Spanish Bilingual Communication Sciences and Disorders Program in the Dominican Republic

This experience has allowed me to walk away with many, many valuable friendships. This program gave me the opportunity to meet like-minded people that enjoy helping people, traveling, and Speech Language Pathology as much as I do. I was able to experience the Dominican culture in a unique way for which I am immensely grateful for. Due to the unique nature of a Communication Disorder related study abroad experience I feel this program has massive potential. Unfortunately, while it was fun to travel and experience Dominican culture, I felt the academic aspect of this program fell short. I had expected to observe SLPs evaluating, diagnosing, and treating children. I had also expected to then carry out those same procedures myself with the guidance of an SLP. Majority of the students in this program were around undergraduate level. I had just graduated with my undergraduate degree and therefore have no experience with evaluating, diagnosing, or treating. During the program I felt like I should have came prepared with that knowledge since there wasn't opportunity to observe. A few of the enrolled graduate students were allowed to perform an evaluation. Throughout the two week program, 4 of those days were dedicated to working with the children. The other week days consisted of planning for hypothetical situations and discussions. We had the opportunity to perform an unguided screening but there was no formal evaluation or diagnosis. I feel this program may better suit graduate students that are almost finished with their degree or recently graduated SLPs.

I'm excited to see this program grow and change. We definitely need Speech related study abroad opportunities and bilingual study abroad opportunities. I would love to come back as an SLP and support this program and watch what it can be become.