Rebecca Smith is a Clinical Educator in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders.
How long have you been at App State? I came to App State at the end of November 2021. I'm from Texas, and I had no familiarity with North Carolina! I had only visited once before, and when I saw Boone I fell in love! The people are so kind, and the CSD department is progressive in research, education, and service. I am so excited to be a part of such a fantastic team!
What is your role in this department? I am a clinical educator in medical speech pathology and an adjunct instructor.
What do you find to be the most rewarding, and most challenging, aspects of your job? The most rewarding parts of working in the interprofessional health clinic are the relationships you build with patients and the opportunity to establish those relationships further through community partnerships. I have loved becoming more familiar with the residents of Boone and surrounding counties, in addition to the doctors and non-profit organizations that provide invaluable services to the area. I also love that I have the opportunity to train the next generation of speech pathologists, teaching them evaluation and treatment methods that are evidence-based. Lastly, engaging the students in my educational and programmatic development projects is extremely rewarding. Regarding challenges, working with patients following an acute event or a chronic condition diagnosis can be difficult. Patients are at their most vulnerable and often require counseling in addition to evaluation and treatment of their communication or swallowing disorder. Examining and addressing the patients' psychological, social, and emotional impact of their referring diagnosis or condition is critical to increasing their motivation to participate. This often must be accomplished through an interdisciplinary approach, with portions of the speech session dedicated to communicating thoughts and feelings surrounding the disease or disorder.
What prompted you to go into this field? I knew that I wanted to help people, but I had no idea what a speech-language pathologist was. Then, one of my friends in college was a speech pathology major and encouraged me to look into the program. I fell in love with the educational and scientific elements of the job. I cannot imagine doing anything else.
What are your speciality areas within the field? Since entering the practice seven years ago, I have evaluated and treated all ages and stages of life. I have focused my clinical and education work on infant and pediatric feeding and swallowing and adult/geriatric dysphagia in the last five years. I am a certified neonatal therapist, and I have completed advanced coursework in lactation support.
What is one thing you’d like to tell your younger self, in high school or college? It is okay to not have it all figured out, and it is okay if your life looks different from everyone else's!
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working? I enjoy cooking, volunteering, spending time with my cats, and gardening in the (warm) weather!
Rebecca Smith
Rebecca Smith