I usually spend Jan Plan taking a fun course on campus and spending my copious free time with my friends or doing other fun activities This year, however, I decided to do something different. Instead of taking a class for the month, I had an internship that could help me confirm the career path I want for myself and to get experience in that field.
For the month of January I shadowed a speech-language pathologist at Maine General and it was awesome. To summarize my Jan Plan experience in one sentence, I watched people swallow and speak for a month.
I first started really considering a career in speech pathology last fall after learning a little bit about language in a developmental psychology course. I realized I have always been interested in language, and speech pathology could be a perfect way to combine my love for working with children with a psychology background. As I began really thinking about it, there was one major issue: Colby doesn’t have a speech program. Our school offers practically no courses on linguistics or anything related to speech, so I knew pursuing this would require a lot of extra work. I’ll have to take many prerequisites in order to get into a graduate program for speech pathology, but until then I knew I had to get as much experience as possible. So, I decided to get an internship in the field for Jan Plan.
Throughout the month I shadowed a speech pathologist who works at outpatient clinics in Augusta and Oakland and at the hospital in Waterville. I learned so much and met so many interesting people. I got to experience the medical side of speech pathology that I previously knew nothing about. A typical day consisted of observing appointments ranging from evaluations to watching videostroboscopies, a procedure where the therapist takes a scope and looks past the patient’s tongue and epiglottis to view the vocal cords. A tiny camera attached to the scope takes a video of the vocal cords as the patient makes different sounds like “ahhh” and “eee.” The device uses a strobe light in order to capture the rapid movements of the vocal cords. This helps the speech therapist determine if there is irritation of the larynx due to reflux, if the patient has vocal cord dysfunction, or if there is some other issue causing various problems with swallowing, coughing, and voice. She reviewed each video in great detail, and looking over her shoulder as she did so allowed me to learn so much. The procedure was easier for some patients than others and I witnessed a whole lot of gagging, but hey, I guess it’s good to experience the good, the bad, and the ugly of speech pathology.
Another common appointment I observed was with individuals recovering from strokes. These sessions caused me to be far more emotional than I ever thought I would be during this internship. Seeing patients as young as their 30s using all their effort just to get small sentences out was both heartbreaking and inspiring. I saw some of the most supportive spouses in the world and admired the strength of all of the patients I met. It was amazing to watch the patients light up after each small victory, and I learned so much all the while, like what kind of activities help people with aphasia (the loss of ability to understand or express speech) and apraxia (the inability to perform learned movements on command, even though the command is understood and there is a willingness to perform the movement). I even got to create activities for different patients I got to know during the month. It was so rewarding to see one patient giggle when she saw a photo I used for her activity, or to see how effective my exercise was for another stroke patient.
When the 3.5 weeks of my internship ended and I officially completed 100 hours of work, I was exhausted, but so grateful. Although it’s unfortunate that I can’t take any courses on speech at Colby, I feel like it was even more beneficial to receive this hands-on experience. It’s important to go after the things you want. If there’s something you’re interested in and Colby doesn’t offer courses on it, don’t let that stop you. There are so many resources at Colby to help you experience anything you can think of, and so many people who want to see you succeed. During a routine appointment in the health office with Dr. Berkner, I mentioned my interest in speech pathology. Soon after, he had connected me with the speech therapist I ended up shadowing. Without the help of Dr. Berkner, I might not have gotten to have this amazing experience.
A couple of cliches that have been resonating with me since this internship are to not take anything for granted and to never give up. You never know when you might wake up one day and not be able to do something that once came so naturally, like speaking or swallowing. In the face of extreme challenges, the only way to get through it is to be positive and work towards a goal as hard as you can. The patients I met served as a great reminder of this everyday as they smiled and joked throughout the sessions that were clearly extremely frustrating and difficult.
I am so grateful for the opportunity I had this January, and I know everything I learned will stay with me for a very long time. I encourage you all to get out into the field you are considering going into after Colby, even if you aren’t 100% sure, and see what it’s all about!