Áine talks us through her amazing career as an AHP and has some words of advice if you want to become an AHP.
My name is Áine. My job title is ‘advanced specialist speech and language therapist’.
I work with fantastic colleagues in the Stroke, Trauma and Neuro-rehabilitation Speech and Language Therapy team, based on Level 2, near the F&G gym. My job is fast-paced and creative. Each day brings opportunities to work with people who had have a stroke or brain injury who communication and swallowing needs, as well as their family and friends, and the staff they work with on the ward.
As a speech and language therapist I assess communication, often after a brain injury like stroke. This may be to understand what impairment-based therapy to focus on, for example, setting up a person with aphasia to complete Semantic Feature Analysis (SFA) exercises on the IPad. SFA has been shown to generalise, or improve word-finding for words that haven't been practiced.
Working in this way, and with other communication strategies I have been able to support one of our SLT patients. Because of aphasia it was tricky for her to express herself verbally to demonstrate she could retain, weigh up and communicate about the risks associated with her dysphagia (difficulty swallowing). By providing extra time, using some photos and key words, to help understanding she was able to take more active role in her treatment and care whilst an inpatient on the ward. This gave her more autonomy over how she would live out the rest of her life.
Also exciting, and practical, is doing ‘dynamic assessment.’ By using extensive specialist clinical skills SLTs can understand how communication may be breaking down in different interactions. I once supported a person who had cognitive-communication difficulties and aphasia after a traumatic brain injury to return to his role as a nail technician. In group and 1:1 sessions we worked to set communication scripts that helped start a natural-sounding conversation, and used a ‘stop think’ strategy to support the person plan what to communicate in the next step.
I have been able to access wonderful opportunities while working as an SLT in CUH. I have provided education and lectures to staff and students about what speech and language therapy is and can do. I’ve also completed the Chief Nurse Internship and Pre-Masters Internship to develop my interest in research, boost my research skills and apply what I’ve learned to the clinical ward environment.
And I’ve recently been awarded a NIHR Pre-Clinical Academic Fellowship which will let me study clinically relevant questions about SLT practice.