Continuing Competence Program
Risks and Supports Profile Example Submissions
Competence is the combination of:
The example reflections below, submitted by regulated members as part of their CCP submission, all detail how the regulated member’s knowledge, skills, attitudes and/or judgement were impacted by the risks and supports to practice that were identified by the member.
Note that in these reflections, the members reflected on specific:
- Practice areas or diagnoses,
- Population groups, including client age ranges,
- Clinical/non-clinical skills, etc.
where the risks and supports impacted their practice.
Audiology Risk Reflection Examples:
Reflection: Transitioning into the workforce as a new graduate poses a risk as I do not have as much clinical experience as my colleagues with years of experience. As such, patients who are long-time hearing aid users often have expectations that are harder for me to reach as I am not as familiar with specific manufacturers, aids, or settings that are unique to that patient and risk providing them with inadequate service. Additionally, I have moved inter-provincially so many of the policies or procedures learned in school are not applicable to my practice here in Alberta.
Reflection: Providing audiology services through private clinics comes with its own sets of challenges. Apart from providing high quality audiology services, I as a owner, have to focus on several other aspects of clinic functioning. From being an audiologist to business manager to looking after business finances, I have to also spend significant amount of time travelling. This fulltime engagement in day-to-day practice leaves little time to meet other demands at a professional and personal levels. This at times leads to professional isolation. I am aiming to have more time in coming days to focus on professional development by attending specific courses and networking with peers.
Audiology Support Reflection Examples:
Reflection: Experience working with pediatric clients from my student practicums during schooling has allowed me to more comfortably provide better service to patients and their parents looking for diagnostic hearing assessments and amplification options.
Reflection: Finally, I am able to mitigate risks to my own competence in clinical practice through introspection and personal analysis of my performance. Over the past several months I have tracked my thoughts and feelings about appointments and interactions in the clinic. Maintaining a record allows me to reflect on areas of strength and potential areas of growth as a new clinician. Introspection enables me to identify potential risks to my professional competence early and to seek support to mitigate the potential consequences.
SLP Risk Reflection Examples:
Reflection: I have identified this as a risk as it has greatly impacted my performance as an SLP. When I started working within the school district my contract was specific to children in preschool and kindergarten. I was able to successfully support teachers with screening for possible speech and language delays, complete assessments for children identified in a timely fashion and provide intervention directly and indirectly as needed. My clients/students are now at risk for not receiving excellent quality SLP support as the funding model has since changed and I am required to screen, assess and provide intervention to all elementary grades within the 6-7 schools I visit. This has more than doubled the amount of children referred to me with speech-language needs making it difficult to triage and prioritize who could benefit more. It is impossible to provide supports to all children within the schools that could benefit so a great deal of time is spent deciding who would benefit most and how to provide universal strategies to teachers. Additionally, expectations with deadlines and auditing related to assessments are overwhelming and challenging to meet. Time spent of paperwork is taking away from direct client service delivery and time consulting with teachers that could make a difference to a students performance in the classroom. I have limited time to complete continuing education that I believe could improve my practice because of my high workload volume.
Reflection: I experience professional isolation as a result of my role as an AAC specialist serving students with complex communication needs in several rural school districts. There are no other clinicians in my immediate geographical area that have a similar level of expertise and experience that I can collaborate with and discuss and problem-solve complex cases. I often consult on students that present with complexities not only of medical diagnosis/conditions but also barriers and constraints with inclusion philosophy, administrative policies , staff training and time, environmental/geographical factors. I am continually trying to keep up on best practices and technology advances in AAC.
Reflection: There is a very high staff turn over for both teachers and Educational Assistants. We are constantly training staff, which makes effective implementation of AAC tools and strategies challenging (since very few staff are experienced).
