Pediatric Audiology

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BrianaGrace17

BrianaGrace17

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Hey everyone! I'm Briana, and I'll be a sophomore this fall at California State University, Sacramento and I'm an SLP/Audiology major. Unfortunately there no way I can really "concentrate" in audiology, so I'm focusing on what my interests are for grad school so I can prepare early.

I'm interested in pediatrics and all the neat things that go along with those programs, such as cochlear implants, APD, and aural rehab. My top choice is Vanderbilt (of course), along with University of Washington (Seattle), UNC, and Arizona State (full ride possibility).

Audiology is my passion and my goal is to get a full ride!! I know they're out there. Right now I have a 4.0 GPA and I plan to keep it up.

Does anyone have any comments about the best program for pediatric audio, any of the schools I listed, or any training grants/scholarships that would help me pay for grad school? Thanks! :)
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Hi Briana,



I just sent you a private message!

- S
 
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BrianaGrace17 said:
Any other suggestions?
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The only school I have experience with on your list is UNC. They had a pediatric training grant funded through the Dept of Ed that was for 10k during your first year. Unfortunately you would still be stuck with out of state. There was not much else in the way of assistantships for 1st year students. Aside from the financial aspects, it was a wonderful program. They have a pretty intense application process, narrowing down to 50 finalists they invite to campus for interviews. I made it to the interview stage, but got waitlisted for admission. All the faculty there were wonderful and I loved the fact that they were still all active clinically, albeit at a diminished level to allow time for classroom instruction. Dr. Roush, the department chair, is a great person to talk to.

/soapbox/

University of Memphis where I am at offers five assistantships to incoming AuD students annually. This gets you in state plus 1/2 off tuition (Ends up being about 2500-3k/semester) plus a monthly stipend. In addition, after you get here there are other opportunities for some assistantships if you did not initially receive one. It sounds like with your resume you would be competitive for one right off the bat though. Our program is tied for #6 (whatever those US News rankings are worth haha). There is not a specific pediatrics emphasis or adult emphasis but there is strong instruction in both and you can tailor your clinical placements and research project to give yourself the emphasis you desire. There is a wealth of clinical placements on and off campus. St. Judes childrens research hospital (lots of ototoxicity monitoring and research going on), LeBonheur Children's hospital and Memphis Oral school for the deaf (lots of aural rehab with both hearing aid users and CI users) are all places you could do clinical placements at in addition to various ENT offices and other hospitals (including a VA hospital). There is also a diagnostic APD clinic done on campus .

/soapboax/
 
Thanks cmc271! UNC's program seems really diverse, while still having a strong pediatric emphasis which is something I value a lot. But I have to admit that Memphis' assistantships sound pretty amazing. It's always hard to pass up a possible offer like that.

As much as I would love a program that has a pediatric emphasis, I'm starting to wonder if the general programs would be better and possibly have more opportunities. Who knows...
 
Hey Briana,

Are you familiar with ASHA Leader? If so, check out their website at http://www.asha.org/leader.aspx in July. Their July issue is going to cover aural rehabilitation, including pediatric AR. I'm pretty confident Vandy will post an article in there. ;)
 
Hey SoCal!
Yep, I actually already subscribe to the ASHA Leader. How awesome! I'll be enjoying the July issue. :)
 
You need to become an audiologist first before you start focusing on becoming an audiologist specializing in pediatrics.
 
BigAl said:
You need to become an audiologist first before you start focusing on becoming an audiologist specializing in pediatrics.
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Of course, but what's wrong with learning pediatrics for enjoyment? No doubt, every program is going to require you to learn all areas of audiology, however, some schools give you the opportunity to be involved in ped. research studies and/or ped, clinics.
 
BigAl, I know. I'm only starting my sophomore year of undergrad work. I'm just trying to learn more about the profession in general and where my interests lie. It will help me to prepare for the best grad school that has those options.
I'm just an early bird!
 
SoCalAud said:
Of course, but what's wrong with learning pediatrics for enjoyment?
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There is nothing wrong with it, but as audiologist we already specialists on the auditory and vestibular systems. When you people say I'm only going to do this audiology or that audiology, that just waters down our abilities. We are not medical doctors, who after med school begin their specialties. We already have our specialty. When I hear people say I only want to work with this population or that population it just drives me nuts. Sure people favor working with a certain population, but to exclude everyone else that doesn't fall into that parameter is not good for the profession.

I'll give you an example, lets say you work in a small town and an otologists needs to send a patient to an audiologist. He looks up an audiologist and you happen to be the closest one. The patient calls to make an appointment to find out they can't go there because you only specialize in peds. Its a dramatic example but not unheard of, I have heard audiologist not wanting to see adult patients.
 
