My Profession

I was asked to explain my profession of interest to you all so here it goes! 

I am a Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences (SLHS) major. Students in my program learn to understand and break down speech and language into the core building blocks in order to help those who need help with speech, language, or hearing. As a student in this field, I have to be able to understand how speech is different from language and understand the principles of Audiology. My major is primarily for those wishing to pursue a graduate degree in either speech pathology or audiology. From there, these students either become a speech pathologist, an Audiologist, or a teacher in one of these areas. The frusterating and beautiful thing about my major is that my peers and I are always divided. Speech and Audiology are so similar and yet so different that the class is usually clearly defined; a little under half of the students in my core classes prefer audiology and dislike speech, and a little more than half prefer speech and dislike audiology. You will probably never find a student in my major who is undecided between the two fields. 

I was drawn to this field in an attempt to rediscover the zest for life I lost as a nursing major. I am a transfer from New York, and being a nursing major for three years crushed my love of learning and life in general. Once I knew that I wanted to work with toddlers, it was hard to see myself as a nurse who holds down the screaming three year old while I inject a painful shot. So as I hunted down the next step in my life I can across Speech pathology and loved it. 

I am currently studying in an internship under Dr. Beeson, head of the department of SLHS and one of the most well known professionals in our field. She is nationally known for her wisdom and genius articles published. ASHA, American Speech, Language, Hearing Association, is the leading certificate program in our field. We strive to uphold the highest ASHA standards, read ASHA magazines, follow their pobcasts, and follow their protocols. ASHA is HUGE in our field as everything revolves around it. ASHA is the most highly regarded and awarded program, but there are a few other articles and journals we look to. NSSLHA, National Student Speech Language Hearing Association, is a huge database for our field as well. Written by students, published by students, it is a great tool for students to participate in and learn from. The American Journal of Audiology is a big site for those interested in Audiology and is published by ASHA.