The ASHA Leader - February 2015 - (Page 46)

attend others' diagnostic or treatment sessions for educational purposes. One impressive example is the Craniofacial Clinic at the Children's Hospital of St. Louis. This clinic awards ASHA CEUs to school-based clinicians willing to expand their knowledge as they follow the treatment of their students (bit.ly/stlouis-slp). Onsite mentoring services aren't always easy to establish, however, so some clinicians use virtual mentoring to help fill the void. Experienced clinicians on Twitter, in specialty-specific Facebook groups, and in ASHA Special Interest Groups (www.asha.org/SIG) can point you to continuing education resources and provide feedback on your practices. When boning up on a new skill area, when would you feel "competent" enough to actually provide services? That depends on the area. If you're learning a new medical procedure such as fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing, a swallow study or feeding treatment, you need to work under the supervision of a seasoned clinician who can help determine when you are ready for independent practice. Set up under a specific set of guidelines, a situation like this could possibly qualify you for ASHA CEUs under ASHA's Independent Study program (on.asha.org/independent-study). And, once you've established yourself, ASHA offers options to pursue clinical specialty certification in four areas (child language and language disorders, fluency and fluency disorders, swallowing and swallowing disorders, and intraoperative monitoring). More information is available through the Council for Clinical Certification in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (on.asha.org/ specialty-cert). You can use specialty certification to distinguish yourself from others in the profession, gain referrals and clearly show your advanced training and expertise to clients (see "Caring, With Competence," page 4). Let's take a look at several different routes professionals have taken to gain new skills. SLP Jennifer Lesher from Reading, Pennsylvania, wanted to switch from early intervention to providing services in schools, so she spent a year preparing before applying-reading books and articles, attending seminars and shadowing other professionals. Other areas of practice may be more "learn as you go," making self-evaluation an important tool for skill-building: SLP Linda Silver in Plainview, New York, has switched populations frequently throughout her career, providing services in traditional elementary and middle schools, special schools for children with autism, and an institution for children with behavioral issues and learning disabilities. Each time Silver changed populations, she used students' assessments to gauge her success. "I tried to be very thorough in pre/post testing to make sure I was actually having an impact, (and) went back to the books if I wasn't seeing steady progress." SLP Natalie Snyders of Oakwood, Illinois, recently posted on her blog (bit.ly/snyders-blog) about moving from an elementary school to a middle school. What changed most for her was presentation of her materials. "A big worry was making sure that (my) students didn't think (my) materials and ideas were too juvenile," Snyders says. She also adapted to changes in scheduling students in this new environment, focusing more on fostering their independence by having them take charge of their own attendance. For SLP Deb Kerner of McKinney, Texas, a mentor made all the difference when she moved to home health from the schools, where she'd spent 16 years. She read up and attended workshops on pediatric feeding, but her coup was landing a mentor with exemplary feeding therapy skills. During her two-year review, her mentor declared that she was a "feeding therapist," validation that she had indeed mastered her new niche. Our certification permits us to work with a wide range of issues-too many for any one clinician to master. But layers of overlap allow us to shift our focus based on client needs, changing markets and our own clinical interests. Never be afraid to branch out-but make sure you're well-prepared. Kim Swon Lewis, MEd, CCC-SLP, owns a pediatric private practice in Greensboro, North Carolina. She blogs creative ideas for speech-language treatment at www.activitytailor.com. kim.lewis@activitytailor.com · Regular testing-in this case, stepping into the treatment room-is one of the best ways to learn new material, even if our first performance doesn't go well. 46 February 2015 | THe aSHa Le aDer http://www.bit.ly/stlouis-slp http://www.asha.org/SIG http://www.bit.ly/snyders-blog http://on.asha.org/independent-study http://on.asha.org/specialty-cert http://on.asha.org/specialty-cert http://www.activitytailor.com

The ASHA Leader - February 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The ASHA Leader - February 2015