BigAl said:
There is nothing wrong with it, but as audiologist we already specialists on the auditory and vestibular systems. When you people say I'm only going to do this audiology or that audiology, that just waters down our abilities. We are not medical doctors, who after med school begin their specialties. We already have our specialty. When I hear people say I only want to work with this population or that population it just drives me nuts. Sure people favor working with a certain population, but to exclude everyone else that doesn't fall into that parameter is not good for the profession.

I'll give you an example, lets say you work in a small town and an otologists needs to send a patient to an audiologist. He looks up an audiologist and you happen to be the closest one. The patient calls to make an appointment to find out they can't go there because you only specialize in peds. Its a dramatic example but not unheard of, I have heard audiologist not wanting to see adult patients.
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I applied to graduate school with the intention of being an educational audiologist. I had the background and reasoning to support my intended career goal. The fact I was able to express such a desire for a speciality was well received by faculty and audiologists I know in the area.

I think its going to be truly challenging just to be in that speciality alone because there isn't much structure in the schools in providing the appropriate services to hearing impaired children. Which is WHY there is such a need for more pediatrics training at the graduate level because there is a dearth of well trained audiologists in pediatrics. An audiologist with general training isn't going to be as effective as one with specialized training in pediatrics working with children. I applaud those who want to seek a career in pediatrics because it is truly challenging area and you are generally paid less on average.

What you are talking about in your example is a major breach in the code of ethics, declining a service to someone just because they are an adult and you are the only audiologist in town..the same goes for a child seeking assistance with an audiologist who primarily works with adults. AuD students are trained to work with the general population first before moving on the more specialized training. This means we are trained to provide services to everyone.

Besides, audiologists aren't going to limit themselves to one speciality because they can't feasibly support themselves in a small town. What you are talking about is just pure stupidity. When we talk about our interest in pediatrics, most of us intend to work in the schools or hospitals, the very places that need audiologists with extensive pediatrics training because that's where we will interact with the majority of hearing impaired children.
 
spring88 said:
I applied to graduate school with the intention of being an educational audiologist. I had the background and reasoning to support my intended career goal. The fact I was able to express such a desire for a speciality was well received by faculty and audiologists I know in the area.

I think its going to be truly challenging just to be in that speciality alone because there isn't much structure in the schools in providing the appropriate services to hearing impaired children. Which is WHY there is such a need for more pediatrics training at the graduate level because there is a dearth of well trained audiologists in pediatrics. An audiologist with general training isn't going to be as effective as one with specialized training in pediatrics working with children. I applaud those who want to seek a career in pediatrics because it is truly challenging area and you are generally paid less on average.

What you are talking about in your example is a major breach in the code of ethics, declining a service to someone just because they are an adult and you are the only audiologist in town..the same goes for a child seeking assistance with an audiologist who primarily works with adults. AuD students are trained to work with the general population first before moving on the more specialized training. This means we are trained to provide services to everyone.

Besides, audiologists aren't going to limit themselves to one speciality because they can't feasibly support themselves in a small town. What you are talking about is just pure stupidity. When we talk about our interest in pediatrics, most of us intend to work in the schools or hospitals, the very places that need audiologists with extensive pediatrics training because that's where we will interact with the majority of hearing impaired children.
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The other issue is that we are certified as an audiologist, period. We will not certify as a pediatric audiologist, an educational audiologist, a vestibular specialist, or a hearing aid specialist coming out of school. You can specialize as much as you want to once out of school and practicing in the field as well as tailoring your clinical placements/electives/research project in your academic setting but it is still necessary to have a foundation in the various aspects of the field as a whole.
 
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cmc271 said:
The other issue is that we are certified as an audiologist, period. We will not certify as a pediatric audiologist, an educational audiologist, a vestibular specialist, or a hearing aid specialist coming out of school. You can specialize as much as you want to once out of school and practicing in the field as well as tailoring your clinical placements/electives/research project in your academic setting but it is still necessary to have a foundation in the various aspects of the field as a whole.
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Exactly, we are obligated to serve the whole population first and foremost. I have no qualms about serving non-pediatric populations, in fact would like to experience it, but I believe my strengths lie with the pediatric population. Either way, I will seek to be the best audiologist I can be and I purposely choose a program that will give me the best well-rounded experience. Whether geriatrics or pediatrics, every applicant/AuD student should have this mindset. But don't discount anyone for having specific interests prior to applying. They are most likely stronger applicants because of it.
 
