Interview with Jean Blosser, Ed.D., CCC-SLP, Vice President of Therapy Programs and Quality for Progressus Therapy
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Linda Schreiber:I'm excited to be interviewing Jean Blosser from Progressus Therapy this morning. Good morning, Jean. Jean Blosser:Good morning. Good to see you again. Linda: Good to see you too. I interviewed you a while back but at that time we didn't get a chance to chat about the Progressus Univ
Linda Schreiber:I'm excited to be interviewing Jean Blosser from Progressus Therapy this morning. Good morning, Jean. Jean Blosser:Good morning. Good to see you again.
Linda: Good to see you too. I interviewed you a while back but at that time we didn't get a chance to chat about the Progressus University Partners initiative. It's such a valuable program and our readers should know more about it.
Jean:Yes, our University Partners initiative is our university outreach effort. Through that program, we're able to work with universities in many ways to encourage students to consider schools as their primary work setting choice after they graduate.
Linda:So you're helping to solve the shortage problem in the schools?
Jean:Yes, and we approach that from a number of different perspectives. We know that students struggle with their decision. They have so many choices of work settings after they graduate, including hospital, clinic, rehab, schools, and private practice. And we believe that to make that decision, they really have to develop an understanding of what it would feel like to work in that setting. They need to develop an awareness of the benefits and challenges of different settings as well as the contributions they may be able to make. Working in the schools can be very professionally fulfilling. We are doing everything we can to raise awareness of the impact of the shortage on children and our profession. Schools face many challenges and we strive to provide solutions that are do-able and exciting for clinicians.
Linda: So the University Partners program addresses the school setting, and not necessarily medical or rehab settings?
Jean:Yes, our University Partners focus is on turning students on to working in the schools.
Linda: As a university, what does it mean to be a partner with Progressus Therapy?
Jean:We believe so strongly in supporting students that we connect with students and universities in a number of ways. We offer externship experiences, an innovative leadership development program, our Career Connection Grants, and our Career Vision Scholarships. Our premier mentoring program, Career Launch, surrounds beginning clinicians with support. We can even partner with universities to help professors access materials that are used in school-based service delivery so that people who are teaching courses that relate to preparation of students for the school setting can have additional teaching resources.
Linda:Jean, those are intriguing options. Let's take them one at a time. First, tell me about the externship program.
Jean:Well we know that some universities really struggle to find highly qualified supervisors for externship placements so we have an SLP Externship or OT Fieldwork Experience that allows students to be supervised in a school setting by one of our master clinicians.
Linda:How does that work?
Jean:Well, students are matched with a master clinician using a very structured plan for the types of experiences students need to obtain. We establish an affiliation agreement with the university that helps us understand the goals and expectations of the placement site from the university's perspective. Then we look at what types of experiences they want their students to gain.
We also look at the desired outcomes for the experience. We consider the role of the university supervisor and what he or she is looking for in a master clinician. Then we develop a very structured experience for the students. Our master clinician supervisors are given guidance on what experiences or what types of exposures to provide for students. We work to accommodate the university's and the student's different needs.
Linda:My guess is that this option is extremely helpful for universities. You also do a lot to support leadership among the students who are in leadership roles.
Jean:That's because we know it's important for students to realize leadership. First, we have people who are in leadership roles in the school settings who we encourage to visit with universities in their regions and volunteer to speak in classes or to be an expert or someone students can turn to when they want to learn more about that setting.
We also support leadership though our New Leaders Program, which is a multi-year commitment by Progressus Therapy to participants to reward them for their achievements.
Linda:And what does the New Leaders Program entail?
Jean:The Leaders are exposed to unique professional growth opportunities throughout the term of the program and it begins during the CF Externship and continues for three years. All New Leaders participants receive $14,000 of direct compensation above their salary and other benefits as a Progressus Therapy employee.
Linda:How does a student become involved in this program?
Jean:Candidates for the New Leaders program can self-nominate or be recommended by university faculty. Candidates are required to submit a 500-word essay as part of the application process.
Linda:And they can find more information about the New Leaders program at your website: www.Progressus Therapy.
Linda:Jean, I am aware that Progressus Therapy also offers support for students and student activities. Tell us about that.
Jean:We offer sponsorships for activities of student organizationslike NSSLHA groups. For example, we recently attended the Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders annual conference. We served as a sponsor for that meeting, but one of our contributions went to supporting student attendance at the meeting.
Linda: And we all know that is helpful to students. You have scholarships and grants for students as well?
Jean:We do. We have a scholarship called the Career Vision scholarship, and we award two of these scholarships annually to students majoring in speech-language pathology. And each scholarship is for $3,000.00. The intent of the Career Vision scholarship is to support students who have a passion for wanting to work in a school setting after they graduate. It's a national competition with no strings attached.
Linda: Tell us more.
Jean: For this scholarship, students have to submit a 1,500-word essay responding to three questions:
- How do communication impairments impact upon a student's learning?
- What does the student's SLP feel are the primary challenges of working in the school setting?
- What is his or her vision as a school-based speech-language pathologist? (In other words, when you enter that role, how do you see yourself?)
Jean:It's a very simple process. The applicants have to write a 1,500-word essay; 500 words per question. It's simple but it does take some thought. The students who have won over the years have really demonstrated their passion for the field, working with children, and working in the school setting. We knew they were really going to make a difference in the long run. We've had amazing applications over the years. It's been totally exciting!
Linda: Might this be the time of year when applications are due?
Jean:Yes. We award one in the spring of every year. And then we award one in the fall of every year. The fall deadline is September 30th . Students can go online at www.ProgressusTherapy.com under Scholarships for more information.
Linda: What an opportunity for students!
Jean:We love being able to do it.
Jean:By the way, we've also just introduced another scholarship. This one is very cool. It is presented in partnership with the Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders. It's also a $3,000.00 scholarship and submissions will be accepted until December 21st of 2008. The award will be given in February of 2009.
Linda: What's this scholarship about?
Jean:The neat thing about this scholarship is that a student can submit a project or paper they've done for a class and they can submit a summary of the project and submit it for this competition.
Linda: And it has to be related to a school setting?
Jean:It has to be related to school-based service delivery. So it could be something like an in-service that's been developed for teachers to help them understand response-to-intervention, or it could be an intervention method for children with autism, or it might be a parent training programwhatever his or her professor assigns as a project. If the quality of it is really high level, then we're encouraging professors to suggest to their students that they submit for this competition.
Linda: And this is also described at www.ProgressusTherapy.com?
Jean:Yes, and this scholarship is externally reviewed. The awardee receives a $3,000.00 scholarship. Isn't that great?
Linda: That's more than great!! Does this target masters level students?
Jean:Yes, graduate students, but they could be in their first or second year.
Linda:Jean we've visited about quite a few of the options and if readers would like more information for any of them, they should visit www.ProgressusTherapy.com
We love knowing about the wonderful things that are out there as a result of Progressus Therapy. Thanks for sharing. And thank you for the support Progressus Therapy offers to students and universities.
Jean:Thanks to you too Linda. We love working with Speechpathology.com because you are also supportive of students and you provide a wealth of information on school-based service delivery.