kelchansayss
Jan 8, 2013
Graduate / Plan for helping children to live independently (SLP); Speech Pathology SOP [4]
The Statement of Professional Goals offers you an opportunity to discuss the talents, experiences and goals that qualify you for acceptance to the graduate program at St. John's University. In preparing your statement, please realize that the Graduate Admission Committee is seeking evidence of your qualifications and aptitude, as well as your ability to communicate clearly and professionally. You should incorporate the following in your statement:
- Your reason for pursuing graduate study at St. John's University
- Your personal background
- Your academic background
- Your work experience
- Your future plans
- Other information that may be of special interest and importance to the Graduate Admission Committee
(No limit of length was given, should I shorten this statement anyway?)
Growing up as a nationally-competing gymnast instilled a sense of fearlessness in me. As a child, this meant being unafraid to stand on a four-inch balance beam while doing flips. Years later, I learned to translate this physical fearlessness into mental boldness in order to fulfill my self-directed challenges and goals. Early on in life, this audacity, self-discipline and perseverance helped empower me to achieve my second-degree black belt in mixed martial arts in only four short years. It also contributed to my accomplishments in Circle K International, a Service Leadership Program of Kiwanis International, in which I have served as a club president, lieutenant governor, and a servant-leader completing nearly 2,000 hours of service. I would now like to introduce myself as Kelly Chan, a future Speech Language Pathologist.
I make this prediction for my future with the same certainty with which I state my past accomplishments. While this goal has yet to be realized, I know, with absolute conviction, that it will be.
About six years ago, I was hired as an instructor at Tiger Schulmann's Mixed Martial Arts in Bayside, New York. I taught classes as well as private lessons to students who, due to various development disabilities, could not be placed in classes with other students. Because I do not have a brother with Autism, a sister with Down Syndrome, nor is my mom a SLP, this was my first genuine exposure to these populations. One such student was Gregory, a four-year old boy with Autism and communication disorders. He was extremely intelligent and did not have any particular behavioral problems, but when speaking with Gregory, it seemed unclear if he was actually giving you his attention because he refused all attempts at eye contact. He would sway his body, turn his head in different directions without reason, and mumble to himself.
When I began working with Gregory, I was nervous and considered myself unqualified for what felt like the biggest responsibility I had ever been assigned. My boss told me not to worry because he felt instinctively that Gregory trusted me over the other instructors. This trust became the basis for building a productive means to connect with Gregory.
I would start my lessons with Gregory by talking with him about his day, asking him if he wanted to show me anything. Gregory was a very animated child and always manifested some sort of physical action to accompany his stories. Soon enough, I began to use these "actions" as the basis upon which I could teach our curriculum.
Gregory had surgery a few months after I began working with him and stopped taking lessons shortly thereafter. While my time working with Gregory was brief, I learned a valuable lesson about how a child's unique behaviors can actually become the conduit for introducing instruction and learning.
Around the time I worked with Gregory, I also began working with Luke, an eight-year-old boy with AD/HD and Autism. While Gregory had been calm and passive, Luke was very hyperactive and aggressive. Initially, significant portions of our private lessons involved me chasing him as he attempted to escape through the emergency exit.
When Luke was agitated, I would try to calm him down by asking him questions to stimulate his speech. He had echolalia but he was able to produce some utterances. I found that if I asked him to tell me the color of objects, he would always respond, so this became an ongoing routine for us. I worked with Luke for around a year before I left for college. I felt I had helped Luke progress in his martial arts abilities, but I had a difficult time parting ways with him because I felt like I was still in the early stages of establishing a mutual relationship with him. By the time of our final lesson, he had stopped running away from me, and he had begun to recognize the routine I constructed for him. For Luke, these were major accomplishments.
Several of my students' parents urged me to consider a career in communication disorders, given how well I had worked with Gregory, Luke and some other children. I decided to explore the field mostly because the idea of helping to provide the gift of communication and self-expression sounded tremendously rewarding. After I was accepted to the Communication Sciences & Disorders major, I immersed myself in it by taking Introduction to Communication Disorders, Phonetics and Psycholinguistics all in one semester. These courses gave me a fuller understanding of what to expect as I progressed in the field. Armed with a new lexicon, I became more conscious of individuals in need of or receiving speech therapy and more committed to pursuing a career that provided me the opportunity to help them receive it.
My objective in completing the graduate program at St. John's University is to be able to appropriately diagnose clients and help them reach their fullest potential by maximizing on their capabilities. Through my studies I expect to find common trends in successful approaches, and I would like to provide early intervention to prevent children from missing their critical windows of development. I know that the Speech and Hearing Center at St. John's will give me the opportunity to practice the approaches I will learn in the classroom as well as diagnose patients. While there is no cure for the populations with whom I have chosen to work, my goal is to give these children skills and strategies that can make everyday life easier. In addition, I would highly encourage and provide family education in order to reinforce appropriate communication skills in natural environments.
I understand that clients, particularly children with Autism or Down Syndrome can be difficult to work with, with my experience and passion, I am ready to accept this challenge. I have seen how these children struggle to express their basic needs like hunger or tiredness but at the same time, were motivated to work on their communication one-on-one with the SLP. This shared motivation inspires me to pursue a career as a SLP who will not only improve speech and language, but will also devise a unique plan that will assist children to live independently.
