1. Learn in new environments.
Go the extra mile by traveling abroad for your fieldwork! This opportunity will give you the ability to learn in many new settings. Doing fieldwork abroad enables you to be immersed in an environment conducive of your academic goals. You will explore current topics of interest and will certainly gain new ones as well. While abroad, you will be able to boost your clinical skills with hands-on experience wherever you choose to travel. In addition, traveling abroad also provides a perfect opportunity to learn a new language or practice your fluency if you already have a base knowledge in the language. Through this opportunity you will be able to pursue career-defining experiences in your path to becoming a licensed speech-language pathologist.
2. Gain more social and interpersonal skills.
Even if you are already a social person, traveling abroad is a great way to expand your social and interpersonal skills. This amazing experience will provide you many opportunities to meet new people who have different languages and cultures than your own. You will be able to make connections with people who you would otherwise not have the chance to meet. In addition to better social skills, your confidence will improve as well! You will be able to grow as an individual and health care professional and be confident in the therapy you deliver as a licensed speech-language pathologist.
3. Experience global health practices from different perspectives.
The best part of traveling abroad for your fieldwork is all the new information you will learn from different perspectives. You will work with several professionals and learn each of their treatment and assessment styles. While working with an experienced SLP, you will learn about cultural and linguistic differences with children with communication disorders. There will also be a special opportunity to learn a new language and practice bilingual assessments and treatments. Having such a unique hands-on experience will teach you much more than you learn from simply reading a textbook.
4. Learn about global and local healthcare issues.
Traveling abroad provides an exclusive experience for learning about global and local healthcare issues. To be an excellent health care professional, it is beneficial to understand global health as it aims to improve the access to health care services and quality of health care around the world. Living and working in another country will allow you to see firsthand how their healthcare system works and gives you an idea of what can be improved and how the United States could improve as well. This opportunity will also help you build empathy towards others and grow exponentially as a student and health care professional.
5. You’ll be busy – in the best way!
There will be no time to slack off! You will be so busy meeting local people, traveling around the country, interviewing professionals, learning another language, or practicing your fluency, experiencing new opportunities, and learning every day from the speech-language pathologists and clients you work with. You will thank yourself for this amazing growth opportunity that is only possible through doing your fieldwork abroad!
