ALUMNA MICAH SMITH AT MGH BOSTON

Micah Smith graduated with the BA in Language Studies in Spring 2008. She is now pursuing a graduate qualification in Speech Pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. We talked to Micah about what she was doing and what her advice would be for students who wanted to follow a similar path.

WHASC: Micah, could you tell us what your current academic situation is? What program are you engaged in? How far along are you?

Micah: I currently attend the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions (MGH Institute) in Boston, MA. I am in my second year of a two year Master’s program in Communication Sciences and Disorders or (CSD), A.K.A. Speech-Language Pathology (SLP).

WHASC: What are your current projects?

Micah: In addition to taking classes one day a week (Voice Disorders; Physiology, Acoustics and Perception of Speech), I have a clinical placement in the Autism Language Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, where I am learning how to evaluate the communication of mostly minimally verbal children with autism.

WHASC: Are there projects you’re engaged in which go beyond the core requirements for your degree?

Micah: Yes, I am doing an Autism concentration, which involves working on a thesis about acoustic correlates of varying degrees of emotion in prosody. I also work part time with a professor who is working on an electromyographically controlled electrolarynx (EMG-EL) for laryngectomy patients.

WHASC: What do you like most about what you’re doing at present? What’s most exciting?

Micah:I really love that I get to apply my love of language and communication to a service-based profession, and that I get to work with children. I also really love that I am gaining the scientific tools and skills to analyze speech at the level of the acoustic signal. My clinical supervisors, academic professors, and thesis advisor (Dr. Margaret Kjelgaard of MIT) have been amazing resources for information and insight, and overall very inspiring minds to work with. The privilege of being part of current research in the field is very exciting.

WHASC: What are the biggest sources of stress?

Micah: Definitely balancing all of these projects I am involved in. Also, this field qualifies us to work with so many different client populations, including people with: dysphagia (swallowing problems), voice disorders, acquired neurogenic disorders (e.g., aphasia post-stroke), ALS, Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain injury, developmental disorders, reading disorders (e.g., dyslexia), autism, language delay, hearing impairment, cleft lip and palate, apraxia (motor planning disorder), and the list goes on. It’s been difficult to hone in on a few areas to focus on, since everything is so fascinating! One benefit to this field, though, is that you can always change your focus later on in your career, and take continuing education classes to stay informed.

WHASC: What are your hopes or plans for the future?

Micah: I plan to move back to California, and work in the public schools for several years to get experience working with a broad spectrum of children with various speech and language deficits, and then eventually I am interested in pediatric private practice, early intervention (birth to 3), and possibly research.

WHASC: This all sounds very exciting. If you were talking to a student here at UCSC who was considering a career-trajectory similar to yours, what advice would you give them? What should they be thinking about?

Micah: First of all, I would like to say that coming from a background in linguistics and foreign language (French and Spanish) in my undergraduate years at UCSC really gave me a great foundation to understand the structure of language, but at the same time, half of my classmates at MGH Institute came from backgrounds other than speech and language, so really any background will give you a unique perspective to bring to the program. When I was at UCSC I knew I loved language and children, but wasn’t aware of the field of speech and language pathology. I would encourage interested students to contact speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in their area and try to shadow them to see what different SLP settings are like. It is helpful to find an SLP mentor to aid in the path towards graduate school and to provide a letter of recommendation. Coming from a non-CSD background, I had to take some prerequisites before starting my Master’s program, so I would definitely recommend looking around to compare prices for these classes. The best resource for information about the profession is the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) I’d be glad to talk to students via email and give whatever pointers or advice I can.

WHASC: Thanks. Micah, and good luck. Anyone who would like to be in touch with Micah about her experiences, please write to whasc@ucsc.edu.