The Statement of Professional Goals offers you an opportunity to discuss the talents, experiences and goals that qualify you for acceptance to the graduate program at St. John's University. In preparing your statement, please realize that the Graduate Admission Committee is seeking evidence of your qualifications and aptitude, as well as your ability to communicate clearly and professionally. You should incorporate the following in your statement:
- Your reason for pursuing graduate study at St. John's University
- Your personal background
- Your academic background
- Your work experience
- Your future plans
- Other information that may be of special interest and importance to the Graduate Admission Committee
(No limit of length was given, should I shorten this statement anyway?)
Growing up as a nationally-competing gymnast instilled a sense of fearlessness in me. As a child, this meant being unafraid to stand on a four-inch balance beam while doing flips. Years later, I learned to translate this physical fearlessness into mental boldness in order to fulfill my self-directed challenges and goals. Early on in life, this audacity, self-discipline and perseverance helped empower me to achieve my second-degree black belt in mixed martial arts in only four short years. It also contributed to my accomplishments in Circle K International, a Service Leadership Program of Kiwanis International, in which I have served as a club president, lieutenant governor, and a servant-leader completing nearly 2,000 hours of service. I would now like to introduce myself as Kelly Chan, a future Speech Language Pathologist.
I make this prediction for my future with the same certainty with which I state my past accomplishments. While this goal has yet to be realized, I know, with absolute conviction, that it will be.
About six years ago, I was hired as an instructor at Tiger Schulmann's Mixed Martial Arts in Bayside, New York. I taught classes as well as private lessons to students who, due to various development disabilities, could not be placed in classes with other students. Because I do not have a brother with Autism, a sister with Down Syndrome, nor is my mom a SLP, this was my first genuine exposure to these populations. One such student was Gregory, a four-year old boy with Autism and communication disorders. He was extremely intelligent and did not have any particular behavioral problems, but when speaking with Gregory, it seemed unclear if he was actually giving you his attention because he refused all attempts at eye contact. He would sway his body, turn his head in different directions without reason, and mumble to himself.
When I began working with Gregory, I was nervous and considered myself unqualified for what felt like the biggest responsibility I had ever been assigned. My boss told me not to worry because he felt instinctively that Gregory trusted me over the other instructors. This trust became the basis for building a productive means to connect with Gregory.
I would start my lessons with Gregory by talking with him about his day, asking him if he wanted to show me anything. Gregory was a very animated child and always manifested some sort of physical action to accompany his stories. Soon enough, I began to use these "actions" as the basis upon which I could teach our curriculum.
Gregory had surgery a few months after I began working with him and stopped taking lessons shortly thereafter. While my time working with Gregory was brief, I learned a valuable lesson about how a child's unique behaviors can actually become the conduit for introducing instruction and learning.
Around the time I worked with Gregory, I also began working with Luke, an eight-year-old boy with AD/HD and Autism. While Gregory had been calm and passive, Luke was very hyperactive and aggressive. Initially, significant portions of our private lessons involved me chasing him as he attempted to escape through the emergency exit.
When Luke was agitated, I would try to calm him down by asking him questions to stimulate his speech. He had echolalia but he was able to produce some utterances. I found that if I asked him to tell me the color of objects, he would always respond, so this became an ongoing routine for us. I worked with Luke for around a year before I left for college. I felt I had helped Luke progress in his martial arts abilities, but I had a difficult time parting ways with him because I felt like I was still in the early stages of establishing a mutual relationship with him. By the time of our final lesson, he had stopped running away from me, and he had begun to recognize the routine I constructed for him. For Luke, these were major accomplishments.
Several of my students' parents urged me to consider a career in communication disorders, given how well I had worked with Gregory, Luke and some other children. I decided to explore the field mostly because the idea of helping to provide the gift of communication and self-expression sounded tremendously rewarding. After I was accepted to the Communication Sciences & Disorders major, I immersed myself in it by taking Introduction to Communication Disorders, Phonetics and Psycholinguistics all in one semester. These courses gave me a fuller understanding of what to expect as I progressed in the field. Armed with a new lexicon, I became more conscious of individuals in need of or receiving speech therapy and more committed to pursuing a career that provided me the opportunity to help them receive it.
My objective in completing the graduate program at St. John's University is to be able to appropriately diagnose clients and help them reach their fullest potential by maximizing on their capabilities. Through my studies I expect to find common trends in successful approaches, and I would like to provide early intervention to prevent children from missing their critical windows of development. I know that the Speech and Hearing Center at St. John's will give me the opportunity to practice the approaches I will learn in the classroom as well as diagnose patients. While there is no cure for the populations with whom I have chosen to work, my goal is to give these children skills and strategies that can make everyday life easier. In addition, I would highly encourage and provide family education in order to reinforce appropriate communication skills in natural environments.
I understand that clients, particularly children with Autism or Down Syndrome can be difficult to work with, with my experience and passion, I am ready to accept this challenge. I have seen how these children struggle to express their basic needs like hunger or tiredness but at the same time, were motivated to work on their communication one-on-one with the SLP. This shared motivation inspires me to pursue a career as a SLP who will not only improve speech and language, but will also devise a unique plan that will assist children to live independently.