Spring I know you have this entire vision of everything being peachy in the real world, as I did before getting into school. Let's talk in a year or two after you have been exposed to the going ons of the real world. It's not as peachy as you may think it is.
Stupidity or not, its happening where services that are administered are better for one population than the other
 
I think there are two different proficiencies to highlight in relation to this discussion. One is knowledge and the other is practical skill. While it's true that in our doctoral programs we must all take classes covering certain topics and to get licensure we need to pass comprehensive exams covering the entire breadth of our profession, in reality people will have different practical skills based on their clinical experiences. While many audiologists are generalists some end up specializing because they have performed the same care under our scope of practice over time to the exclusion of others. For example someone whose practice consists of mostly adults may not feel that they can provide care to a pediatric patient as well as another audiologist might be able to because they haven't done it in ages. Or some people may not have a certain peice of equipment so they refer out special testing to somebody else. Also educational audiology seems to require almost a completely different skill set than somebody working in a hospital for example. Yes we all need to know about everything in our scope of practice, but some people will end up specializing in certain areas more than others. There are even audiologists who specialize in aural rehabilitation therapy! Well, there is at least one that I know of. :) But in any case I agree that as part of our doctoral program we need to gain clinical skills in all areas and the specialization is better obtained later.

That said, I am currently enrolled in a pediatric and educational audiology emphasis program at Gallaudet, which requires taking a couple of electives (I took Genetics and Cued Speech) and doing an externship (and ideally internships also) where I'll see at least 50% pediatric patients.
 
BigAl said:
Spring I know you have this entire vision of everything being peachy in the real world, as I did before getting into school. Let's talk in a year or two after you have been exposed to the going ons of the real world. It's not as peachy as you may think it is.
Stupidity or not, its happening where services that are administered are better for one population than the other
Click to expand...

Actually BigAl, I don't have this view of everything being "peachy" in the real world. I agree that I have a lot to experience when I start my graduate program but I don't have any unrealistic expectations, period. I've spent my entire life dealing with audiologists and I've met a couple brilliant, some average and some totally stupid, ignorant ones. It's the latter that compelled me to enter the field in the first place. In any case, I don't begin to specialize until my third year anyways.

cidanu, I'm really interested in cued speech! My school doesn't offer it but I know it's offered in the area. I don't think cued speech is used as much on the west coast, have you encountered patients who use it at Gallaudet? I know it's not as common today as it was in the past.
 
BigAl, I was going to say that Spring88 grew up with a hearing loss and DEFINITELY knows a lot about audiology.
 
cmc271 said:
The other issue is that we are certified as an audiologist, period. We will not certify as a pediatric audiologist, an educational audiologist, a vestibular specialist, or a hearing aid specialist coming out of school. You can specialize as much as you want to once out of school and practicing in the field as well as tailoring your clinical placements/electives/research project in your academic setting but it is still necessary to have a foundation in the various aspects of the field as a whole.
Click to expand...

Well, you can get a vestibular specialist certificate as a physical therapist. The PT who works with my audiologist is working on getting it, but there are so few certified PTs and even fewer certification courses! Good point, though. Although, I agree with BigAl's overall idea that we should be entering graduate school with an open mind and be willing to get the full education, and decide any specialty after we get the basics and experience 'everything'! :)
 
rEliseMe said:
Although, I agree with BigAl's overall idea that we should be entering graduate school with an open mind and be willing to get the full education, and decide any specialty after we get the basics and experience 'everything'! :)
Click to expand...

Exactly what I was getting at.
 
I didn't mean to start any heated discussions...I don't want to go to school just for pediatrics. I strongly believe that to be a good, well rounded audiologist you need many diverse experiences. My only question was what schools have good programs to teach me how to better serve the pediatric population (specifically in a children's hospital, in my interests).
 
BrianaGrace17 said:
I'm interested in pediatrics and all the neat things that go along with those programs, such as cochlear implants, APD, and aural rehab. My top choice is Vanderbilt (of course), along with University of Washington (Seattle), UNC, and Arizona State (full ride possibility).

Does anyone have any comments about the best program for pediatric audio, any of the schools I listed, or any training grants/scholarships that would help me pay for grad school? Thanks! :)
Click to expand...

Hi Briana, good for you for thinking about these things already! I interviewed at UNC and really loved the program. They have a grant program for those focusing on pediatrics, but you have to compete for it. UNC has great facilities and a bit of a medical "bent" - the building is directly connected to the university hospital and you participate in grand rounds meetings with all other AuD students starting in your first semester. Unfortunately, I was told that it is difficult to get in as an out of state student. I was waitlisted and then a few weeks later I was told the class was full. I have pretty good stats and I thought my interviews went great so I was disappointed. However, this is just the impression I got during my visit, so if anyone on these boards is a student there feel free to correct me.

That said, I'm very happy to be going to University of Tennessee in the fall. I applied to UT specifically because I was interested in their aural habilitation concentration, which you will not find in many places. As far as I know so far, there are no scholarships/grants for specilizing in peds there. The facilities on campus leave something to be desired (we are, uh, in the football stadium...), but the opportunities for outside placements are plentiful. And all the faculty I have spoken to are wonderful and enthusiatic about their work.

