A Day in My Life as a Graduate Student in Speech Language Pathology

 

Graduate school. It's notorious for being a difficult, social-life sucking schedule that is more like full time school and a full time job in one. But I felt like I was ready for it. I was a good student in undergrad, heck I graduated summa cum laude. Of course I could handle grad school, even if it was a bit harder. 

Oof -- starting grad school felt like getting slapped in the face with a big handful of reality. With three night classes per week, two day classes, a graduate assistantship, and my clients, I find myself on campus most days for 10-12 hours. 

The silver linings in this busyness, however, are undeniable. I am learning more in this one intensely jam-packed semester than I learned in all of undergrad. The practical experience I am gaining from working with clients everyday is so hands on and instantly connects the classwork I have in my brain to the implications of that work in the real world. The other silver lining is my cohort. There are about 43 of us (I believe) and we are already a family. We all know each other by name, and I always know when I walk into our lounge that there will be several familiar faces ready to greet me, ask about how that thing I had this weekend went, and offer encouragement and ideas for a particularly tough client case I am stuck on. They make it all worth it. 

So without further ado, a day in my life...

7:00 am: I wake up in my sweet, tiny little studio apartment. I get out my yoga mat to start the day with some stretching, mindfulness, and gratitude. I make some coffee, eat some breakfast, pack a lunch and a dinner, and am on my way.

9:30 am: I arrive at Marquette. I go straight to the Speech and Swallowing Lab where I work for my grad assistantship. We focus on neuro-motor speech disorders, typically as a result of stroke or traumatic brain injury. Right now, I am working on acoustic analysis of speech samples we have gathered from both dysarthric and nondysarthric speakers.

12:30 pm: Time to prep for my client! I go downstairs to our Marquette University Speech and Hearing Clinic, gather my materials I previously prepped, and get our therapy room set up. My client arrives at 1:00 pm. I've had three clients this semester. One adolescent with a speech sound disorder, one adult with a speech sound disorder, and one post-stroke adult with severe aphasia. I see my two speech sound clients twice a week. I saw my client with aphasia 3 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 3 weeks in an Intensive Aphasia Program offered by Marquette.

1:30 pm: I finish with my client, clean and sanitize the therapy room, and begin documentation for how today's session went. In our documentation we include subjective data, objective data, assessment of data, and recommendations for the next session.

2:00 pm: Time for class. Today I have Diagnostic Methods, where we talk about utilizing our critical thinking skills and background knowledge in all areas of our scope of practice to diagnose new clients. Our scope of practice includes speech, language, voice, fluency, pragmatics, dysphagia (swallowing), cognition, and alternative augmentative communication. We talk about screenings, informal assessments, and formal assessments for proper diagnosis across our scope.

3:15 pm: Time to go to the lounge for a break and some food finally! I eat my lunch, sit with friends from my cohort, and finally have some time to catch up on homework, studying, lesson planning, or documentation. I usually also eat my dinner during this time.

5:30 pm: Time for class. Tonight I have Voice Disorders, where we talk extensively about the fine anatomy and physiology of the vocal folds and the laryngeal mechanism. Did you know your tiny vocal folds have 5 very important histological (tissue) layers!? We learn about pathologies of the larynx, etiologies for these pathologies, instrumental assessment of the larynx, and treatment for each pathology. 

8:15 pm: I am done for today! I walk to my car with a group of friends, drive back to my sweet little home, unpack my lunch, and begin the school and/or client work I didn't have time to do at school today. I call my mom, drink some tea, and unwind from the day. 

10:00 pm: I'm in bed ready to do it all again tomorrow.

The busy schedule is intense and some days I feel like I can't do it. But I know it is temporary and it will all be worth it. I am so thankful to be getting my Masters degree in a field that I love so dearly.

xoxo, AIS