Reflection: Currently, I am working in a very culturally diverse area of [city]. There are multiple clients who required interpreters to conduct initial phone interviews and treatment for their children. This has been a learning curve because there are times when I have to make sure that I am able to express ideas and concepts through an interpreter and make sure the information is correctly interpreted. I have noticed parents will sometimes respond incorrectly to my questions and it has to be re-phrased. As well, it has been important for me to make sure cultural barriers which may affect understanding are diminished. For example, some of the handouts and online workshop which are sent to parent are in English which are not accessible for individuals with English as a second language. This is one risk noted because some beneficial information is not shareable in their current format. Since my experience is still developing, I still have to look up information or consult with another colleague about how to approach some discussions SLPs have in a culturally sensitive matter for topics which can be perceived as difficult in some cultures (e.g., ASD, parent-led treatment rather than SLP-led treatment) and how to share information to non-English speakers.
It is difficult to find the time to keep learning more about how to best serve clients in a culturally aware manner because of my caseload, and the other material/procedures I still have to learn in this new job. I am worried the information I provide will not be understood by the client or will be difficult for them to understand, which can lead to negatively impacting the SLP service.
SLP Support Reflection Examples:
Reflection: As a new graduate SLP, I have less experience than other SLPs who have been working for years. As such, I have made some efforts to fill in these gaps by taking courses and attending workshops. One area I was not confident in and requires specific qualification was Pre-kindergarten fluency. I recently took [redacted] training which certified me in providing this care to clients. In my graduate program, we mainly received training and experience with school age fluency clients.
Receiving prekindergarten fluency training was important because there were multiple children on the treatment waiting list who required this specific support and the research shows this treatment is effective, evidence-based, and best practice for this age group. The course enhanced my competency by supporting me in learning the procedures and troubleshooting for this treatment program and allows me to ensure the best outcome for the prekindergarten children who require fluency treatment. As well, I was tasked to present the newest changes of the Lidcombe program to my colleagues as an opportunity to teach and support their continuing education.
Reflection: I have an interest in Childhood Apraxia of Speech and I have been developing my knowledge and skills in this area over the last couple of years by attending webinars and receiving feedback on my skills as I pursued [redacted] certification. In working with several clients with this diagnosis, I have found that I have been able to help them progress and improve their speech-motor skills. The educational opportunities have allowed me to have the skills needed to practice with confidence and be effective in this specific practice area.
Reflection: I have increased my knowledge in preschool early language delays as I have now had regular exposure to this population. Regular exposure has allowed me to apply new strategies and develop resources that work for me in my practice. I feel more confident speaking to parents and am now able to discuss developmental norms within this age group. I can identify missing pre-linguistic skills in children who are not speaking and have strategies to help support these goals.
Reflection: I participate in a group of SLPs within our organization that provides services on First Nations. Through this group, we are able to pursue discussions regarding best practice, cultural awareness and safety, and other relevant topics. The primary topic to investigate during the upcoming year is assessment and looking at ways to use more of a “two eyed seeing approach” to our work in the communities. In the past, I have reached out to SLPs across the province that support First Nations communities & I will continue to do so. I have also connected with SLPs from [organization] in order to further this discussion.
Non-clinical Reflections Examples:
Reflection: This year I moved from a clinical role into an administrative role as a manager, and my previous SLP training did not adequately prepare me for the non- clinical aspects of this job. As SLPs, we are trained in clinical skills, and get little/no training to prepare for more managerial or supervisory roles. As such, I had no preparation in areas like leadership, communications, policy , technical writing, collaborator engagement, etc. I am still learning these skills on the job, and this affects how independently I am able to work, how quickly work gets done, and how confident I feel with the work I complete.
I am also somewhat removed from ‘on the ground’ clinical practice. Therefore, I am at arm’s length from the actual practice issues affecting clinicians and clients. This can probably have a detrimental impact on the policies, procedures, standards, and practices I am responsible for developing, as they may not be fully informed by current practice experience. This may impact how well these documents can be practically applied to clinical practice.
Reflection: To help with the transition into an administrative role and having no previous experience with aspects of management like leadership, communications, etc., I completed some business, human resources, and management courses, and I am working towards certification in these areas. These have been instrumental in providing me with the managerial competence that I did not get from my SLP training or experience and have positively impacted my ability to complete the non- clinical parts of my job, like heading committees, engagement with the government and other collaborators, managing staff, and writing policy documents.