Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics. Answer: Introduction: Speech Pathologists are expected to professionally engage in various platforms with their clients, employers, as well as their clients significant others. These workers are expected to be competent in their jobs to provide the best results. There are certain standards that these workers are supposed to uphold (Ho, Whitehill, Ciocca, 2014). For entry levels, speech pathologists are expected to show that they are competent in all the units relating to pediatric as well as adult speech pathology of the competency based occupational standards (CBOS). These areas consist of the language, the voice used, swallowing, speech, fluency and multi modal communication. Students in this field, therefore, need to be competent before they can start practicing the profession. In Australia, a tool that is used to gauge how students are performing in their placements is the Competency Assessment in Speech Therapy (COMPASS). This tool has four units that collectively determine how well a student is performing (Bowen, 2014). These include; professionalism, lifelong learning, communication as well as reasoning. Reasoning refers to the assessment of a given situation in a manner that is both sensible and logical. In the past, reasoning has applied in my life in a myriad of ways. One such instance was when I had to choose a course to pursue. The choices included pathology, teaching, and engineering. I have always felt that I have a passion for speech pathology which could be attributed to the fact that my elder brother used to stammer earlier on in his life and I wished I could help him. However, I was good at physics. Teaching, however, did not appeal to me in any way. Therefore, after thinking critically about what each decision would mean, I decided to follow my passion and become a speech pathologist Communication refers to the process of passing and receiving information to convey a given message. Communication is very vital because it is the tool that people use to fulfill their various needs be they vocational, educational, social, or emotional (Mcallister et al., 2009). Communication could be oral or written. It can also be verbal or non-verbal, and it takes into consideration the voice used to communicate as well as the fluency in communication. A situation where communication applied in my life, was when I needed to inform my parents about the course I had chosen to pursue. In so doing, I effectively explained that I am passionate about speech pathology and I believe that I will do an excellent job in practicing it. Lifelong learning refers to the continued search for information and reading it to better ones understanding of a particular or different types of information (Australia, 2011). I have applied lifelong learning in my daily life. I have a keen interest in matters relating to investment strategies. I continuously study the concept to know what is happening in the markets and other investment related areas and apply it. This leads to better performance for my portfolio that keeps on improving over time. Professionalism is the act of practicing in a given line of work, by someone who has received training in that field for a given amount of time and has, therefore, gained the formal qualification to work (Mcallister, 2005). I have applied professionalism in speech pathology. For instance, whenever we are required to demonstrate how to work in this profession, I follow the expected policies. These policies are regarding dress, language, behavior that follows the code of ethics, and conventional procedures (Kenny, Lincoln, Balandin, 2007). Occupational competencies are made up of seven units with different activities (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2007). These include; lifelong learning and reflective practice, professional and supervisory activities, management and planning, implementation, gathering evidence relating to speech pathology, analysis and interpretation, and assessment of the problem. These units further have elements that explain them in more detail. The elements on the other hand are further defined in criteria that assess performance which aid the assessors to conclude how students are performing. For this study, lets consider the elements within unit three and unit one. Unit three involves the planning of evidence based on speech pathology practices. It means taking in evidence and planning for the speech pathology activity based on the collected information. Element 3.3 in this unit seeks to discuss the outcomes that may be long term with an individual client or with others who have a relationship with the client in a bid to decide if strategies relating to speech pathology are needed or suitable. Element 3.3 is a goal that I would like to develop during my clinical placement. This is because it is vital to identify whether an individual strategy of speech therapy is suitable for the client before carrying it out. By so doing, the activity will bring in the expected results. Otherwise, the effects may be detrimental to the clients speech or swallowing and instead of bringing progress, the action may be retrogressive. By having the clients significant others bring in input concerning the client and themselves, this ensures that the speech pathologist can make an informed decision (Ferguson, Duffield, Worrall, 2010). Therefore, one of my first goals would be to carry out a background check on clients by sourcing for information from the people that surround them. With this in mind, I would progress to analyze and find out the best strategies to proceed with in the speech pathology exercise and hence avoid mistakes. Unit one, on the other hand, involves assessment. The first element of unit one, element 1.1, requires the investigation as well as documentation of the clients issues. These problems could have to do with swallowing or communication in which case the primary concerns the client are explored in a bid to address and correct them. The goal achieved in addressing this element is that with the proper assessment of the clients concern, as a speech pathologist, I can know what exactly am dealing with and it is, therefore, effortless to begin the speech pathology process. This is, therefore, the very first step when practicing as a speech pathologist. It is therefore evident that all the units in occupational competence are vital when dealing with clients who have various concerns. The elements in these units are crucial as well and should be well executed to achieve the best results. Speech pathologists should, therefore, take advantage of both the units and their elements when assisting clients. References American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2007). Scope of the practice in speech-language pathology. Australia, T. S. P. A. of. (2011). Competency-oriented Occupational Standards for Speech Pathologists: initial Level. Bowen, C. (2014). Policy and Practice. Webwords 49, 11.8 Ferguson, A., Duffield, G., Worrall, L. (2010). Legal decision-making by people who have aphasia: important incidents for speech pathologists. International Journal of Language Communication Disorders, 28(12), 102116. Ho, D. W. L., Whitehill, T. L., Ciocca, V. (2014). Performance of speech-language pathology students in issue-based learning tutorials and in clinical practice. Clinical Linguistics Phonetics, 45(2), 244258. Kenny, B., Lincoln, M., Balandin, S. (2007). Designing proper evaluataion of students competency in the workplace, 232. Mcallister, S. (2005). Competency Based Evaluation of Speech Pathology Students Performance in the Workplace. Published Thesis, The University of Sydney, (June). Mcallister, S., Lincoln, M., Ferguson, A., Mcallister, L., Mcallister, S., Lincoln, M., Mcallister, L. (2009). A dynamic model of ethical thinking in speech pathology. J Med Ethics, 28(7), 905908.