Trevor Scott, M.S., CCC-SLP, is now directing Bluffton’s speech language pathology and audiology program. When he is not working, Scott enjoys playing chess, playing his guitar, reading books and riding his bicycle. He also loves to play sports outside with his wife and children. Photo by Sarah Heydinger
Trevor Scott was ready for a change when he decided to apply for a position directing and teaching in Bluffton’s speech-language pathology and audiology program.
“I saw the Bluffton job and took a chance,” said Scott.
Scott is originally from Rohnert Park, Calif., and he attended the University of Nevada where he completed his bachelor’s degree in English. He and his wife moved to Oxford, Ohio, six years ago when he began his graduate work in speech pathology at Miami University.
Scott and his wife have four children and reside in Bluffton, Ohio. Scott said he was drawn to Bluffton because he wanted an opportunity to do something different.
“It’s a beautiful place and very special,” said Scott. “We have only been here a short time, but everyone in the community and at the school have been very welcoming.”
It’s always been about the relationships
Prior to working at Bluffton University, Scott worked in a clinical setting for a long-term care company. He mostly worked with adults who suffered from strokes, dementia, Parkinson’s and swallowing disorders. Although some therapists caution not to build a relationship with their patients, Scott has always believed in creating relationships with his patients, even if saying goodbye can be tough.
“When I left my job at the nursing home I had worked at for four or five years it was tough,” said Scott. “There was a man who was one of my first patients when I began working there and he was in his late 80s, I’d known him for several years, and he has been to therapy over and over because of having strokes, when I had to go on to say goodbye to him, it was hard.”
Even though goodbyes are hard, Scott said the most rewarding part about working as a speech pathologist is being able to serve others and see patients make progress through their therapy journeys.
Scott was originally drawn to speech therapy through the English linguistics aspect of it, but over time, it has evolved to the service aspect to others. He said serving Christ through serving other people is one of his core values. Scott and his family come from a Christian foundation of service and respect.
Working as a speech pathologist, Scott said he finds meaning in his work and feels like he is doing something valuable when he is helping others. Scott described himself as an introvert, but a good listener. He encourages this quality for speech therapists, to not only be good talkers but good listeners for their patients.
He also encourages that if students have the “heart of a servant” then they will never be disappointed with being in speech therapy. Scott’s teaching philosophy is instilled in his students that speech therapy is a fantastic way to serve other people.
“Respect is a big part of it,” said Scott. “Sometimes when you are working in a nursing home, it’s more than just speech therapy with your patients, sometimes they just need someone there to listen to them, someone to talk to them, or someone to be respectful towards them.”
On opportunities and advice for his students
Scott wants his speech pathology students to look at the bigger picture when it comes to speech pathology. For him, that means seeing patients they will be working with as people, not just something on their daily “to-do list.” Scott said he wants to motivate students to make a bigger impact for a patient each day that goes beyond their daily speech therapy goal.
As for SLPA itself, Scott described it as flexible.
“There are lots of different settings you can work in, and if you get tired or bored you can just move to a new one,” said Scott. “You can work in schools, hospitals, private clinics, universities, doctor’s offices, and even if you don’t know where you want to be, there is lots of wiggle room to figure out what you want to do.”
Some advice that Scott would give to his students would be to learn as life goes on that it doesn’t always go as planned. Sometimes you have to adapt to life as it comes to you and to find value in what you are doing even if it’s not what you thought you would be doing.
Scott wants to inform people outside of the SLPA major that it is demanding academically and also very competitive. He is proud of the students who have taken on going into this field, especially the students who are student athletes.
“This is a tough major and even harder to get into a grad program, so it says a lot about the students who are going through this program,” said Scott. “Our students have to be strong to be successful.”
Hope for the future
Scott said he is excited to be at Bluffton because of the room for growth.
“This is a young program, our first seniors graduated this year,” said Scott. “Some long-term goals are to grow the program, have a speech clinic and graduate program on campus, and of course to attract more students to Bluffton and produce successful graduates that go on to graduate school and go on to do cool things with this major.”
Though the list of long-term goals may not be official, one thing is: Scott is here for the students and the community.
“My goal is to help the students succeed and go onto grad school or whatever they move on to do. I want them to know that I am open to helping them in any way that I can, along with the community,” said Scott.
