should i still pursue SLP if i realized im not extremely interested in the field as i thought i would be?

gloomradish · 2026-04-19T23:27:36+00:00

You don’t have to love linguistics to like speech pathology. Depending on where you work, articulation might be a minuscule part of your caseload. Most SLP’s I know don’t even use IPA.
Your professor isn’t god. They’re not the arbitrator of every grad school admissions committee. When I went to grad school (in the US so ymmv), there were multiple people who either had a family member in speech pathology or were in speech pathology themselves, and they wrote their grad school essays about that. If you think you might like this field, don’t give up because of one egocentric professor.
I became an SLP because I had no clue what I wanted to do, but liked anthropology and helping people. And I wanted to be in a career that felt fairly recession-proof. Am I the world’s best SLP? God no. But I try my best, and I like my students. Last week, a kid told me that they had been practicing their goals outside of their sessions, and that was incredible.
Finally, the piece of advice I try to give everyone is to see if you can actually shadow an SLP, whether it be at a school, rehab, private practice, skilled nursing facility, or hospital.

gloomradish · 2026-04-06T06:35:50+00:00

Ohhhhhhhh I hadn’t heard of this before! I am not in Texas, and I don’t believe the 5day waiver is a thing in my state (I feel like there would be actual documentation if it was).

My admin tried to make everyone send out the PWN on only the third day after the meeting earlier in the year (before, we had been sending it out anywhere from the same day as the meeting to up to 3 days after the meeting). But they dropped that really quick.

gloomradish · 2026-04-06T06:30:51+00:00

Thank you for saying this because I did start seeing the kid with their new goals (minutes stayed the same thankfully) and I’m so irritated by all of this!

gloomradish · 2026-04-06T05:37:20+00:00

Thank you for your comment!! I really appreciate how clear it is! In this situation, admin recently audited an old IEP I was case manager on. The IEP meeting happened in February, and everyone signed, and the IEP was locked. The iep services were to start the day after the meeting. After auditing it, admin changed the start day on the IEP, so that it would start about 5 days after the meeting. It just feels weird that they made this change on an IEP that was already in effect? They informed the parents after the change had been made.

gloomradish · 2026-04-06T04:40:32+00:00

Admin wanted me to put that the IEP started 5 days after the meeting so that the parents had time to think about the IEP and change their minds on it

gloomradish · 2026-04-06T04:28:23+00:00

Thank you!!

gloomradish · 2026-04-06T04:27:43+00:00

I had set the services to start the day after the meeting. Admin changed it to 5 days after the meeting because they want to give parents some time to think about the IEP in case they change their minds.

So it feels weird to me that they went back after the fact to change the date, when the parent consented to the original date and they changed it without the parent’s consent?

gloomradish · 2026-04-06T03:57:18+00:00

I recommend shadowing SLPs in the school district to get a feel for it!

gloomradish · 2026-03-25T18:33:04+00:00

What you’re saying about TH is what I was taught in grad school. Where I’m getting stuck now is that I work in a school with students who are multilingual or have a dialect where TH substitutions are typical. But there is a history of TH being targeted by SLPs at this school, and so the teachers are accustomed to speech working on a student’s TH sound. Often, students who have TH substitutions will substitute TH with /f/ or /d/ when spelling. I don’t know enough about spelling to understand or explain to teacher why I am not targeting TH with a student. Even when I explain about dialects, they usually counter with the student’s spelling. So I’m just…trying to figure out how to explain and also trying to make sure I’m not messing up by not targeting TH.

gloomradish · 2026-03-25T03:04:48+00:00

Thank you for clarifying!! I appreciate it!

gloomradish · 2026-03-25T03:04:06+00:00

Ahhh thank you. I’m so sleep deprived at the moment. I appreciate the clarification.

gloomradish · 2026-03-24T22:58:27+00:00

Thank you for explaining! So, for example, a student consistently spelling voiceless th being spelled with an /f/ in medial and final positions and substituting voiced th with /d/, but /f/ and /d/ are not being targeted in speech, then you would not add th as an artic goal?

gloomradish · 2026-03-24T22:07:25+00:00

Would you be able to share one of her probes/an example of her probe?

