Externship Goals and Expectations: Audiology

The first externship provides you with your first intensive opportunity to link classroom material to the clinical world. There are several areas of clinical skill that you should begin to develop at this point in your training:

  • basic assessment procedures specific to the setting
  • planning treatment for typical clients
  • understanding of the role of the audiologist
  • self-evaluation of interactions with clients, families and other professionals
  • observing and describing clients communication behaviour and needs
  • observing and differentiating techniques used by the Clinical Educator
  • developing an awareness of the client as a whole person

Externship 2: July — August, 7 weeks
Externship 3: January – February, 6 weeks
Externship 4: March – April, 7 weeks

Externships 2 through 4 allow you to continue to build on your clinical skills and apply your classroom knowledge to the clinical setting. You will start with observation and shared sessions but are expected to move quickly into more independence in the clinic. Rate of progress will depend on your individual strengths and past experiences. At the end of the 3rd and 4th externship, you should be able to handle the typical clinical caseload at a site with coaching required from the clinical educator only for more specialized clinical cases.

In addition to having acquired entry-level competence as an Audiologist or SLP, our goal is to graduate clinicians who:

  • Have the knowledge base, clinical skills, and personal characteristics necessary to be capable clinicians
  • Can translate classroom knowledge into clinical skills
  • Have acquired the appropriate number of clinical hours to meet SAC certification requirements
  • Have the ability to work as a generalist with preschool children, school-age children or adults, in a variety of different settings
  • Have understanding of professional behaviours and skills that are necessary in the workplace
  • Are reflective practitioners that assume responsibility for their life-long personal and professional development
  • Are self-aware and able to effectively communicate with diverse groups
  • Are professionals with the capacity to constructively and collaboratively approach conflict
  • Are collaborative, interprofessional team members who make a positive impact