Welcome, Miss Weiss!

Welcome, Miss Weiss!

I am honored to be supervising a graduate student clinician for 11 weeks. Carolyn Weiss is completing her master’s degree in Speech and Language Pathology at the University of Iowa, and earned her bachelor’s degree in Speech and Hearing Sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has been working with our students who receive speech/language therapy at our school and in the early childhood program since we returned from winter break.

~Mrs. Odom

Spotlight on Miss Weiss

What got you interested in the field of speech/language pathology?

I became interested in speech and language pathology during my high school career. During my physical education course at the start of my sophomore year, I worked 1-on-1 with a young man named George (not his real name). George has autism and was nonverbal. He knew a total of five original signs, which included apple, juice, milk, cookie and friend. I worked with George for two years, and communicated with him using his original signs and I taught myself some other signs from American Sign Language to use with him. Prior to my graduation, George approached me and signed his original sign for ‘friend’ to me and smiled a wide grin. At this moment, I knew I must find a profession that supported and promoted the use for any form of communication.

What is something that you love to do when you’re not busy learning?

I absolutely love to play and watch tennis. My interest for tennis stems from my family. Both my parents played tennis while they were in high school and this has carried over to both of my younger brothers as well.I personally did not play tennis while in high school, but I have always joined in on matches with my brothers and cousins.Regardless of the weather we will all play year round. Additionally, my family and I all watch the 4 grand slams together as often as we can. This past weekend was the final match for the Australian Open, and we were all rooting for one of my brother’s favorite players to win, and she did!  

You’ve seen our school community for a few weeks. What are you enjoying most in the school setting?

I truly appreciate how welcoming the Woodridge community has been to me since I started a few weeks ago. I have traveled with Melissa Odom to 3 different schools within this district, and all the staff and students have welcomed me with open arms. When I walk down the halls, I receive multiple finger waves from students of all ages and that always puts a smile on my face. I am really enjoying the fast-paced schedule that the school setting has to offer and the different ages of all the students that I have worked with over the past few weeks!  I am excited to continue to work with all the students I have met as they continue to make me smile every day!

What is something that you’ve learned from the kids?

Another reason that I am really enjoying the school setting is that I am not only learning from my supervisor. Every student has taught me a new lesson during every session. I truly appreciate how dedicated the students are to working on their goals, especially with me, as I am still learning how to become the best speech language pathologist that I can be. I am always eager for every session as all students continue to help me grow as a new professional to the field.

What’s your favorite activity to use in therapy so far?

My favorite activity to use in sessions so far is the Scooby Doo Hide and Shriek board game. Most students have a very positive reaction when I present this activity at the beginning of the session. The smiles that stretch across the faces of some of the students says it all! I love to incorporate this board game during sessions to target different goals as it is very motivating to work on speech sounds and then catch the monster!

​Tell us a little about how you presented at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) national convention this fall. ​

This past November, I went to Los Angeles to present a poster at the ASHA national conference with my supervisor and another graduate student clinician. My classmate and I assisted our supervisor in completing a case study about a client with a severe speech sound disorder. Mary (not her real name), the 3 year old client, could not produce sounds that were typically expected by that age (e.g., /p,b,m/). Our study primarily focused on teaching later developing sounds such as /s,z/ to promote the generalization of those earlier sounds rather than specifically teaching her those early sounds in therapy sessions. Targeting the later sounds of /s,z/ in therapy sessions helped Mary to start to produce the earlier sounds in her speech! I was very excited and honored to present at the ASHA convention with my supervisor and classmate.

One final remark from me:

I cannot express how grateful I am to have this experience. I am very thankful that the Woodridge community has warmly welcomed me multiple times over since I’ve started 3 weeks ago. I am also very grateful for my supervisor, Melissa Odom, and I am very honored to work alongside her in the Woodridge community for the next 11 weeks. It is extremely evident that she wants to provide the best services for every child that she serves. I am very grateful that she has taken the time and dedication to be my supervisor for these next 11 weeks. I know that I will gain the skills necessary to become the best speech-language pathologist from her, and the skills necessary to best support my future clients from all of the students within the Goodrich community. Thank you for this opportunity!  

~Carolyn Weiss