Name: Kylie McIntyre
Hometown: Kalida, Ohio
Graduation Date: May 6, 2016
Company: Julie A. Cole Rehab & Sports Medicine Blanchard Valley Hospital
Location: Findlay, Ohio
Amount of time at internship: January 18 to April 29, 2016
How did you become interested in becoming a speech-language pathologist? I have always wanted to work in a medical profession and became interested in rehabilitation/therapy in high school when looking for something to major in when attending college. I initially looked into occupational therapy, and I then came across speech therapy. I went to job shadow a speech therapist and I loved it! I started looking more into the profession and it became a field that I was very interested in and was excited to pursue.
Tell us about your graduate school journey: I have really enjoyed my master's program at Michigan State. I love that they offer four separate internships, which has given me real-life, hands-on experiences where I was able to build and develop my clinical skills. I was fortunate to have my internships in four completely different settings, which has broadened my knowledge base in our diverse field of work. I believe that my internships as well as the academic coursework that I have completed has really prepared me for my future career. I am very grateful to be attending MSU and am excited to be a future Spartan alumni in just a few short months.
Describe the clinical setting and population you are working with at your current internship: I am currently working with pediatrics in an outpatient setting through Blanchard Valley Hospital. It is a smaller facility, located a few minutes from the hospital. The facility services the pediatric and adult population who require physical therapy, occupational therapy and/or speech therapy. I work with a wide age range of children (approximately ages 1 through 15) who have a variety of disorders including autism (verbal and non-verbal), speech and language impairments, or delays and other syndromes and/or disorders such as cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, traumatic brain injury and hearing impairments.
How has your internship helped prepare you for your career? This internship has helped prepare me for my future career in working with children who may have a variety of disorders. I have been very fortunate to have such a diverse caseload in which I can further develop my clinical skills. I have been able to complete evaluations of children and provide treatment to them in a variety of ways. I have been further developing my skills in planning and implementing new therapy ideas and documentation including daily SOAP notes and evaluation reports. I am also getting the opportunity to implement sign language with some of the clients, which has helped me to redevelop my skills in this area from previous college courses. I am excited to learn more throughout my time at Blanchard Valley and to further my knowledge and development of clinical skills in working with this population.