Perceptions of our Multicultural Population: A Survey of Future Speech-Language Pathologists

Location

CSU Ballroom

Start Date

20-4-2015 2:00 PM

End Date

20-4-2015 3:30 PM

Student's Major

Speech, Hearing, and Rehabilitation Services

Student's College

Allied Health and Nursing

Mentor's Name

Megan Mahowald

Mentor's Email Address

megan.mahowald@mnsu.edu

Mentor's Department

Speech, Hearing, and Rehabilitation Services

Mentor's College

Allied Health and Nursing

Description

The makeup of the United States has changed drastically over the years to include people of all cultural backgrounds. Speech-language pathologists work with children who are bilingual or identify with a different culture daily, and as their caseload continues to become more diverse, they must become more knowledgeable about their clients and their backgrounds. This study first looks deeper at the demographic that makes up speech-language pathologists and compares that to the populations in the schools. The purpose is to investigate graduate students' perspectives of these diverse cultures and evaluate whether an internship in a school influences their thinking. Data was collected through a survey given to first and second year graduate students. This data was divided based on experience with a school internship and further analyzed. Results show that the demographic of future speechlanguage pathologists is predominantly Caucasian, mono linguistic females, while their caseloads in the Mankato school district consist of a high percentage of Hispanic, African American and Asian children. Preliminary results from the data collected indicate that individuals that had interned in the schools were more aware of the changing demographic of their clientele and regarded multicultural knowledge as necessary in their field. The first year graduate students without the internship experience responded with a slightly lower form of agreement. The final results from this study will hopefully spark a conversation among professionals in the field about the importance of multicultural education and training.

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS
 
Apr 20th, 2:00 PM Apr 20th, 3:30 PM

Perceptions of our Multicultural Population: A Survey of Future Speech-Language Pathologists

CSU Ballroom

The makeup of the United States has changed drastically over the years to include people of all cultural backgrounds. Speech-language pathologists work with children who are bilingual or identify with a different culture daily, and as their caseload continues to become more diverse, they must become more knowledgeable about their clients and their backgrounds. This study first looks deeper at the demographic that makes up speech-language pathologists and compares that to the populations in the schools. The purpose is to investigate graduate students' perspectives of these diverse cultures and evaluate whether an internship in a school influences their thinking. Data was collected through a survey given to first and second year graduate students. This data was divided based on experience with a school internship and further analyzed. Results show that the demographic of future speechlanguage pathologists is predominantly Caucasian, mono linguistic females, while their caseloads in the Mankato school district consist of a high percentage of Hispanic, African American and Asian children. Preliminary results from the data collected indicate that individuals that had interned in the schools were more aware of the changing demographic of their clientele and regarded multicultural knowledge as necessary in their field. The first year graduate students without the internship experience responded with a slightly lower form of agreement. The final results from this study will hopefully spark a conversation among professionals in the field about the importance of multicultural education and training.

Recommended Citation

Jacoby, Tia. "Perceptions of our Multicultural Population: A Survey of Future Speech-Language Pathologists." Undergraduate Research Symposium, Mankato, MN, April 20, 2015.
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/urs/2015/poster_session_B/5