Comps Resources & Top 5 Tips
Comps...the big exams that every grad student dreads are tough. Although not every Masters in Communication Disorders program requires it, those students that have had to take them know that a lot of time, effort, and work goes into jumping over this final hurdle.
For our Masters program, we each could create a binder to take into the oral portion of our exams. Although it took weeks of late nights and stressful days to put together, I now have an amazing set of resources in one place.
Note 1: I am writing this after a restful holiday and several weeks post-exams. Feeling positive about this monster of a binder did not happen overnight 😆.
Note 2: This post is as of January 8, 2020. This list mainly consists of seminal articles and systematic reviews, the latter of which may be out of date by the time you read this. However, most of these systematic reviews will likely have updates and can hopefully help give you a starting point for research.
Let's get on with it...here's the list of articles (not in APA order)!
Langmore, S.E. et al. (1998) Predictors of aspiration pneumonia: How important is dysphagia? Dysphagia, 13:69-81.
https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/42426/455-13-2-69_13n2p69.pdf?sequence=1
Stats:
10 pages (without bibliography)
Seminal work
Primary source
This is a seminal article from Langmore (also the wizard behind FEES) & colleagues that I wished I'd known about earlier in my program, but helped me tie together several areas of studies and clinics at the end of my program. It was discussed on the "Down the Hatch" podcast with Dr. Ianessa Humbert and Dr. Alicia Vose (take a listen to this podcast during your comps prep if you want more on dysphagia and medical SLP work. I also highly recommend "Swallow Your Pride" with Theresa Richard). This article discusses the importance of several health factors in predicting the possibility of aspiration pneumonia in patients. That is, dysphagia is not the sole factor in predicting aspiration pneumonia--but one part of a constellation of factors that may lead to increased risk. This work provides background information on the topic of dysphagia, aspiration pneumonia, and the other factors that may lead to aspiration pneumonia (oral health, other infections, age, etc.). It also is a primary source looking at 189 patients and provides information that was helpful both for comps and for my future career.
McFarlane, L. (2012). Motivational Interviewing: Practical Strategies for Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists. Canadian Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, 36(1).
Stats:
7 pages (without bibliography)
Secondary source
One area that was emphasized in my grad program was how to tap into clients' motivation. Many clinicians, both SLPs and non-SLPs, cite motivation (or lack of it) as a reason why clients do or do not well in therapy. Conversely, many clients feel that their expression of motivation affects how they are viewed by their clinicians. This article pulls together many, as the title suggests, practical ways to incorporate motivational interviewing and interests into the clinical work. Drawing on similar ideas of master clinician Dr. Luterman, researchers Deci & Ryan, and more recent work in the field by Dr. Michael Biel, this article ties together several evidence-based works that you could speak to in essays or an oral exam on a wide variety of case studies, especially for neurological injuries.
Lemoncello, R., & Ness, B. (2013). Evidence-based practice & practice-based evidence applied to adult, medical speech-language pathology. [Author post-print]. Perspectives on Gerontology, 18(1).
Stats:
11 pages (without bibliography)
Secondary source
This paper changed my perspective on evidence-based practice because it opened me to the idea of being a clinical scientist rather than a clinician solely. The paper discusses how in a young field like speech-language pathology, and in all fields of health and medicine, we must be open to the idea that we can learn from our own practice and clients rather than relying on evidence from particular cohorts. It discusses how we must drive our practice with evidence, but to always be gathering our own data to meet the needs of each individual client.
ASHA Practice Portal
With pages and evidence on nearly every topic you could come across in comps exams, the ASHA practice portals were the foundation for most other articles I researched. It may take a while to go through them, but they are worth it and provide a snapshot of topics as well as ways to delve deeper into those topics.
ANCDS
The Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences' website has a plethora of bibliographies on several topics that provided systematic reviews for many areas regarding neurologic research in the field. I particularly liked the Cicerone et al (2011) and Purdy et al (2018) studies that provided me with foundational research and practices for TBI and apahsia.
