[Dysphagia] Qualifications

[sem at new-vis.com (Suzanne Morris)]

I think that it is a mistake to assume that our education programs in  
communication disorders can prepare graduate students for competency  
in every area of our field.   Even in the area of dysphagia, the  
depth of skills required in different practice settings is extremely  
diverse.   Therapists in pediatrics, for example, build on a common  
set of understandings and skills related to how the feeding and  
swallowing system works and overall strategies of intervention.   
However it is the integration of this information with so many other  
factors (age, setting, diagnosis, family and school factors) that  
allows that information to be applied in a way that can make a  
difference for the child and family.  Information is constantly  
changing, in every field.   Even our understanding of anatomy and  
physiology of all systems in the body changes over time.   Spending  
time to provide in-depth education in all or specialized areas of  
dysphagia can become quite misleading. Over time, most of what we  
learn becomes obsolete.  The focus of education programs (university  
and continuing education) should be on thinking, problem-solving and  
working with changing understandings and paradigms. These can  
culminate in understanding how to develop strategies for assessment  
and treatment that build on what is known through research and at the  
same time allow for the cutting-edge creative thinking that enables  
future validation through research that lead to new approaches and  
new paradigms.  The problems arise, however, when therapists and  
employers make the assumption that learning is or should be complete  
when the Masters or Doctoral degree is granted.  One of my biggest  
concerns is the frequent unwillingness of employers to release  
therapists to attend longer or more in-depth continuing education  
workshops that could give them a current state-of-the-art  
understanding of targeted areas of the field of information.   My  
teaching is entirely in the area of Continuing Education.   So many  
therapists tell me that their employers will not release them to  
attend a workshop on a work-day unless they take vacation time.    
Many therapists are not willing to do this. Or they will attend a 1- 
day (Saturday) workshop and feel that they have full understanding  
and skills to apply the information.   University programs need to  
emphasize the importance of taking regular continuing education  
workshops to establish the more in-depth understanding of areas that  
are directly applicable to the setting in which the therapist is  
employed.  ASHA needs to take a strong professional stand to let  
employers know how important it is to support therapists (in time and  
money) in taking more in-depth continuing education programs.  They  
have a system of accrediting CEU providers, but the missing link is  
still helping others know how essential this is in providing high  
quality services within the agencies that employ therapists.

Suzanne
__________________________________
Suzanne Evans Morris, Ph.D.
Speech-Language Pathologist
New Visions
1124 Roberts Mountain Rd.
Faber, VA 22938
(434) 361-2285 ext. 5
www.new-vis.com


On Mar 7, 2006, at 3:16 PM, Bassani, Heidi D Ms WRAMC-Wash DC wrote:

> I personally think that Speech Pathology needs to be a bit more
> compartmentalized than it is currently in this country.  The fact that
> Masters programs are teaching a huge amount of info in a short  
> period of
> time is regrettable given the undeniable fact that many people come  
> into
> the field with a specialty (at least in terms of adult vs. peds) in
> mind.  I hope that as we look toward a PhD (or an ScD) in SLP as
> audiology has done, this will help the matter.