NSSLHA Meeting 3/2/09
Anne Preddy
- Works at the VA Hospital in Long Beach → doing CFY
- Sees in-patients and out-patients
- Cognitive evaluation and treatment – see many veterans with mild TBI. Does cognitive therapy and compensatory strategies training
- Swallowing evaluation and treatment – bed side swallowing evaluation, modified barium swallowing test, and FEES (flourscopic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing)
- Speech evaluation and treatment – do standardized and informal assessment, compensatory strategy training, recommends oral prosthesis, electro-larynx
- Voice evaluation and treatment – functional and organic voice disorders, standardized testing and informal assessment, compensatory speech strategies
- Language evaluation and treatment – aphasia from stroke, brain tumors
- AAC and cognitive prosthetic devices- help with speech, memory, organization
- A perk of working at the VA is that there aren’t the funding issues that you normally have to deal with at other hospitals → can get expensive devices easily
- Train families and collaborate with them
- Why work in a hospital?
- great variety
- can work with children and adults, depending on the setting
- colloboration → team of SLPs, interdisciplinary tea, VA hospital system
team
- have flexibility of patients you would like to work with
- learning opportunities and continuing education
- challenging, never boring
- rewarding
- Why not work in the hospital? Long hours, not as much vacation, “yuck” factor
- Email: Anne.Preddy@va.gov → for questions and/or if you want to shadow
her
- What is the paperwork like? Taking her a while now because she is new at it. Everything is computerized. It’s a lot of paperwork.
How much individual vs. group therapy do you do? 80% individual, 20% group. Have stroke group, teaching how to use palm pilots for patients with cognitive deficits.
Blanca Hatim
- works at a highschool in Alhambra
- she likes working at a highschool because the kids can stay still, can have a conversation with them
- can work in public or private school
- district or agency paid
- not hard to find a job → when you do your externship, you will be offered a job
- find jobs at edjoin.org → helpful to start looking now so you get the hang of it
- sign up for Advance magazine → have job postings
Why School?
- kids, competitive salary, 10- month contract, extra pay for summer work, decent work schedule (7 or 8 hour day)
- all student holidays off, full health and medical benefits, retirement benefits, union support, peer support
Downsides?
- school budget cuts → conference and supplies, caseloads (state avg. 55), paperwork, reports (about the same as CSULA clinic)
- paperwork isn’t that bad for her since her caseload is 37 students
- variety of needs → MR, down syndrome, autism, Aspergers, specific learning disability, etc..
Variety of Needs
- work on semantics (vocabulary building), syntax (grammar, sentence structure), morphology (internal structure of words), pragmatics (social skills), voice, articulation, fluency (stuttering)
1st Year Requirement
- called CFY or RPE year
- requires supervision by licensed SLP