My 5 Tips
1) Prioritize rest, health, and hydration in the weeks and months leading up to comps. Being healthy and rested on the day of comps is one of the primary ways you can decrease your stress and improve your mental capacity and functioning to your highest ability on the day of the test. Choosing between staying up another hour to study vs. sleeping another hour? Choose sleep! You can also think of it this way: What would you tell your clients to do? To be a good therapist, you need to be willing to set goals and follow through with them yourself. Don't get stressed about your health during this time, but prioritize it--your body and brain need to function for everything else to fall into place.
2) Listen to podcasts. There are so many good ones out there, and so often, especially living in Southern California, I felt like I was spending precious time in the car that could have been used for studying and trying to make up for that time when I got home when I should be resting. There are podcasts for everything you might be interested in or want to know more about. Go for the ones that are evidence-based and suggest articles as a bonus! ("Down the Hatch," "Swallow Your Pride," "Speech Uncensored," "Teach Me to Talk," "ANCDS Podcasts," and "The Speech Link" are some of my top picks).
3) Prioritize areas of weakness. Comps preparation is marked by time. So you have to prioritize some areas over others. I was weak in pediatric topics because most of my clinic work had been mostly with adults. It was tough because I had to do a lot of learning on my own, but it was worth the time. What are your weakest areas? What areas are you foggy on or learned toward the beginning of your program? Do you have a good handle on the ASHA Code of Ethics or other topics that may come up unexpectedly?
4) Focus on what you can; let go of what you don't have time for. Many grad students get caught up in everything they have to do and wanting to know everything possible--I know because I was one of those students! At some point, I realized that I couldn't possibly know everything--that's what our careers are for. Know what you can, do your best.
5) Trust yourself. When it comes down to it, you've been studying this stuff intensely for two years (often more) and passed all the exams, clinical work, and other hoops of being a grad student. You've made it this far, and you should be proud of yourself! Trust in what you know. Nerves get the best of us even in many situations; practicing trusting yourself is good to start doing now.
Good luck!
For our Masters program, we each could create a binder to take into the oral portion of our exams. Although it took weeks of late nights and stressful days to put together, I now have an amazing set of resources in one place.
All throughout putting this binder together, I wished I'd had more time to do it. Thus, whether you're reading this early in your program or coming up on comps soon, I've put together this short list of the resources that helped me piece together the many concepts we learn in graduate school.
Note 1: I am writing this after a restful holiday and several weeks post-exams. Feeling positive about this monster of a binder did not happen overnight 😆.
Note 2: This post is as of January 8, 2020. This list mainly consists of seminal articles and systematic reviews, the latter of which may be out of date by the time you read this. However, most of these systematic reviews will likely have updates and can hopefully help give you a starting point for research.
Let's get on with it...here's the list of articles (not in APA order)!
Langmore, S.E. et al. (1998) Predictors of aspiration pneumonia: How important is dysphagia? Dysphagia, 13:69-81.
https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/42426/455-13-2-69_13n2p69.pdf?sequence=1
Stats:
10 pages (without bibliography)
Seminal work
Primary source
This is a seminal article from Langmore (also the wizard behind FEES) & colleagues that I wished I'd known about earlier in my program, but helped me tie together several areas of studies and clinics at the end of my program. It was discussed on the "Down the Hatch" podcast with Dr. Ianessa Humbert and Dr. Alicia Vose (take a listen to this podcast during your comps prep if you want more on dysphagia and medical SLP work. I also highly recommend "Swallow Your Pride" with Theresa Richard). This article discusses the importance of several health factors in predicting the possibility of aspiration pneumonia in patients. That is, dysphagia is not the sole factor in predicting aspiration pneumonia--but one part of a constellation of factors that may lead to increased risk. This work provides background information on the topic of dysphagia, aspiration pneumonia, and the other factors that may lead to aspiration pneumonia (oral health, other infections, age, etc.). It also is a primary source looking at 189 patients and provides information that was helpful both for comps and for my future career.
