Continuing Education student with the Kirley School of Education
Majoring in Speech-Language Pathology Assistant program
This is my second bachelor’s degree. I earned my first degree in Early Childhood Education and Liberal Studies from Westfield State University, and was working as a preschool teacher. I’ve always had a passion for working with kids, but after a while, I figured out that the classroom setting wasn’t the best for me long term. That is when I decided to go back to school to become a Speech-Language Pathology Assistant (SLPA). Speech pathology has the best parts of teaching that I love: working with kids, helping them learn and grow, and seeing them progress.
I became interested in Elms because I found its Speech-Language program is one of the few anywhere that is fully online. I’m taking all of my classes remotely. This gives me the flexibility to work while taking classes. I also did research into the field and talked to many speech-language pathologists and found that the program at Elms has a great reputation.
Elms has been excellent! It exceeded my expectations! I was a little nervous to go back to school and switch fields. However, I’ve loved all of the classes that I have taken so far. I find the field fascinating and have been able to soak up new information from my online courses. The courses have been convenient for my work and life, and I like that I’m able to work on my assignments on my own time.
I’ve had lots of fabulous professors! Two that stand out to me are Jacqueline (Yokley) Murphy and Jennifer Adamites. Both are SLPs working in the field and have relevant experience. Jenn Adamites also graduated from the SLPA program at Elms. Each was thoroughly prepared with abundant amounts of relevant and current materials, and each was very available to any students with questions. I loved the live discussion component in each of their courses, as it allowed me to connect with them more than I would in a fully asynchronous class. Both professors made class material accessible and engaging.
I feel that I’m getting everything out of my degree that I wanted. I’m taking my first observation course, and getting to see speech therapists in action has only made me more motivated. So far, I wouldn’t change anything about my time at Elms College. I’m excited to see what the next year brings, and I’m even more excited about earning my degree and going into the field.
I’m very pleased with Elms. The flexibility and quality of my classes have been rewarding. I don’t know of any other college that offers the same flexibility within an SLPA program. I have no regrets. I would recommend the Elms SLPA program to anyone who is interested because of the quality of the classes. Elms is great at providing classes that follow the requirements needed to become certified in Speech-Language Pathology.