Catching Up With Alumni | Abby Traina (BA LING/24)
We recently caught up with Abby Traina, who completed a Bachelor of Arts Honours in Linguistics with a concentration in Psycholinguistics and Communication Disorders and a minor in Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies. Abby received a Senate Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement at convocation last spring.
During her time as an undergraduate student in the School of Linguistics and Language Studies, Abby joined the Carleton Applied and Theoretical Linguistics society (CATL), completed a practicum in speech-language pathology, and volunteered in a linguistics research lab where she helped transcribe files for thesis students’ research projects.
Learn more about what Abby has been up to and what’s in store next, and find some words of advice for SLaLS students below.
What Abby Has Been Up To
Following graduation, Abby moved to London, Ontario with her partner and two cats to begin a Master of Clinical Science in Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) at Western University.
“As part of the program, I’ve recently started an internal placement with the H.A. Leeper clinic, where I’ve been learning more about assessments and treatment for pediatric motor speech disorders,” Abby shares.
“My time at Carleton was certainly relevant to a lot of the subjects I focus on now (like phonetic transcription, communication differences/disorders, and neuroanatomy), so I’m very thankful for all of the opportunities that set me up for acceptance into the SLP program.”
“It’s definitely exciting to be able to apply my learning in an environment with real clients,” Abby notes, “while also still taking classes on topics such as swallowing, developmental speech disorders, and acquired language disorders.”
What’s Next?
“I’m looking forward to my summer placement with Bloom Speech Language Therapy in Burlington,” Abby shares.
“This is an organization that I’ve been following on social media for several years, and I’m thrilled to have the chance to work with them through their summer camp program!”
“More long-term, I’m looking forward to moving back to the Ottawa area and starting my career as a Speech-Language Pathologist,” says Abby. “I have yet to decide whether I want to work with a pediatric or adult population, so for now I’m keeping my options wide open!”
Words of Advice for SLaLS Students
“Don’t be afraid to explore your interests and find out how your studies relate to the world around you,” Abby advises.
Thinking about applying to graduate studies in speech-language pathology? Abby has been there.
“I know it can be intimidating throughout such a competitive application process,” she shares. “It’s easy to get discouraged or compare yourself to others’ progress, but it’s so important to be proud of how far you’ve come and to recognize the diverse strengths of the people around you.”
“There’s so many paths that you can take, and your future is a collaborative process, not a competition!”
Interested in learning more about our programs?
Visit our Programs and Course Offerings page to learn about the undergraduate and graduate programs that we offer here in the School of Linguistics and Language Studies.
Are you a SLaLS graduate?
We would love to know what you have been up to! Check out our Alumni page to meet our amazing graduates and to learn more about how to stay connected with the SLaLS community.