Students

Kelly

“Choosing where I wanted to attend graduate school was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever made,” says Kelly, who earned her B.A. in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences from Loyola with a minor in writing in 2020. From her undergraduate experience, she knew Loyola would be the right fit for her master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology. Through her program, Kelly gained clinical experience through an adult neurology clinical internship through the Loyola Clinical Centers. She evaluated and treated clients diagnosed with aphasia, gaining “invaluable experience by administering standardized assessments and implementing evidence-based treatment methods.” She says the most rewarding academic experience has been seeing and helping her patients achieve their goals in therapy. During Kelly’s internship, she worked under the supervision of Theresa Alexander, M.S., CCC-SLP, visiting clinical instructor of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences. “Theresa provided feedback on each of my client sessions and held weekly meetings with clinicians, which addressed important ethical topics in our field such as ableism, anti-racism, and cultural humility. The mentorship I’ve received from Theresa will stay with me for the rest of my career.” After she completes her master’s degree, Kelly will begin a clinical fellowship at Johns Hopkins Medicine in their laboratory of Neuromodulation of Language in Neurodegenerative Disorders in their Department of Neurology. “I’ll be evaluating and treating patients with Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) using language interventions; the therapy I’ll be administering is a part of an NIH-funded research project.” Kelly strives to utilize the Jesuit value of cura personalis, care for the whole person, as a future speech-language pathologist by creating a client-centered treatment model.

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