Abstract
In this article, we describe an innovative approach for providing speech-language
pathology graduate students with exposure to long-term care settings and clinical
training in service delivery for persons with dementia. Our pedagogical approach emphasizes
leading learners through distinct stages of creating awareness and a foundation of
knowledge, teaching clinical skills, hands-on practice via service learning, and ongoing
self-reflection. Outcome data presented in this article are derived from learner evaluations
and written reflections as well as social validation data provided by dementia patients
in a long-term care setting. Our findings reveal that a combination of high-impact
practices, community-based service learning, and ongoing reflection can result in
transformative learning and attitude shifts for speech-language pathology graduate
students toward serving persons with dementia. This is a key finding given that a
majority of our learners had little exposure to long-term care environments or had
any prior interaction with persons with dementia.
Keywords
Dementia - long-term care - speech-language pathology - service learning
