天美传媒

by Cecil Harris

offered exactly the kind of experiential learning opportunity that Amanda Castellano sought in preparation for a career as a speech-language practitioner. Adelphi students get plenty of individual attention on a close-knit campus, and Adelphi’s is one of the few college programs to offer clinical training to undergrads.

Ms. Castellano received a bachelor鈥檚 degree in communication sciences and disorders, which encompasses speech-language pathology and audiology, from the in May 2014. She spent part of her senior year as a student-clinician in TOTalk, a program on the Garden City campus in which she helped treat toddlers with undeveloped verbal skills.

鈥淚t鈥檚 different from doing observations when you have to go in and actually give therapy to children,鈥� Ms. Castellano said. 鈥淭he biggest challenge was remembering what goals go with what child. Even if I鈥檓 assigned to one child, if another child comes up to you in a group intervention, you have to know what to do. It took about three weeks before everything clicked.鈥�

Under the supervision of Susan Lederer, Ph.D., Ms. Castellano and fellow student-clinicians and worked with six toddlers in 12 sessions of 90 minutes each. The sessions were videotaped to reinforce the learning experience.

鈥淚n TOTalk, you have children, their caregivers and three student-clinicians in the same room,鈥� said Dr. Lederer, who created TOTalk in 1998, as well as the KIDTalk and PreRead programs. 鈥淲ith so much going on, collaboration is important and these ladies worked incredibly well together.鈥�

As part of Adelphi鈥檚 hands-on learning approach, the student-clinicians devised a way to command the toddlers鈥� attention during class. 鈥淲e bought a bubble gun that lit up and made sounds,鈥� Ms. Castellano said with a smile. 鈥淭hat worked really well. All the kids鈥� eyes were on us.鈥�

Possessing a serenity that prompted Dr. Lederer to nickname her 鈥淶en,鈥� Ms. Castellano came to Adelphi from a large family in , already comfortable around children and eager to help others. When she earns a bachelor’s degree, she won’t be the first Adelphi graduate in her family. Her cousin, Maria Birch ’09, works in Adelphi’s human resources department.

Graduate school is next for Ms. Castellano, who has acquired the requisite skills and a deeper understanding of human communication at Adelphi.