My placement with C&D: Hollie
Hollie recently had a placement with us at C&D! She is studying Speech and Language Therapy at the University of Essex. The Essex Team loved having her with them! Here are some of Hollie’s favourite parts of the placement, as well as her tips for future students.
What have your days looked like on placement and who have you been working with in the C&D team?
My days on placement have all been so different. My days have included working with speech sound difficulties, social interaction, play, turn taking and language difficulties. Throughout my placement, I worked with Cassie, Natalie and Nicole, as well as independently. I really enjoyed working with all three therapists because I got to see how each of them carried out their sessions and how they delivered therapy and assessments in different ways. This also meant I got the privilege of learning from all 3 therapists.
“I really enjoyed working with... three therapists because I got to see how each of them carried out their sessions and how they delivered therapy and assessments in different ways.”
Did you have any rewarding moments with a client?
I experienced so many fantastic moments with my clients throughout this placement, mainly building the rapport with the children and getting to know them better week by week. This helped me tailor my resources and activities and helped with my confidence and delivering abilities.
A particular rewarding moment for me was working on the ‘l’ sound with a child who had been replacing it with ‘y’. After a number of sessions, it was so rewarding to hear the child use ‘l’ word initially on her own without any input from myself. This was so rewarding as it showed me the impact regular input can have on a child and the importance of therapy.
What ideas for therapy did you get that you’d like to use again?
I really enjoyed using (and making!) colourful semantics in my placement for SVO sentences, including making up silly sentences, and I would definitely use this again as it is so much fun for both myself as the therapist and for the child!
I also really enjoyed incorporating play within therapy sessions, which made it interesting and fun for the child which helped with engagement and reaching targets. I don’t think I have ever played so much pop up pirate!
I would also definitely use the attention bucket again, especially for pre-school and reception aged children. Attention Autism is a great tool to use for attention and listening and I really enjoyed delivering these tasks and singing the bucket song!
I also really enjoyed using apps on the iPad, particularly articulation station, there was lots of different ways to engage children with sounds in CVC, phrase and sentence level, from matching pairs to flashcards, and the children really enjoyed using the iPad in sessions.
Did you have any worries or concerns when you started the placement and how did they pan out?
“Natalie and Cassie were a huge support, as well as everyone else at C&D.”
The main worry I had when I started the placement was having my own case load. I felt very nervous for this because I had only learned about assessment at university so I wasn’t sure how I would create therapy plans relevant to the child’s targets. However, this concern disappeared completely after my first week of placement. Natalie and Cassie were a huge support, as well as everyone else at C&D. On my first day of placement I spent the day observing Natalie delivering therapy with the children on my case load and this really helped with my confidence. C&D also provided me lots of different resources to use for each child which was really helpful as it took the pressure off creating resources straight away. However as the placement went on, I loved finding and using new resources with my caseload. I definitely didn’t need to have any concerns regarding my own case load as C&D were so supportive and were there to help me whenever I needed it.
Was there anything that surprised you about the placement?
“I am so grateful I got placed at C&D”
What surprised me the most about this placement is how much I loved it. Before this placement, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to work in a paediatric setting, but I really enjoyed the whole 6 week placement and working with different children with a range of difficulties. This placement has completely converted me to paediatrics, and I absolutely loved every second of it and I am so grateful I got placed at C&D.
Which client group did you like working with the most?
This is a really difficult question to answer! I really enjoyed working with pre-school aged children in clinic because of the way play is used in therapy sessions, and how play can be used for speech and language targets. I also really enjoyed spending the day in a secondary school and doing assessments with older children and I also got to experience Lego therapy with them. This day was a real highlight on my placement. I also loved working with primary school aged children, and because I worked with this age group the most, I found it really enjoyable and was able to build a rapport with the children and make progress.
What are your top tips for students about to go on placement?
My top tips:
1. Prepare! Because you’re likely to have your own caseload and deliver therapy, make sure to plan, plan, plan! Create detailed plans for yourself and include step up and step downs. These are really important as not everything always goes to plan!
2. Say yes! This placement is fantastic for opportunities, Cassie and Natalie created so many opportunities for me to expand my knowledge, gain experiences and learn so much. Make sure you say yes to every opportunity given to you, as placement is the best place to learn and apply theory to practice.
3. Have fun and enjoy it! The time on placement goes so quickly, so make sure you allow yourself to truly enjoy the experience, children are so enjoyable to work with and they allow you to use lots of different tools and techniques so let yourself have fun with it.
What types of assessment did you get to use?
I was really fortunate to observe and carry out lots of different assessments! I administrated the RAPT, speech screens, TALC and a few CELF-5 subtests. I also got to observe an ICW informal assessment, CELF-5 subtests with older children in secondary school and the TALC-2.
What would you like to know more about or have more experience of since going on placement?
I would definitely like to know more about all ranges of AAC, from high tech to low tech and I would love to experience therapy for AAC users.
How has this placement prepared you for future placements?
This placement has prepared me for future placements as I have learnt the importance of session plans and recording data within sessions. These are skills I have practiced throughout my placement, and I will take forward into my future placements. Despite being really nervous about having my own caseload initially, I am really glad I got to have my own caseload in this placement, it was a fantastic way to learn and build my professional identity as a therapist. Giving feedback to parents and speaking to other professionals during this placement has also really improved my overall confidence and something I will feel much more comfortable doing in the future.
What has been the most interesting part of your placement?
The most interesting part of this placement for me was the setting. Throughout my degree, when speech and language therapy practice is discussed, I feel it’s with the NHS in mind. However, having this private sector experience has been so valuable and extremely interesting to see the level of care C&D deliver to clients and their families. It has also been interesting to see the dosage of therapy an independent clinic can provide and how this is such an important factor in making progress and reaching targets.
Would you recommend this placement to others? What would you change about it?
Absolutely! This placement has been fantastic and has shaped my professional identity. This was my first experience of a clinical setting, and I am so happy and grateful it was with C&D. The environment was so friendly and positive, and all the therapists were so welcoming and helpful, and I have learned so much from all of them. There is nothing I would change about C&D, it is a great placement and offers so many opportunities to learn and develop.