Here's some info on the aural hab concentration: http://www.uthsc.edu/allied/asp/aud/auralhabilitation.php
 
Briana,

You didn't cause the mix up. I don't understand why this all went the wrong direction. You should be comfortable to ask whatever questions you have and I'll certainly try my best to help answer them or help you find the answers. :)

-S
 
SoCalAud said:
Briana,

You didn't cause the mix up. I don't understand why this all went the wrong direction. You should be comfortable to ask whatever questions you have and I'll certainly try my best to help answer them or help you find the answers. :)

-S
Click to expand...
Ditto :thumbup:
 
Thanks you guys! I feel nice and supported on these discussion boards.
 
I agree with what everyone is saying...it did get a bit off base. It's easy to infer the wrong thing when you are online because it can be so dang ambiguous at times! Briana, it's very refreshing to see someone who is actively seeking to learn more about the field especially as an entering sophomore :). When I was a sophomore I was busy changing my major from business to anthropology. As opinionated as we can be sometimes, we are here to support those entering the field. Goodness knows we need better audiologists out there! It sounds like we've experienced our fair share of lousy ones :/


I will be attending the University of Washington in the fall :). If I remember correctly that is one of the schools you are interested in? We may not be as well known as UNC and Vandy for pediatrics but we have LEND, a grant that provides additional pediatrics training as well as financial support in the third year of the program. Here is the link: http://depts.washington.edu/lend/ . There are usually three to four AuD students that receive the grant each year. This grant also includes those in other disciplines as well. One of the third years who just completed the training through LEND, is off for her externship at UNC's Children's Hospital :).

UW is definitely a research based program thus it's not for everyone. In addition to the AuD faculty, there are also the folks down at the Virginia Merril Bloedel Hearing Research Center. Here is a good link detailing all the research areas of Bloedel and the SPHSC department: http://depts.washington.edu/hearing/index.php, It's really great because we have variety in choosing who to work with for our AuD project :).

Like UNC, UW is also a state school but I don't think it matters as much if you are in-state as opposed to out of state. I think there are only three of us from Washington in my class (out of thirteen total).

Finances...UW isn't cheap even if you are instate. There is really no way to gloss over it. I'm paying more for the UW as a WA resident than I would've for any other AuD program I applied to. The first year is rough but there are WAY more funding opportunities along the line especially with TA positions because those are only reserved for 2nd/3rd years... and those come with tuition waivers and stipends. There are also a couple of scholarships here and there. I've been impressed with the faculty with how hard they've been working to obtain more funding for their students.

Blah, I tend to go a bit overboard with writing too much...if you have any questions about the UW, you can PM me :). I'd be glad to help!
 
Thanks so much spring88! I tend to babble too, so I like when people talk a lot.

Yes, I'm definitely interested in UW. I think at this point, every school is expensive...that's why I'm so concerned about paying for it! The more I think about it, the more I feel interested in research but of course nothing is set in stone.

It's difficult because it seems like every audiology programs has its pros/cons and I'm a freak and want things to be perfect. =P
 
BrianaGrace17 said:
I didn't mean to start any heated discussions...I don't want to go to school just for pediatrics. I strongly believe that to be a good, well rounded audiologist you need many diverse experiences. My only question was what schools have good programs to teach me how to better serve the pediatric population (specifically in a children's hospital, in my interests).
Click to expand...

BrianaGrace, if you think you want to do pediatrics, then you should definitely focus on schools that offer placements in that area. It sounds like that is exactly what you are doing. Of course we all need to be well-rounded, and most programs pretty much guarantee that, because you'll need clinical hours in all areas. Adults are great practice for pediatrics anyway. Look at schools that are in big cities and that offer placements in children's hospitals. When you interview or when you get in and have an opportunity to talk with current students, ask where their placements are and if there is a lot of competition for the pediatrics ones or are they pretty easy to get if you just ask.
 
SoCalAud said:
I just emailed Dr. Folsom and he said the LEND Pediatric Grant is funded for this year, but they have no guarantees for the following year. They will know about the next three-year cycle sometime this fall.
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I knew the cycle was up soon (i.e before my third year) but I didn't realize it was this year. It's been renewed in the past so I'm hoping the trend continues! Everyone with the training grant has been really successful so far :).
 
That's positive news! I hope they get enough funding for the next cycle. Will you let us know when you start the program? That way I can put that on my excel table. ;)
 
SoCal, you are amazing! I can see how passionate you are just from talking on here! I really hope you all your dreams come true with grad schools next year. :)
 
Alright, this threat had me thinking about my top 5 schools. I went ahead and searched the 2nd and 3rd clinical rotation sites within the surrounding area to see if I can get a well-rounded experience and surprisingly, I do not have to eliminate the schools on my list. I really suggest you guys doing this. I feel 110% confident with my schools. it is such a relief to get this part done and be confident with my decision.
 
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