esteem etc.) and their parents, and how peers/public views their disorder.

Essential Question: What is the most effective way that speech pathologists can help patients focus on treatment rather than on their disorder?