Master of Speech Pathology course gets students talking!

Marina Samaan has known she wanted to be a speech pathologist since she was a high school student.

“My younger cousin went to a speech pathologist and I went to the appointment with him. The speech pathologist was amazing and I thought ‘This is so cool!”

Like a lot of people, Marina didn’t realise the diversity of practice that speech pathology covers.

“Speech pathologists work in so many different fields. So this includes working with children and adults with difficulty in swallowing, communication, speech, voice or understanding or using language.”

After her undergraduate degree in Speech and Hearing, Marina felt that she had to decide between audiology and speech pathology.

Especially after going on my placements, I know 100% that I made the right choice – speech pathology is the perfect fit for me. I’m very lucky!

Deciding on postgraduate study, she liked the Master of Speech Pathology course at UTS as “the course was brand new. It had subjects that other unis weren’t offering and everything was up to date.”

She also liked the emphasis on new technologies.

“One of the standout things was the technology that UTS was using, especially with telehealth. Everyone’s using that now, and we were among the first to have a placement entirely focused on it.”

Marina is now in the 2nd year, the first cohort to study the Master of Speech Pathology.

“We’re like a little family. We have these great interactions and relationships with the staff. They’re amazing. Anyone in the cohort would tell you that it’s been such an amazing journey for us. I am very grateful for my amazing cohort, we are all very supportive of each other and. I look forward to seeing how well everyone does once we graduate.”

She loves that her campus classes are interactive and practical.

We do some work at home and then we come in to class, and it’s more hands on with role plays and discussions and using different technology.

Learning in a workplace environment has been a real highlight.

“I love the placements. They’ve been so amazing.”

Marina noticed that her learning goals changed as she got more experienced on different placements.

“On the first placement my goals were at a novice level. It was all about me and how I could do the job, and then it slowly shifted. Now that I’m more confident, it’s goals that would benefit the client.”

And helping clients is what makes it so rewarding.

I love communicating and I love helping people. I also love the counselling aspect of speech pathology. I love helping a person to communicate and enabling people to achieve their goals.

Marina would eventually love to work with children.

“My placements with children have stood out the most. I’m interested in working with kids with communication disability.”

The future for her and the profession is bright.

“Speech pathology is growing and developing so rapidly. I’m excited to see how far we can get with tele-practice to reach rural communities who usually miss out on services.”

Marina’s advice for interested students is clear.

“If you enjoy problem solving, technology, communicating and helping people, this is such an amazing and rewarding choice. Take the leap. You’ll love it!”

Learn more about Speech Pathology at the Graduate School of Health