During the term, as part of this unit you will be actively involved in a range of clinical experiences which will provide you with the opportunity to apply theory to practice when assessing, treating and managing clients with communication and/or swallowing disorders. This particular assessment task will enable you to reflect upon and demonstrate the learning that has taken place during these experiences, and to highlight the skills and knowledge that you have acquired as a student clinician.

For this assessment task, you will be required to present to the class a particular assessment or therapy technique/tool that you have used whilst on placement and have found to be useful when assessing and/or treating a client's communication and/or swallowing difficulties. Your presentation should be engaging and interactive and should also aim to provide your fellow classmates with information and ideas that they may find useful in the future. You should reflect upon the experiences you had when selecting and using this technique/tool with a particular client, by explicitly discussing the reasoning process and the evidence-based rationale for any decision making that was involved. You should show how you considered the ICF framework when making decisions regarding the use of the technique/tool with a particular client, and also reflect on and discuss both the pros and cons of using your particular technique/tool. In addition, your presentation should include information about the clientele that it may or may not be suitable for, issues or challenges that may be faced during its implementation, and any other considerations that may need to be made when deciding whether or not to use this particular technique/tool.

As part of your presentation, you are also required to provide and refer to a handout which explains the key elements that you have addressed in your presentation. This handout should describe what the assessment/therapy technique/tool is, the pros and cons of using it, and any considerations that may need to be made when determining its suitability for a particular client and/or context. This handout should have a visually appealing and professional presentation, be easy to read and informative, and be no longer than one double-sided A4 page. The use of pictures, diagrams, dot points and separate sections are all encouraged if they increase the readability of the document.

The intention is that each student’s handout will be compiled to create a collection that other students in future years can refer to and use as a source of ideas, information and inspiration whilst participating in clinical placements.

For this task, you will be assessed on your ability to:

• describe a particular assessment or therapy technique or an assessment or therapy tool that you have used whilst on placement;
• provide a comprehensive analysis of its use that is based on a combination of the research that you conducted into this technique or tool, consideration of the ICF framework, current best practice and evidence, and your own personal experience of selecting and using it whilst on placement. This analysis should include (but may not be limited to) the pros and cons of using the technique/tool, the rationale for using it, the clientele that it is most suited (and not suited) to, and issues or challenges that may be faced during its implementation. Any further considerations that may need to be made when deciding whether or not to use this particular approach or tool should also be discussed;
• explain how the implementation of the technique/tool during your placement allowed you to apply theory to practice when assessing and/or treating clients with communication and/or swallowing disorders in a clinical setting;
  
• communicate effectively and engage an audience when giving an oral presentation;
• present a professional and informative written handout that serves as an effective means of providing key information to other student clinicians;
• use appropriate referencing, formatting and conventions, including spelling and syntax, in all information presented to the audience (including powerpoint presentations and handouts). 

A marking rubric will be made available via Moodle and will include specific marking criteria in detail. Students must obtain a minimum mark of 50% for this assessment item in order to meet the pass criteria.

This term you will complete a sessional clinical placement which will involve attending a clinic for one full day each week across the twelve week term. Your placement will provide you with the opportunity to develop your practical skills under the supervision of a fully qualified and experienced Clinical Educator (CE). Your CE will assess your competence across the seven CBOS units and each of the four generic professional competencies at both the mid and final points of the placement, through the use of the COMPASS Online assessment tool. In addition, you will be required to complete a self-assessment at each of these placement points, also through COMPASS Online. At the commencement of your placement you will need to complete a learning contract which is to be reviewed by you and your CE as part of the mid-placement and final-placement assessments. By the end of your placement you are expected to demonstrate novice-intermediate level competence across each of the CBOS Units 1-4 and intermediate-level competence in each generic professional competency unit. 

Your placement this term will involve either a paediatric or an adult (or mixed) caseload. Whilst you may attend the placement with another student (typically referred to as a paired placement), it is expected that your placement may vary in some ways from some of your other peers. For example, different placements may be in various settings and involve working with different caseloads, supervisors, and range of practice areas. However, the focus of all placements as part of this unit is the development of novice-intermediate level competence across the CBOS Units 1-4 and intermediate-level competence across the generic professional competency units 1-4, regardless of the caseload or setting. Paediatric placements will be primarily focussed on speech and language, whilst the range of practice areas covered in adult placements are expected to include dysphagia, voice and speech.

Further information regarding the expectations when participating in clinical placements, such as dress code, attendance requirements and mandatory checks (pre-clinical requirements) can be found in the Speech Pathology Clinical Education Handbook, an electronic copy of which will be made available through the SPCH13001 Moodle page. Note that all pre-clinical requirements, as mentioned in the Speech Pathology Clinical Education Handbook (and also stipulated on the online SONIA database), must be completed prior to commencing a placement and must remain current for the duration of the placement. Any student who fails to comply will risk not being permitted to commence their placement, which may therefore affect their ability to complete this assessment task. Further information and instructions regarding all mandatory checks (pre-clinical requirements) can be found on the SONIA database or obtained by contacting the Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) team via email: smas-clinicalplacements@cqu.edu.au.

