Leland Robertson BA ’19, MA ’21 is a recent graduate of Calvin’s speech pathology master’s program. He shared how his Calvin education, his internship at the Chmela Fluency Center, and his volunteering at Camp Shout Out helped him become an agent of renewal in his chosen field.

Q: How did you decide to become a speech pathologist?

A: My first exposure to speech pathology was as a child, because I have a stutter. So I went to speech therapy for that, and then I attended a camp called Camp Shout Out, which is a camp for children who stutter. One of the co-directors of that camp is Kristen Chmela, who I was interning with this past summer. That sparked my interest in speech. My sophomore year of college at Valparaiso I decided to go for it, so I transferred to Calvin. Calvin had the five year program. And so because I was behind the ball being a transfer student, getting into that program would allow me to graduate on time. I was also from the Grand Rapids area, so I was really familiar with this part of town and knew people here.

Q: How did your Calvin education prepare you for a career in speech pathology?

A: The demand of the classes at Calvin helped prepare me. A lot is expected of you the whole time. Calvin got me used to having a lot on my plate.

Q: What’s been your experience in the field of speech pathology so far?

A:You start out seeing clients in the Calvin clinic on campus. And then from there, I did a semester-long internship at Ada Elementary in their early childhood special education program. And then after that, I was in an outpatient clinic through Spectrum. After that, I went to the Chmela Fluency Center and Camp Shout Out where I treated the campers.

Q: What is the Chmela Fluency Center? What was your internship there like?

A: Kristen Chmela is one of the top fluency experts in the world. She mentors all of her clinicians and stays up to date on what the research says, because it's important to always be providing that evidence-based practice, and know what your clients like. You can't plan one activity and apply it to all the clients you're seeing that day. Personalizing each session and writing the notes afterwards on what you targeted, what the success rate was, what worked, what didn't work so well. If you're doing an evaluation report, you have to look at all the contributing factors to what may be a part of this person’s stutter. So that's a lot of what behind the scenes looks like.I would usually get there at about seven or eight o'clock in the morning and prepare for my clients for that day. And once the clients rolled in the sessions were 45 minutes to an hour long. I would leave the clinic usually around seven or eight pm at night. I would get home and have to write notes from the day. And then once a week, we'd have an hour-long meeting where we would discuss certain clients and bounce ideas off of each other.

I would usually get there at about seven or eight o'clock in the morning and prepare for my clients for that day. And once the clients rolled in the sessions were 45 minutes to an hour long. I would leave the clinic usually around seven or eight pm at night. I would get home and have to write notes from the day. And then once a week, we'd have an hour-long meeting where we would discuss certain clients and bounce ideas off of each other.

Q: Why is the work of the Chmela Fluency Center meaningful to you?

A: The people there care so much about their clients. And so that means so much work outside of just the therapy session, with keeping up on research, preparing beforehand, having these meetings to discuss ideas and what the next move should be. The amount of work that went on outside of the therapy session was surprising to me. That internal drive was very inspiring to see.

My main goal was to learn a lot. And it was humbling, because I didn't know how much I didn't even didn't know, going in. And it took me probably two months to get accustomed to receiving constant feedback and how to improve. It was amazing how much was in my head in the three months that I was there.

Q: What is Camp Shout Out?

A: Camp Shout Out is a week long summer camp that has all the traditional summer camp activities, but what's woven into it is treatment. So not only are there camp counselors, there are board certified fluency specialists that provide education to SLPs and grad students. And for certain parts of the day, the kids are in this highly personalized and intensive treatment with the fluency specialists and grad students and the SLPs. And it's very customized to each child.

Q: Why is the work of Camp Shout Out meaningful to you?

A: Camp Shout Out is an amazing experience. For a lot of these kids, it's the highlight of their whole year. The only place I really ever got solid, actual treatment as a child for my stutter was at camp. There are other fluency camps in the country; I would argue this one has the most specialized training and the most current research behind it. I hands-down think it is the most effective and most fun.

Fluency, while it's prevalent, is not the most common diagnosis. So speech language pathologists (SLPs) don't run into it very often. And when they do they aren't versed in the latest research and what treatment is. And so a lot of times SLPs will tell kids to focus on breathing, talk slower, or tap or do something with their body to get the words out. And that can be harmful to the child. When I was in high school, my SLP would pull me from class, and she'd have me read a couple pages from a children's book. There was no crossover to me reading a children's book and what I wanted to work on with my speech. I'd read it to her. I wouldn't stutter. She'd say, ‘Okay, you're good.’ And I would leave. So I'd be in her office for two minutes tops. And then at Camp Shout Out, it was, ‘What do you want to work on? Okay, got it.’ And, ‘here is the latest research on what we know about stuttering.’ That's what a lot of therapy now lacks.

Q: What is your favorite part about being a speech pathologist?

A: Meeting so many people young and old who stutter like I do gives you this sense of, ‘I'm in the right place; I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.’ And that really makes you want to give them the best session possible each day. Getting to know clients, what they want to work on, what their personality is like. From there, treatment can unfold. The most important part is forming that bond with them.

Q: Where are you planning to take your career in the future?

A: own the road, I want to have my own private practice and specialize in fluency; that's my main interest. But because there's so many contributing factors to someone having a persistent stutter, it's good to have generalist knowledge. I have to broaden my knowledge beforehand, so that's the next step in the process, with the end goal of having a specialized fluency clinic.