Reflecting on your work, life, and educational experience, describe how you arrived at the decision to pursue a career in communication disorders/speech-language pathology. As we are unable to interview all applicants to our program, we like to use your essay as a way to get to know you. As you consider your response, do let your personality shine through so that we are able to get a good sense of who you are.
Growing up, I referred to a cell phone as a "seg phone," affectionately calling the device what my Polish mother did. I can still hear the teacher chuckling as she explained my mistake and remember how my mother and I laughed when I told her what I had learned that day. As a first generation American, my first taste of the communication obstacles that individuals can face related to my parents' bilingualism. This early experience with communication difficulties paired with my goal of working with individuals with autism has encouraged me to apply to the Communication Disorders master's program at ********.
My immigrant parents did an amazing job teaching themselves to communicate with my peers, their parents, and the teachers I had; however, there were often speed bumps along the way. Instances like the cell phone/"seg phone" confusion still happen all the time! Recently, my roommates informed me that what I use in the shower is called a loofah, not a sponge. While I love the little communication quirks that come with a multi-lingual family, not everyone is as accepting. I realized how difficult it could be for my parents to communicate during my sixth grade parent-teacher conference. My father, a Colombian, was having the toughest time asking my teacher about my performance in class. This young woman was either unable or unwilling to work around the communication barrier. Instead, she became rude enough that, as a sixth grader, I had to intervene and ask the questions for my father in order to alleviate the growing tension in the room.
Bilingualism initially interested me in studying communication disorders; however, it was in "Introduction to Communication Disorders," that I knew I had made the right choice in pursing speech-language pathology. Towards the end of the semester, we viewed a video about the rehabilitation of soldiers following traumatic brain injuries. Seeing how difficult it was for these heroes to speak, let alone swallow, and the techniques used to tackle the dysphagia and cognitive issues fascinated me - it was all I could talk about for days! This confirmation motivated me to shadow speech-language pathologists in private practice and school settings. With each experience, I learned about administering tests, planning lessons for students, and developing tactics for dealing with children who may not be as excited about therapy sessions as I am.
A particular experience while shadowing in a private practice opened yet another door in the field of speech-language pathology. One evening, three autistic children came in for a group session in which I was lucky enough to participate. The children were full of energy and unable to focus on the activities. A music therapist and speech pathologist led this session, so we used singing and games to help the children practice introducing themselves, taking turns with one another, and following directions. The focus of this session was on their social and pragmatic skills, but it was interesting to see how using songs could also target their articulation issues. This experience sparked my curiosity in the autistic population, thus pushing me to land an Undergraduate Research Assistant position in ******** studies. My ongoing experiences in this lab have helped me gain a greater understanding of the steps that go into large-scale studies while exposing me to the complexities of working with individuals with autism.
My interest in the autistic population has only grown stronger. During one speech pathology job shadow, I sat in on a session with a boy that had severe autism. This child had little to no expressive vocabulary and could not sit still. In an attempt to focus him, the speech pathologist brought out Play-Doh to use in an activity; within seconds, he had stuffed the substance in his mouth! I found the session to be completely overwhelming and had so many questions afterwards: Can he understand what we say to him? What techniques can be used to help him participate in an interaction?
To this day, I am just as curious about autism and how we can help this population. I believe that ******** can provide me with the education and opportunities necessary to put myself in a position to help individuals with autism. The work of ****** and the ***** Lab tackle questions that I would love to help answer. *******'s use of technology to discover more about the social-pragmatic language of this population is exactly the aspect of autism that I am interested in. The social isolation that plagues individuals with autism is what I believe to be the most significant consequence of this disorder. Learning more about their social-pragmatic language is the first step in developing therapy tactics for these individuals so that they are better able to relate to their peers. *********'s use of technology is something I have not yet been exposed to, but I would jump at the opportunity to be involved in this research.
******** provides incredible support to their students, offers a plethora of clinical placements in the Boston area, and has a reputation for producing strong speech-language pathologists. A goal I have set for myself is to go beyond becoming a speech-language pathologist. I hope to become a leader among my peers and I believe that with a degree from ******* I will be poised to do so.
