How Being a Horsewoman Makes Me a Better SLP and How Being an SLP Makes Me a Better Horsewoman

As a speech-language pathologist (SLP) and avid horsewoman, I realize more and more the transferrable skills and philosophies between being a good SLP and being a good horsewoman. One aspect of who I am makes me better at another aspect of who I am. Here is a growing list of the similarities between what I consider good horsemanship and being a good SLP.

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Is Speech Therapy via Telepractice Effective?

Does speech therapy via telepractice work? I know there are people skeptical about the efficacy of speech therapy via telepractice and I know that the abrupt shift from in person speech therapy services within the schools to speech therapy services via telepractice when schools went remote due to COVID-19 allowed little to no planning or training time for speech-language pathologists and may have given families a bad impression of speech therapy via telepractice. This is not to say that my speech-language pathologist colleagues did not rise to the occasion and adapt to the telepractice treatment modality like champions but I do acknowledge that it is difficult to be thrown into a different treatment modality, especially during a pandemic and while managing many moving parts. If your first impression of speech therapy via telepractice was when things were in crisis mode and it did not meet your expectations, I hope you give this treatment modality a second chance because there is scientific evidence that speech therapy via telepractice works.

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Helmets and Traumatic Brain Injury Prevention

International Helmet Awareness Day was on September 12, 2020. This day is part of an effort to spread awareness on the importance of helmets after US Olympic equestrian, Courtney King-Dye, experienced a traumatic brain injury while riding without a helmet. Of course International Helmet Awareness Day was before I started a blog but it isn’t too late for me to write about Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and persuade you to wear a helmet while doing the sports/activities you love to do.

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Why I Became a Speech-Language Pathologist

When I was in high school, I was a member of the National Honor’s Society and all members needed to complete volunteer hours. As an equestrian and lifelong lover of horses, I decided to volunteer at Pegasus Therapeutic Riding. Pegasus is a nonprofit organization that uses hippotherapy (equine assisted therapy) to improve the lives of people with disabilities in regards to their physical and psychological wellbeing. Every weekend, I would drive to Pegasus Farm on Peach Lake Road in Brewster, NY to volunteer.

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What Do Speech-Language Pathologists Do?

I AM A SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGIST (SLP)…

When people make small talk with me and ask what I do, 90% of the time I cannot just say my title and leave it at that. Unless the person I am speaking to or their loved one has had speech therapy, they usually have never heard of my profession or, at best, they have heard the title but have limited knowledge about what types of things speech-language pathologists diagnose and treat. Speech-language pathologists serve people of all ages from birth to death. We are trained to work on the below areas.

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