Paediatric Placement - the power of reflection!
“Reflection has long been documented as a strategy used by effective clinicians to improve practice.” - J McCluskey
Learning to reflect is a part of learning to become a competent clinician. As I write this I am reflecting on my own experience as a student on placement.
I remember being incredibly harsh on myself, feeling that I was not getting it (whatever “it” was) right! Trust me, the overly critical voice does go away eventually! You shift from thinking about yourself and what you did wrong to thinking about what the child did and what they need from you. Although it does take a little bit of time and practice to get to that place!
The reason reflection is so important as a clinician, is because we are the ones making decisions around care. We are the ones delivering therapy (whether that is direct therapy, a phone call, training) and we need time to consider the decisions we have made to ensure they are the right ones.
The reflective process usually involves cycling through the following steps…
Action (e.g. therapy session)
Time to review (reflection)
Next steps/ actions following the review
Reflection is a skill you must learn if you want to become an effective therapist. When you are a student it is useful to spend time writing out your reflections, it allows you to view your practice in a more objective way. Often when we are new to delivering therapy we can get very caught up in the feelings associated with the session. To help you reflect in a more objective way I have created a reflection framework plus a guide to support you through the process.
Download/ save the framework and guide to support you during your next placement.
If you do use them and find them helpful please let me know! You can find me on Instagram @sw_speechtherapy, or you can comment under this blog post!
I hope you have a super placement - You. Got. This.
P.S. Did you know I now have an Etsy shop where I create resources for SLTs to be on placement or in the first few weeks post grad? Want to check it out? Click here
References:
McCluskey J, Gallagher AL and Murphy CA. Reflective practice across speech and language therapy and education: a protocol for an integrative review [version 2; peer review: 3 approved]. HRB Open Res 2022, 4:29 (https://doi.org/10.12688/hrbopenres.13234.2)
10 things you should do before your paediatric speech therapy placement
Going on your first SLT placement - you will want to do these things to get prepared!
“Failing to plan is planning to fail” - Benjamin Franklin
Now if you are anything like me you will be feeling ALL the feelings about your first paediatric speech and language therapy placement! Excited to finally do the job, nervous that you don’t really know what you’re doing and apprehensive about what it will be like (will you even like being a therapist?).
First off I want to reassure you that in this situation Benjamin Franklin isn’t totally right about placement! You have been prepping and planning throughout your degree by learning about communication, speech sounds, linguistics, neurology, anatomy, child development…you have been planning. So don’t feel like you need to go into overdrive preparing for your placement. The point of placement is to learn. You will feel out of your depth, you’re supposed to! Try to embrace the feeling and just go with it, remember, your educator was you once.
If you do want to feel a little more prepped I’ve got you! Below is my 10 pre-placement actions that you should take if you want to feel that little more prepared. From things to buy, to things to read, this list has my top tips.
Save/ download the checklist to refer to later, and check out the links below for my placement prep must-haves!
P.S. did you know I now have an Etsy shop with resources for SLTs to be just like you? Want to check it out? Click here!
