Communication Sciences & Disorders Program with Spanish Language Immersion

My trip with Therapy Abroad to the Dominican Republic is by far one of the best experiences of my life. Before this trip I had experiences shadowing various SLPs but the exposure I had on this trip was so different, in the best way possible. During the trip I was immersed in their amazing culture, I got to meet so many wonderful people who are passionate about helping others, and I learned so much about the field I love. The accommodations were great, food was delicious and I always felt completely safe. I would highly recommend this program to anyone interested in field, everyone at therapy abroad is so kind and helpful. You'll fall more in love with the field and meet so many amazing individuals! I am so grateful to have been a part of this.

From the day I arrived in the town of Cabarete, I felt at home because everyone on the team gives you a warm welcome. The people of Cabarete are very welcoming; I never felt unsafe in the town. Having the opportunity to work with kids was an unforgettable experience, you learn and grow so much. The camp was 6 days and we worked with 9 children with speech problems. My partner and I were in charge of pretend play and everyday we planned new activities to have the children engaged. We were also assigned to observe a child throughout camp and later we met with our child's parents and teachers to exchange information and write an observation report. I also noticed how much they are in need of speech pathologists in Cabarete and the rehab center in Puerto Plata, which is why I would love to go back once I become an SLP and advocate for my Latino community. If you are planning on becoming a speech language pathologist I definitely recommend Therapy Abroad. You will have an unforgettable experience that will follow you through your career.

This is the only bilingual speech therapy program out there! It was such an amazing experience to get to meet others with the same passion as you. I learned so much about the development of children regarding speech and fine and gross motor skills all in Spanish. I think that prepping this camp was a great opportunity to see what planning and working with children with different disabilities would be like. It gave me hands-on experience working with these children. Also, observing the bilingual speech therapists on the trip during their screenings of children helped me gain a better understanding of the evaluation aspect of this field. This program expanded my knowledge on vocabulary in Spanish in this field and helped solidify my passion to become a bilingual speech-language pathologist.

This experience was incredibly special and unique. I had the opportunity to set up a speech and language camp that was designed to help nine local children. We were all assigned a child that we would be responsible for observing the entire camp. After the camp, we had to write observation reports about our child. This gave me so much hands-on experience, and taught me things about this field that I would have never learned in a classroom. I was the only participant from Iowa, and because of this trip I am excited to present to everyone everything I learned. Having two licensed and very experienced SLPs on this trip with us was also amazing. We were able to observe informal clinical observations of a variety of different children from the DR. The best part of it ALL was that every single part of it was in Spanish! I grew as a student and as a person because of this program.

This program met all my expectations and further, going above and beyond to make us 12 students feel comfortable, safe, and have fun! We ran a 6-day Tykes camp for children with communication disorders and delays, observed some screenings, and went on many fun excursions, like jumping in cave pools and going to the beach. Almost every night we had dinner on the beach, and we even learned bachata and went out dancing for Latino night! The hotel was right by the school and many dinner locations, and had a pool to dive into after a sweaty morning's work! There was always enough down time in the afternoon to rest up for the evening and the next day. This experience is wonderful for anyone looking to garner experience in bilingual speech-language pathology and have lots of fun along the way!