Unit rationale, description and aim
Speech pathologists require knowledge and skills for working with different populations and in a range of different settings. This unit is focused on building students' professional practice skills when working with a range of clients, including those who experience conditions that impact their communication and/or swallowing. This unit enables students to consolidate, assimilate and transfer previous learning in a professional practice experience for communication and/or swallowing practice areas. In this unit students will demonstrate increasing independence with familiar caseloads and conditions and work with educators to support clients with multifactorial needs and contexts. Therapeutic communication skills will be consolidated to equip students for active and sensitive engagement with all stakeholders. Students will continue to build their skills in professional, reflective practice and professional reasoning skills to further transform their professional identity and capabilities.
The aim of this unit is for students to continue to develop their professional practice skills with increasing independence and transfer skills in unfamiliar clinical situations.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
LO1 Demonstrate professional conduct and critical ...
Learning Outcome 01
LO2 Demonstrate assessment, analysis and interpret...
Learning Outcome 02
LO3 Demonstrate transferability of knowledge and s...
Learning Outcome 03
Content
Professional Conduct
· Scope of practice (e.g., the role of an AHA vs SLP student)
· Applying the Code of Ethics
· Therapeutic communication
Reflective Practice and Lifelong Learning
- Critical reflective practice
- Using the COMPASS behavioural descriptors to guide self-ratings on placement
- Learning goal setting
- Transferability
- Professional Identity
- Preparation for 4th year
Speech Pathology Practice
- Assessment across practice areas
- Goal selection with multifactorial cases
- Providing feedback to clients
- Intervention delivery and outcome measurement
Assessment strategy and rationale
Assessment 1 Professional practice competency assessment: This ungraded hurdle task evaluates the minimum professional and clinical competencies required on placement. Demonstrating these competencies is essential to support safe, ethical, and effective practice. Students need to achieve a “Satisfactory” for this task with one attempt to pass this hurdle.
Assessment 2 Case presentation: This ungraded hurdle task provides an opportunity to demonstrate professional oral presentation and discussion skills summarising clinical information, clinical reasoning, critical reflection and transferability. Effective case presentation skills are fundamental to collaborative practice and client advocacy. Students will need to achieve a 'Satisfactory' for this task with two attempts to pass this hurdle.
Assessment 3 Professional development plan and reflective statement: This ungraded hurdle task provides evidence of the ability to critically reflect on performance with increasing breadth and depth applying insights to future professional growth. This professional competency is fundamental to lifelong learning. Students need to achieve a “Satisfactory” for this task with two attempts to pass this hurdle.
To pass the unit, students must demonstrate achievement of every unit learning outcome, attend all allocated placement days and pass all the hurdle tasks.
Overview of assessments
Assessment 1 Professional Practice Competency As...
Assessment 1
Professional Practice Competency Assessment
Completion of Professional Practice Placement including:
Completion of mandatory tasks
At placement end, the student’s overall rating on COMPASS® must be at Intermediate. All four of the Professional Units 1-4 and Competency Units 1-4 must be rated as Intermediate.
Student must have self-rated their competencies on the COMPASS at mid and final placement.
Hurdle
Assessment Task 2 - Case Presentation Students p...
Assessment Task 2 - Case Presentation
Students present a case and respond to questions to demonstrate clinical reasoning, critical reflection and transferability.
Hurdle
Assessment Task 3 Professional Development Plan...
Assessment Task 3
Professional Development Plan and Reflective Statement
Students reflect on development of competency and provide evidence of development of critical reflection skills, professional identity and goals for learning.
Hurdle
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
In this unit, students are required to increase their overall independence during professional practice, and begin to manage caseloads with less support than previous professional practice experiences. Students are expected to demonstrate progression in their knowledge, skills, attitudes, and identity as a speech pathologist throughout the unit.
Professional practice is conducted external to the University, or within on-campus ACU Health Clinics. These activities are integral to the development of competency as a speech pathologist, and enable the student to further develop their skills, knowledge and attitudes within a ‘real world’ context. Students are supervised by a qualified speech pathologist who supports their learning and development. In addition, the professional practice placement experiences in this unit are supplemented by tutorials, group and individual discussions and self-directed learning activities which foster peer learning, reflective practice and shared problem solving, as well as exposing students to workplace contexts which they might not individually experience during the course.
All content, is designed to further develop the student’s professional identity as a speech pathologist and to ensure that they continue to build their professional practice skills across relevant practice areas for speech pathologists.