McFarlane, L. (2012). Motivational Interviewing: Practical Strategies for Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists. Canadian Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, 36(1).
Stats:
7 pages (without bibliography)
Secondary source
One area that was emphasized in my grad program was how to tap into clients' motivation. Many clinicians, both SLPs and non-SLPs, cite motivation (or lack of it) as a reason why clients do or do not well in therapy. Conversely, many clients feel that their expression of motivation affects how they are viewed by their clinicians. This article pulls together many, as the title suggests, practical ways to incorporate motivational interviewing and interests into the clinical work. Drawing on similar ideas of master clinician Dr. Luterman, researchers Deci & Ryan, and more recent work in the field by Dr. Michael Biel, this article ties together several evidence-based works that you could speak to in essays or an oral exam on a wide variety of case studies, especially for neurological injuries.
Lemoncello, R., & Ness, B. (2013). Evidence-based practice & practice-based evidence applied to adult, medical speech-language pathology. [Author post-print]. Perspectives on Gerontology, 18(1).
Stats:
11 pages (without bibliography)
Secondary source
This paper changed my perspective on evidence-based practice because it opened me to the idea of being a clinical scientist rather than a clinician solely. The paper discusses how in a young field like speech-language pathology, and in all fields of health and medicine, we must be open to the idea that we can learn from our own practice and clients rather than relying on evidence from particular cohorts. It discusses how we must drive our practice with evidence, but to always be gathering our own data to meet the needs of each individual client.
ASHA Practice Portal
With pages and evidence on nearly every topic you could come across in comps exams, the ASHA practice portals were the foundation for most other articles I researched. It may take a while to go through them, but they are worth it and provide a snapshot of topics as well as ways to delve deeper into those topics.
ANCDS
The Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences' website has a plethora of bibliographies on several topics that provided systematic reviews for many areas regarding neurologic research in the field. I particularly liked the Cicerone et al (2011) and Purdy et al (2018) studies that provided me with foundational research and practices for TBI and apahsia.
My 5 Tips
1) Prioritize rest, health, and hydration in the weeks and months leading up to comps. Being healthy and rested on the day of comps is one of the primary ways you can decrease your stress and improve your mental capacity and functioning to your highest ability on the day of the test. Choosing between staying up another hour to study vs. sleeping another hour? Choose sleep! You can also think of it this way: What would you tell your clients to do? To be a good therapist, you need to be willing to set goals and follow through with them yourself. Don't get stressed about your health during this time, but prioritize it--your body and brain need to function for everything else to fall into place.
2) Listen to podcasts. There are so many good ones out there, and so often, especially living in Southern California, I felt like I was spending precious time in the car that could have been used for studying and trying to make up for that time when I got home when I should be resting. There are podcasts for everything you might be interested in or want to know more about. Go for the ones that are evidence-based and suggest articles as a bonus! ("Down the Hatch," "Swallow Your Pride," "Speech Uncensored," "Teach Me to Talk," "ANCDS Podcasts," and "The Speech Link" are some of my top picks).
3) Prioritize areas of weakness. Comps preparation is marked by time. So you have to prioritize some areas over others. I was weak in pediatric topics because most of my clinic work had been mostly with adults. It was tough because I had to do a lot of learning on my own, but it was worth the time. What are your weakest areas? What areas are you foggy on or learned toward the beginning of your program? Do you have a good handle on the ASHA Code of Ethics or other topics that may come up unexpectedly?
4) Focus on what you can; let go of what you don't have time for. Many grad students get caught up in everything they have to do and wanting to know everything possible--I know because I was one of those students! At some point, I realized that I couldn't possibly know everything--that's what our careers are for. Know what you can, do your best.
5) Trust yourself. When it comes down to it, you've been studying this stuff intensely for two years (often more) and passed all the exams, clinical work, and other hoops of being a grad student. You've made it this far, and you should be proud of yourself! Trust in what you know. Nerves get the best of us even in many situations; practicing trusting yourself is good to start doing now.
Good luck!
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