Katie Fletcher

‘Hardworking, passionate, knowledgeable, and organised Speech and Language therapy student graduating in July 2024, passionate about working in adult acute care or learning disabilities, excited to start her career and expand her skills’. 

RELEVANT PRACTICE EXPERIENCE

Neurodevelopmental services at Norwich Community Hospital- 8-week year 3 bock placement assessing and diagnosing ADJHD and Autism Spectrum Disorder in children and adolescents, as well as working in the Special Resource Base at Sprowston infant school. 

January 2024-March 2024

Skills acquired: 

• Outstanding patient rapport-building- adapting my communication style to the individual needs and interests of each patient and their families, initiating every interaction in an approachable and calm manner and creating a safe space where patients feel comfortable to raise any concerns through a personable, professional and empathetic demeanour. 
• Effective and individualised assessment and intervention planning- choosing appropriate assessment materials and devising exemplary intervention plans personalised to the specific patient’s interests, dislikes, needs and priorities, with a strong evidence base and patient centred approach.
• De-escalating challenging behaviour- effectively and confidently responding to challenging behaviour through co-regulation and encouraging the use of zones of regulation, as well as enlisting the help of other professionals where appropriate. 
• Advanced communication skills- effectively conversing with patients and their families from a wide variety of backgrounds, as well as liaising with other healthcare professionals in a timely and professional manner to achieve the best possible treatment outcomes.
• Competence in using and analysing ADOS & ADHD assessments- effectively using and interpreting ADOS and ADHD assessments and their results for a wide range of patients with differing needs to contribute to the correct diagnosis. 
• Effectively communicating with education professionals- liaising with teachers and other relevant professionals in children’s lives to provide the highest level of support and assessment/intervention efficacy. 
• Comprehensive report writing- formulating reports in a detailed, time efficient and accurate manner to contribute to formulating the correct diagnosis. 

Colman Hospital for Specialist rehabilitation – 8-week year 2 block placement assessing and treating adults with acquired speech, language & communication difficulties, typically caused by stroke or traumatic brain injury. 

April 2023-June 2023

Skills acquired:

• Exemplary time-keeping- balancing my ledger between patient contact, report and note writing and arriving early to all appointments and team meetings. 
• Collaborative multi-disciplinary team working- treating patients alongside and together with other members of the MDT to provide the most evidence-based, integrated and specialist care possible. 
• Judicious assessment selection- deciphering the causes of patients’ impairments through appropriate and efficient selection of assessments to inform my working hypothesis/ differential diagnosis and devise the most effective intervention plan possible. 
• Service improvement project development- effective formulation and distribution of a patient information poster regarding risk feeding and a clinician information poster advocating for communication accessible and accurate assessment of mental capacity. 
• Delivering impactful intervention in a variety of environments- visiting care homes, hospices, patients’ homes, the inpatient ward adjoined to my service and conducting appointments via Attend Anywhere whilst upholding the same high quality of care. 
• Liaising with care staff regarding patients’ treatment recommendations- successfully conversing with care home staff involved in my patients’ care to ensure they are aware of the patients’ most recent recommendations and any progress made in intervention. 
• Extensive and effective use of SystemOne- accurately and effectively using SystemOne for documentation and record keeping, viewing patient records and tasking other professionals. 

Heydon & Ingham wards, Neuroscience, NNUH – Observing/Shadowing an SLT assessing and providing intervention on the acute stroke ward. 

            October 2022 for 1 day

Skills acquired: 

• Effectively mitigating infection prevention and control risks- ensuring exemplary hand washing between each patient contact in line with protocol, wearing aprons and gloves during dysphagia assessments and removing these in the correct order to prevent any cross contamination.
• Observing other professionals- proactively learning from the clinical practice of other professionals through comprehensive note taking and asking appropriate questions.
• High levels of patience- empathetically and flexibly responding to varying levels of impairment and engagement in intervention and assessment. 

Ranelagh Primary School Ipswich- Observing speech sound assessments of infant school children. 

October 2022 for 1 day 

Skills acquired:

• Safe practice- observing safeguarding and confidentiality policies, including being vigilant of any signs of child maltreatment and not discussing children with those outside of their care.
• Professionalism- constantly ensuring my professionalism through observing the school’s staff uniform policy and interacting with the staff and children in a warm but formal way. 
• Proactive observation of assessment- observing and learning how to conduct speech sound assessments, respond to children not engaging with the assessment material and adapting the order in which an assessment is conducted to best suit the needs of the child. 

Catton Grove Primary school- Observing/shadowing SLTs delivering assessment and intervention and assisting teachers in the classroom. 

June 2022-July 2022

Skills acquired: 

• Safe Practice- keeping patient information confidential, always following safeguarding policies, not discussing children’s SLT sessions with staff not involved in their care, as well as ensuring the children’s safety at playtime’s and reporting any injuries and how they were sustained.
• Professionalism- always following the school's staff uniform policies and wearing my name badge, as well as not discussing any of the children with my friends and family. 
• Learning from other professionals- comprehensive and detailed note taking to learn from the practice of the SLT I was shadowing to learn how to effectively deliver phonological awareness intervention, assess for speech and language delay/disorder and liaise with teaching staff about children’s progress. 
• Flexibility- successfully adapting to unexpected absences, changes in the school routine and disengagement from children to still effectively deliver my planned activities. 
• Exemplary problem-solving- adapting to unexpected lack of resources and/or time to still successfully complete my tasks and provide my activities. 

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

Relief Nursery Practitioner at Busy Bees Nursery St Albans City Hospital – responsible for the safeguarding, wellbeing, health, and development of infants and children aged 6 months- 4 years. 

July 2023-September 2023

Experience and skills acquired:

• Knowledge of typical and atypical child development 
• Implementation of the EYFS framework 
• Observation of delayed and disordered speech and language
• Sensory play with a child with global development delay 
• Liaising with parents about their children’s developmental milestones, safeguarding issues and allergies
• Leading play activities such as singing nursery rhymes, reading stories, ball games, imaginative play and arts and crafts. 

Bartender at the Miller & Carter Steakhouse Wheathampstead– responsible for serving customers drinks and fulfilling orders for the restaurant in high stress situations.

            July 2021- December 2022

Experience and skills acquired:

• Punctuality- being on time to shifts, coming back from breaks on time.
• Organisation- keeping the bar area clean and tidy throughout service.
• Leadership- delegating to and managing more junior staff members in my section under pressure. 
• Communication- appropriately and effectively interacting with thousands of customers across my career from different walks of life with different needs and preferences under varying circumstances. 

Nanny for Koru Kids- primary caregiver of an 18-month-old boy in a home setting for 22 hours a week.

July 2021-December 2021

Experience and skills acquired:

• Responsibility- being the primary caregiver for a toddler independently for 11 hours unsupervised.
• Time management- ensuring meals, naps, classes, nappy changing, and bottle feeding were attended to in a timely and organised manner. 
• Building client rapport – building a dynamic and trusting professional relationship with the parents.
• Health and safety/risk management – ensuring various environments and meals I had prepared were safe for a toddler and monitoring safeguarding at all times.

University of East Anglia, Norwich – BSc (Hons) Speech and Language Therapy 

            September 2021- ongoing (expected graduation July 2024)

St. George’s School Harpenden – 

A levels- Psychology- A*, Biology- B, English literature- B

GCSEs- Double Science- 9 8, German- 9, French- 8, RE- 8, Maths- 7, Art- 7, English literature- 6, English language -6, Drama- 6

            September 2014-June 2021