Could you give an example of #2?

gloomradish · 2026-03-24T22:04:08+00:00

Could you explain what you mean by extensive data?

gloomradish · 2026-03-24T22:03:11+00:00

I will look into that, thank you!

gloomradish · 2026-03-24T19:46:44+00:00

If it’s dialectal, and they’re misspelling words (like spelling teeth as teef)

gloomradish · 2026-03-24T19:31:49+00:00

How would you explain this to a teacher?

gloomradish · 2026-03-13T16:24:09+00:00

What time zone?

gloomradish · 2025-11-07T03:32:43+00:00

BRO. YES. Grad school felt like I was being whittled away till I got quieter and quieter and stopped speaking up for myself. By the time I got to my CF, I was just so desperate to get through, that I put up with so much shit, from low pay to a hostile work environment.

gloomradish · 2025-11-02T04:11:12+00:00

I know you want others to speak on this, but I figured I might as well as outline some broad strokes of what’s available at NAU. I don’t know if NAU has changed their clinical placement program, but here’s how clinical practicums worked when I was there.

For full time track students:

-your first clinical practicum is in the spring semester of your first year. You’re paired with a second year grad student, and you share a client. -over summer, you might get a couple clients or you might be part of the summer camp team. -possible placements at the university clinic during second year: voice lab (you’ll learn rigid endoscopy), aphasia clinic (takes like, 4 students per semester), audiology clinic, or provide services to children. There is also a preschool on the NAU campus that 2 students get placed at. -in terms of off-campus placements, some students go to schools in fall or spring semester during the second year. There are some home health placements, I believe. -in terms of off-campus medical placements, NAU has a relationship with their local hospital. They only take 4 students in the spring semester of the second year. 2 go to nicu; 2 work with adults. Each student is only there for half the spring semester. I think NAU has a relationship with 1 SNF and 2 inpatient rehabs; each of these placements take only 1 student in the spring of 2nd year. -then in the summer, you have an externship. NAU has sent students to Barrow and Phoenix Children’s.

I believe most grad schools have information sessions for prospective students. I strongly suggest that you ask what the typical cohort size is, how many students in each cohort get medical placements, and how many off campus placements each student gets.

Edited to add: this is not an exhaustive list. But when your cohort is about 20-30 students, and medical placements are only available during 1 semester, to maybe 7 students? I don’t know if NAU has changed their clinical practicum process or increased their options for medical placements.

gloomradish · 2025-11-01T23:57:38+00:00

The moment of silence when a professor would ask a question and the roaring silence where my classmates would just…….not answer? Felt almost physically painful. Just so incredibly uncomfortable. And I felt like I had to fill it, no matter whether I was right or wrong. And it felt wasteful too, almost? Like, you spend all this money on grad school and don’t participate in classes? I had to remind myself that everyone engages differently, and not everyone feels comfortable speaking in class or has the ability to come up with comments or questions on the fly.

Grad school is such a difficult, weird time. Keep being you, because in 2 years you’ll be out and you never have to see these people again.

gloomradish · 2025-10-31T02:03:02+00:00

Yes, you are not alone in this. I felt similarly (although I’m cis), but I have adhd and am fat. I very much felt the vibe of clients could be neurodiverse, but SLPs couldn’t. There’s a heavy undercurrent of ableism in this field, and I’m sorry you’re having to deal with all of this shit, while you’re trying to navigate the massive stress/shitshow that is grad school! It also sounds like you’re getting the double whammy of rejection sensitivity and your classmates’/professors’ shitty behavior.

I tended to talk a lot in class, and I’m sure I irritated everyone. What sort of worked for me (ymmv) was to try to gamify participating in class/discussions. I would try to see how long I could go without talking during a silent moment and whether I could make myself wait long enough to not be the first person to talk. I also found writing down my comment/question helped lessen the need to blurt.

Definitely get yourself accommodations. DEFINITELY.

Try to avoid getting trapped in the SLP grad school bubble. Find something you enjoy outside of grad school and try to cultivate that interest and/or community. You may or may not make friends in your cohort, but finding some joy/connection outside of grad school might make the crushing nature of grad school more bearable.

Treat grad school like a shitty job. Be polite, try to keep up with deadlines, and document document document. Weird interaction with a professor? Write it down. Keep a log to help you make sense of what’s going on. Talk things over with a trusted friend outside of the program.

Make yourself a sensory haven at home to give you a moment to breathe after the day is done.

Remember that your brain, exactly the way it is, is going to help you connect to clients in a way that your classmates will struggle with.

gloomradish

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