Speech + Hearing Month
May is Speech and Hearing month in Canada, and the theme of this year’s Speech and Hearing month is S-LPs and audiologists: Doing more than you think.
We talked to five SPL students to get their perspective on the work of SLPs, what being an SLP means to them, the their approach to helping their clients. Here is what they had to say:
Meet SLP student Ryan Kaefer
Ryan knows first hand what a difference speech-language pathologists can make in a person’s life: when he graduates in 2026, he will have come full circle from being a child receiving speech therapy to being a speech therapist himself.
Meet SLP student Lauren Polanski
Lauren's pursuit of a career as an SLP was inspired by her grandfather, who acquired aphasia following a stroke when she was too young to know how to find alternative ways to communicate with him. Today, she is dedicating her career to helping people communicate.
Meet SLP student Chelsea Meza
Chelsea has chosen to focus on voice therapy, supporting individuals in recovering, strengthening or reshaping their voice. Her work with clients is about genuine human connection; understanding each person’s story and meeting them where they are.
Meet SLP student Michelle Balzer
Michelle wants to be the person who listens to, collaborates with, and supports individuals with a range of communication disorders. She is looking forward to setting goals with her clients that are meaningful, functional and motivating.
Meet SLP student Carissa Vance
For Carissa, a career as an SLP means getting to promote the importance and beauty of neurodiversity, and promoting access to communication, however that looks for different people.
Meet SLP student Brittany Guenot
Brittany likes to let people know about the scope of roles and responsibilities for practising SLPs.
