This workshop is intended for Year 3 students in the Speech and Language Therapy programme at Massey University, New Zealand

1. Reflective Writing in SLT

2. WHAT IS EFFECTIVE
REFLECTIVE WRITING?
DESCRIPTIVE
• Reports concisely and clearly a learning
experience
ANALYTICAL
• Explains how the experience (including both
successes and failures) contributed to your learning
• Identifies objectives for consolidating your learning
and filling any gaps you have become aware of
• Makes connections between this learning
experience and the ‘bigger picture’ of your
professional development
• Explores tensions or contradictions in applying
principles in practical contexts
D
E
E
P
E
R
CRITICAL

3. COMMON WEAKNESSES IN
REFLECTIVE WRITING
• describing (telling the story) of
experiences – without analysis
• wallowing in (or avoiding) self-criticism
• making claims about learning etc which
are not supported by evidence
• clumsily applying ‘rules’ (e.g.
impersonality) from other kinds of writing

4. REFLECTIVE WRITING
IN SLT PRACTICE
You need to include a reflection on your learning
in each ‘range of practice’ page in myPortfolio
(speech, language, voice, fluency, swallowing and
multimodal communication)
Each of your six reflections will consist of a few
paragraphs summarising what you’ve learnt, how
you’ve learnt it, and what you need to learn in
relation to the particular range of practice
You’ll need to refer to the most relevant learning
experiences in Year 3 of the course, focusing on
placements but supplementing this experience
with references to relevant lectures, reading,
assignments and observations

5. WRITING TIPS
• Write a range of practice at the top of a page
• Review the competencies you had already begun to
develop in this range of practice in Y2
• What limitations / gaps had you identified in your
Y2 reflections?
• Looking back, can you see any other limitations /
gaps in your Y2 competencies which you hadn’t
identified at the time?
• What objectives had you set for Y3?
• How had you planned to achieve them?

6. WRITING TIPS
• Note down two or three key things you learnt about
this range of practice and how you learnt them
• Was this learning in line with your expectations /
objectives for Y3?
• Note down a few key problems, gaps, or
difficulties you have experienced in this range of
practice: What caused them? How did they affect
you? What did you do about them? Did that work?

7. Review the seven CBOS Units and add various
codes (3.1; 4.2 etc) to some of the key things
you’ve learnt and the problems you’ve had in this
range of practice
Highlight the CBOS Units in which you still have
gaps in relation to this range of practice
Look ahead at Y4 and note down any opportunities
to consolidate CBOS Units you have begun to
develop and to fill in some of your gaps
Think about some other things you could do
independently to develop in this range of practice
in (or before) Y4

8. Structure your reflection around three to four
paragraphs - for example:
1) An overview of your competencies, limitations
and objectives going into Y3
example
At the beginning of this year, my competencies in
relation to Adult Language were limited to theoretical
knowledge deriving from the tests and case studies
completed during the Neurogenic Speech Disorders
papers and observations from my Year 2 placement at
Waitakere DHB. I had begun, therefore, to develop
competencies in CBOS Units 1 to 4, but needed to
consolidate all of these areas and also to begin to take
on more professional responsibilities (CBOS Unit 5),
particularly in a team and/or community-based context
(CBOS Unit 6).

9. 2) A summary of one or two learning experiences
(including a focus on some personal difficulty /
challenge) that have contributed to specific (coded)
CBOS competencies in this range of practice
example
My main competency development in Adult Language in 2014
was through my placement at Whanau Care in Manurewa.
Under supervision, I was responsible for assessment, analysis
and interpretation, planning and implementation of
interventions for two clients with apraxia of speech and
Wernicke’s aphasia (CBOS 1 – 4). As one of the clients was a
Maori woman, I reviewed my notes on culturally safe
practices and also familiarised myself with the policies of the
agency (CBOS 5.1).

10. example (continued)
During the placement, I became more comfortable in
introducing myself in Te Reo and saying a karakia,
initially with my supervisor, but on subsequent visits, by
myself and with an occupational therapist and family
members (CBOS 4.1; 6.1; 6.2; 6.3). I successfully used
a picture-word matching task with the client, based on
suggestions in Smith and Jones (2004), selecting
functionally and culturally relevant items. The client
made significant progress through this task and her
husband commented on the positive impact this had had
on her mood and on the family’s engagement with the
therapy. I also extended my communication
competencies, through providing both oral and written
reports to the whanau and to the agency.

11. 3) A ‘bigger picture’ insight – e.g. how this learning
links to your overall professional development or
understanding of SLT in a NZ/Aotearoa context
example
My supervisor’s reports on my performance were positive. I
also became more efficient in the technical and formal
aspects of SLT practice. However, I realise that I am still
extremely limited in my range of resource and therapy
options. This restricts my ability to provide client-centred
practice, since I am unable to select from a wide range of
possibilities those which best suit the client’s needs, goals and
circumstances in the way I have observed my supervisor do.

12. 4) Specific learning objectives for this range of
practice in Y4, together with how you plan to
achieve them
example
Therefore, I have asked and been given permission to visit
the agency for two or three days in December in order to
familiarise myself with resources for speech and language
therapy with adults in home or community settings, including
especially those which address specific cultural needs of the
clients.