A Mixed-Reality Pilot for Developing Clinical Communication Skills in Speech and Language Pathology

Traditionally, undergraduate students aiming to pursue a graduate degree in speech and language pathology spend a substantial amount of time in local schools and hospitals shadowing senior clinicians and completing clinical tasks. Through these experiences, students develop both “hard” and “soft” skills required for effective clinical communication. Acquisition of these skills is vital to students’ clinical development and, ultimately, their performance as therapists. Moreover, students must demonstrate evidence of having completed these experiences in order to be accepted into graduate programs in the field of SLP. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the in-person clinical learning experiences in local hospitals and schools upon which our students rely came to a halt as a result of strict regulations prohibiting student clinicians from entering these buildings. Consequently, our students lost their in-person clinical learning opportunities. This presentation will demonstrate (i) how the use of mixed reality provides students with learning experiences to fill this gap and equip our students with both the “hard” and “soft” skills necessary for admission to graduate programs in SLP, and for effective clinical communication at large, and (ii) how recordings of mixed reality sessions can be integrated into clinical curriculum, in the semester in which the sessions take place and for years to come.