You will be assessed on the following four generic professional competencies through the use of COMPASS Online:

• Professional Competency Unit 1: Reasoning
• Professional Competency Unit 2: Communication
• Professional Competency Unit 3: Learning
• Professional Competency Unit 4: Professionalism

You will also be assessed on the following seven CBOS Units:

• CBOS Unit 1: Assessment
• CBOS Unit 2: Analysis and Interpretation
• CBOS Unit 3: Planning Evidence-Based Speech Pathology Practice
• CBOS Unit 4: Implementation of Speech Pathology Practice
• CBOS Unit 5: Planning, Providing and Managing Speech Pathology Services
• CBOS Unit 6: Professional and Supervisory Practice
• CBOS Unit 7: Lifelong Learning and Reflective Practice

Further information regarding each of these units can be found in the COMPASS Assessment Resource Manual, available through COMPASS online: https://compass.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/compass/portal/portal.jsp

In order to complete all of the requirements and pass this assessment task, you must:

• complete a learning contract in the first two weeks of the placement and have this reviewed by you and your CE as part of the mid-placement and final-placement assessments;
• complete a self-assessment through COMPASS Online a minimum of two days prior to meeting with your CE at both the mid-placement and final-placement assessment points;
• be assessed by your CE across all seven CBOS units and each of the four generic professional competency (GPC) units at the mid-placement and final-placement points;
• by the end of your placement, demonstrate novice-intermediate level competence across each of the CBOS units 1-4, according to COMPASS Online results that are determined by your CE;
• by the end of your placement, demonstrate intermediate-level competence across each of the four generic professional competency (GPC) units, according to COMPASS Online results that are determined by your CE.

Both the pass and failure criteria that apply to clinical placements are described in detail in the Speech Pathology Clinical Education Handbook. Both CEs and students should familiarise themselves with these criteria, as they will form the basis of the determination as to whether a student has passed or failed this assessment task. As stated in the Clinical Education Handbook, the Clinical Education Coordinator will make the final decision regarding a student's results, based on all available evidence relating to the student's performance whilst completing the placement.

This assessment task requires you to not only engage in reflective practice, but to also demonstrate your understanding of the role that reflective practice plays in both professional and personal development. You must therefore demonstrate that you have conducted research into the topic of reflective practice and that you understand the premise behind its use by allied health clinicians. That is, discuss the evidence-base that exists in regard to reflective practice. You should then discuss your findings in light of your own reflective practice and what it means to you. For example, this might involve reflecting and commenting on pieces of information that you found whilst conducting your research which were interesting and/or that you were previously unfamiliar with, or information that you either agreed or disagreed with. In essence, you should reflect upon your own ability to reflect and demonstrate an awareness of both your strengths and areas for improvement in relation to reflective practice.

Additionally, you should discuss the potential impact that reflective practice skills may have on two of the four generic professional competencies: Reasoning, Communication, Learning and Professionalism. That is, make it explicit as to how developing your reflective practice skills could potentially assist your growth in any two of these four areas of competence.

A general tip when writing in-depth and insightful reflections is that the reader should not be left wondering ‘why?’ or ‘how?’ The answers to these questions should be provided within the reflection. For example, if you identify that reflecting verbally with a supervisor immediately after you have finished a session with a client is difficult for you, or that you find it challenging communicating with other health professionals in a case conference context, you should go beyond simply stating that this is something that needs improving. You should explain why you find this challenging, why it may (or may not) be an issue, how you know it is (or isn’t) an issue, how you are going to address it (if in fact it is a problem), and so on.

A marking rubric containing specific assessment criteria for this task will be made available on the unit Moodle site during term. These criteria will be based on your ability to:

• research the use of reflective practice, describe its evidence base in regards to allied health professionals, and reflect on this in terms of your own practices
• reflect upon your clinical skills, knowledge and experiences, as well as your own reflective practice skills
  
• make links between reflective practice and two of the four generic professional competencies (GPCs) described in COMPASS (reasoning, communication, lifelong learning and professionalism)
• use appropriate writing conventions, including accurate spelling, grammar, punctuation, cohesion, clarity, and organisation
  
• use APA referencing

During your sessional placement that occurs as part of this unit, you must complete a Record of WIL Experiences form, showing the clinical experiences/hours you accumulated. At the completion of the placement, this form must be signed by both you and your CE. You must then submit the form via Moodle within one week of the completion of your placement (typically this will be during the first Term 1 exam week). The specific record form that is to be used, and the instructions for completion, will be provided to you by your Unit Coordinator at the beginning of the term.

It should be noted that Speech Pathology Australia (SPA) does not specify the number of clinical hours that students must complete during the course of any Australian university’s Speech Pathology program. SPA instead places the focus on the minimum level of competence, skills and knowledge required for entry into the workforce as a qualified and competent speech pathologist (The Speech Pathology Association of Australia Limited, 2005). CQUniversity’s approach is consistent with SPA’s philosophy and therefore does not have a specific requirement regarding the minimum number of clinical hours each student must complete by the end of the Speech Pathology course. Submission of the record form for this unit is therefore a pass/fail assessment requirement. You should be aware that you are also expected to track this data and keep copies for your own records, as evidence of clinical hours may be required if you are requested to provide evidence of clinical experience when applying for work as a speech pathologist overseas.

Reference

The Speech Pathology Association of Australia Limited. (2005). Clinical Education - The importance and value for the speech pathology profession. Retrieved from https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/SPAweb/Members/Position_Statements/SPAweb/Members/Position_Statements/Position_Statements.aspx?hkey=b1a46941-246c-4609-bacc-1c1b5c52d19d

In order to pass this assessment task, you must complete and submit a copy of the Record of WIL Experiences form provided to you by your Unit Coordinator, within one week of completing your placement. The form must be signed by both you and your CE/s. Instructions for completion will be available on the record form that will be provided to you at the beginning of term.