The Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) program at New York Medical College (NYMC) prepares graduates for a career in a health-care setting. Providing community activities for students to interact with populations they could potentially treat in the future is an impactful strategy implemented by the SLP department. One of those activities includes the SLP adapted book project in collaboration with St. Mary”™s Hospital for Children in Bayside, New York.
This “story time” exercise, as it is referred to by Stefanie Blanco, SLP.D., CCC-SLP, TSSLD, assistant professor of speech-language pathology, is a rotating experience in which students from the SLP program travel to St. Mary”™s and read books to children with medically complex needs.
The adapted book exercise is extremely rewarding for all involved parties. The patients are provided a space to improve their literary and social skills among their peers. SLP students gain hands-on experience in a field they are passionate about while servicing an under-resourced community.
Partnerships like this are designed to serve a need in the community and enhance the NYMC SLP student experience by preparing them for any health-care setting as the speech-language pathologists of tomorrow.
