It's not Just a Millennial Issue: Anxiety is Real in Student Clinicians

Michelle Dawson, MS, CCC-SLP, CLC, BCS-S, serves as a speech-language pathologist with Wolfe Speech Therapy, LLC, in Staunton, VA, and adjunct professor with North Carolina Central University (NCCU) in Durham, NC. Additionally, she is the acclaimed host of “First Bite: Fed, Fun, Functional,” a weekly speech therapy podcast that addresses “all thangs” of pediatric speech therapy and is presented by SpeechTherapyPD.com. Michelle authored "Chasing the Swallow: Truth, Science, and Hope for Pediatric Feeding and Swallowing Disorders." She is an accomplished lecturer, traveling across the nation delivering courses on best practices for the evaluation and treatment of medically complex infants, toddlers, and children with respect to their pediatric oropharyngeal dysphagia, pediatric feeding disorder, as well as language acquisition within the framework of Early Intervention. She currently volunteers as the Vice President of Speech-Language Pathology (March 2025 – 2027), co-chair for the Speech-Language-Hearing Association of Virginia (SHAV) Dysphagia and Pediatric Feeding Disorder Group (2023 – present), and on the convention committee for the 2025 Annual SHAV Convention. She has previously served twice as the Topic Chair for the Pediatric Feeding and Swallowing Disorders Committee for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Annual Convention, as the Treasurer for the Council of State Association Presidents (CSAP), is a Past President of the South Carolina Speech, Language, and Hearing Association (SCSHA), a board of trustee member for the Communication Disorder Foundation of Virginia (CDF), a graduate of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s Leadership Development Program (ASHA LDP), a recipient of both the PFD Systems Innovator Award and the Pediatric Feeding Disorder Awareness Champion from Feeding Matters, a recipient of the Louis M. DiCarlo Award for Outstanding Clinical Achievement from the SCSHA, a recipient of the State Clinical Achievement Award from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s Foundation, recognized as an ASHA Innovator, and eleven-time recipient of ASHA’s ACE Award for continuing education.

Stephanie Schank received her undergraduate degree from the University of Arizona in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences with and minor in Special Education, and finished up her last semester of her Master's degree in Speech Pathology at the University of South Carolina. She completed her final student externship at MUSC as a part of their highly respected craniofacial team and started her CF in pediatric home health in Myrtle Beach, SC this fall.