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Grad Students' Perspective on the 2016 ASHA Convention

The 2016 ASHA Convention was held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA from November 17-19. A number of JMU grad students and CSD professors were able to attend among thousands of other attendees in the speech-language pathology and audiology field. Two JMU grad students, Kendall and Leslie, share some insight on how their first experience at the ASHA Convention went as they heard about the latest research in the field and gained knowledge from other professionals over the course of the weekend.

What did you like about the Convention?
Kendall: It was an overall great experience to see how the field is outside of school, but also not in a clinical setting. It was awesome to see what research other professionals are doing.
Leslie: I liked the variety of presentation topics and the freebies! I also liked that I learned more about areas that we just don’t have time to discuss in graduate school.

Did you find it worthwhile?
Kendall: Yes, I learned a lot about our scope of practice and it also helped narrow my interests.
Leslie: The ASHA Convention opened my eyes to the variety of career options for SLPs. The presentations I attended covered a diverse range of topics including: assessing cognition of student athletes pre- and post-concussion, toddlers and technology, and teletherapy outcomes for patients with primary progressive aphasia.

What was your favorite part?
Kendall: My favorite talk was a kinesiology and speech one where they showed us movements that could be used to teach kids speech sounds.
Leslie: My favorite part was spending time with my classmates from JMU and discussing our thoughts on what we learned!

What did you wish you knew prior to going?
Kendall: I wish I knew to wear comfier shoes because the convention hall was huge. I also wish I had picked which talks and posters I wanted to go to ahead of time instead of picking them out on the fly while I was there.
Leslie: I wish I had known just how massive the convention center would be. I learned that when planning out your day, you need to consider how far away one presentation location is from another. Sessions were held in multiple buildings and travel time was limited!

Did it help you decide what topics you’re interested or not interested in?
Kendall: It definitely emphasized that I want to work with children.
Leslie: Yes and no. I think it showed me that I could be happy in just about any setting. Everything was new and interesting!

Would you go again?
Kendall: I can see myself going again when I am a clinician.
Leslie: Yes! The ASHA Convention was a great way to learn about current research topics and therapy trends. It was also a useful networking opportunity and a great reminder about why this field is so important!

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