Influence of Supervision and Clinical Experiences on Professional Development of Graduate Speech Language Pathology Students

Sarah Rapillard, Laura Plexico, Allison M. Plumb
2019 Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders  
Method of Instruction. Despite agreement that students develop preferences for learning styles and that speech-language pathology students have a distinct pattern of learning preferences, which can evolve over time, there is a dearth of evidence as to how speech-language pathology students are actually being instructed. Hadley and Fulcomer (2010) investigated models of instruction through an electronic survey of 70 program chairs in speech-language pathology. The models queried were based on
more » ... ce, Weil, and Calhoun's (2000) work, which categorized the major models of instruction into families: the social family, the information processing family, the personal family, and the behavior systems family. They selected specific models from the social, information-processing, and behavioral families due to their documented use in higher education. The social family emphasizes group work and includes both role play and cooperative learning. In role play, the students solve problems through defining the problem, acting out a given situation, and then discussing the results. In cooperative learning, students work together on a common activity and are rewarded for their performance as a group (Bruce et al., 2000). Informationprocessing models help students learn through the organization of information. This family includes memory strategy instruction, induction, and problem-based learning. In memory strategy instruction, the instructor facilitates learning by incorporating strategies, such as mnemonic devices and rehearsal, in order to assist with information recall. In problem-based learning, students work in teams to solve problems. In the case of speech-language pathology, this can be cases or clinical scenarios. The instructor is not the sole-source of information, rather the facilitator of the exchange of information (Gunter, Estes, & Mintz, 2007) . In induction, students learn and form concepts through investigation, logic, and reasoning. This may include the teaching of thinking skills and activities that require the students to learn and then apply concepts to practical situations (Gunter et al., 2007) . Finally, the behavioral model is based on behavioral learning theories. It is most often associated with a lecture and discussion format and includes direct instruction in which the information is broken down into small increments and presented in a prescribed order (Magliaro, Lockee, & Burton, 2005) . Results indicated that problem-based learning and induction were used most frequently, followed by direct instruction, cooperative learning, memory strategy instruction and role-play, which were used less frequently. The findings show that none of the models were being used exclusively and that a variety of models were being incorporated into graduate-level communication disorder programs. Clinical Learning. Promotion of clinical problem solving and critical thinking skills in student clinicians is a complex process, and, if understood by academic and clinical educators, could assist in meeting graduate students' developmental needs and help promote optimal student growth. Moses and Shapiro (1996) suggest that there are several developmental factors that affect the supervisees' ability to problem solve and include: age, experience level, and information provided by supervisors. Shapiro and Moses (1989) discuss a nine stage problem-solving taxonomy that progresses from identifying a clinical problem from a self-centered perspective to constructing a theory of causality based upon reflection. The stages include:
doi:10.30707/tlcsd3.1rapillard2 fatcat:zq5lioqduff7depmyekijj4uqy