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Weekly Training: Monolingual Supervision of Bilingual Student Clinicians: Challenges and Opportunities

  • 1.  Weekly Training: Monolingual Supervision of Bilingual Student Clinicians: Challenges and Opportunities

    Posted 07-12-2017 11:25 AM

    "A concerted effort to preserve our heritage is a vital link to our cultural, educational, aesthetic, inspirational, and economic legacies -
    all of the things that quite literally make us who we are. "

    Steve Berry

     

    Weekly Training: Monolingual Supervision of Bilingual Student Clinicians: Challenges and Opportunities

    Many challenges and opportunities arise when a client and a student clinician share a language not spoken by the clinical educator who supervises the student clinician. Can a clinical educator meet the needs of both the student clinician and the client when supervising clinical interactions in a language he/she does not speak or understand? Read more…


    Peer Discussion:
    Have you experienced a situation where you and your client speak a language that your supervisor does not. How did you and your supervisor manage that interaction?

     

    Connect! Learn! Empower!



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    Melanie Johnson
    Membership Program Manager
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  • 2.  RE: Weekly Training: Monolingual Supervision of Bilingual Student Clinicians: Challenges and Opportunities

    Posted 07-12-2017 01:37 PM
    Hello everyone,

    I hope you all are having a great summer so far! Summer is a great time to relax and enjoy a break from school. This discussion post is a great topic to explore, as bilingualism is rapidly increasing in the nation. Cultural and linguistic diversity is a beautiful component of our field, and we need to make sure we try to incorporate as much cultural appreciation into our practice. We should strive to consider every aspect of each culture as unique and valuable. However, the language barriers that clinicians may face with a client who speaks another language than your own can be an interesting challenge. As stated in the article, how does supervision of a bilingual clinician actually happen with a monolingual clinician? A collaborative relationship between the student and the supervisor is vital to maintain communication, establish appropriate therapy goals, and provide the most appropriate services to the client. As students and clinicians, we must research about the client's primary language and become educated about the different linguistics involved. We must share any information that we may have had in the past with culturally and linguistically diverse clients to our supervisor. One example of this type of student-clinician relationship occurred in our clinic this past spring semester. My therapy partner and I had two bilingual twins who spoke in Spanish. The mother only spoke in Spanish, so my therapy partner and I had to translate the client's information to our supervisor, who was monolingual. The therapy consisted of basic labeling and word utterances. However, it was our goal that we developed the appropriate therapy plan and goals for the children based upon our previous experiences with monolingual and bilingual children. This experience was truly a learning one, and we both felt as though we helped the twins. We also felt that regular communication with our supervisor was imperative to maintain a steady flow in therapy. After this therapy experience, I can say that I have a much greater appreciation for all of the bilingual speech-language pathologists who work tirelessly to ensure that their clients are not missing out on key therapy based on their language differences. Multiculturalism and bilingualism is a truly beautiful aspect of our field, and we need to make sure that we are well educated regarding this topic.

    Have a great week everyone! 


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    Mary Wyatt
    LA
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