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Hannah knows she has chosen the right profession as a Speech Pathologist after her placement

Hannah Quick - UQ Speech Pathology Student

The Speech Language Pathology team at the Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office recently had the pleasure of supervising Hannah Quick, a third-year UQ Speech Pathology Student, during her six-week block placement.

Hannah was keen to come to Toowoomba for this placement as she was born in Toowoomba and spent six years growing up in the Garden City.

“I was really happy when I got Toowoomba as it was my first option for my placement,” said Hannah.

Hannah was even more excited about the prospect of placement as she had been under COVID restrictions for much of her degree.

“I have had to do most of my university learning online so now I am really enjoying doing the more practical face-to-face activities like going out to schools. So I wasn’t sure what to expect out in the field, but it has been even better than I hoped. I’ve really loved my time working at the Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office and with the 31 schools in the Dioceses; it has provided me with so much diversity as part of my placement,” Hannah said.

“I have had the opportunity to spend my time at one school per day seeing around three to four students formally. I spend an hour or so with every student doing an assessment of their speech and language. And then there are some informal chats with classroom teachers and learning support teachers discussing different students. And then we provide some recommendations to the classroom teachers based on what we found in our assessment session.”

“I've loved working with students, especially working with young students because I initially wanted to be a primary school classroom teacher when I started Year 12. However, I changed to speech pathology halfway through Year 12, so being able to work with young students is something I really appreciated,” said Hannah.

“Getting to experience some of the smaller schools has been amazing. We visited St Patrick’s School in Allora and I've never been in a school that small, and I really enjoyed it. And it was also such a great experience being able to see some of the bigger Toowoomba schools as a contrast to some of the smaller schools in the Toowoomba Diocese.”

“During my time at the Toowoomba Catholic Schools, I have felt very supported by the Speech Language Pathology team and all the staff at the Office. The team have provided me with as much experience as they possibly can. From the moment I got here, they encouraged me to be hands-on, engaged and doing what I needed to do to get the most out of my placement," Hannah said.

Alex Borlai, a Speech Language Pathology Advisor at the Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office loved having Hannah as part of her team and enjoyed the opportunity to provide her with experience that will help Hannah in her future career.

“We loved having the opportunity to support Hannah in applying the theory she learnt at university into practice. Hannah delivered effective speech pathology services to local, rural and remote schools. At Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office, we have the privilege of inviting our students on school visits to rural and remote towns, such as, Cunnamulla, Quilpie and Charleville. Hannah thoroughly enjoyed this unique experience and developed lifelong skills,” said Alex.

When Hannah was asked if she would recommend this placement she didn’t hesitate in her answer.

“I would 100% recommend this placement to other students and it has helped me to know that I have chosen the right career for me.”

Find out more about professional experience placements here.