College of MedicineSpeech and Hearing SciencesMS SHSIntensive Case Review

Intensive Case Review

Final Oral Examination for SHS Graduate Students Non-Thesis Track/Intensive Case Reviews. Revised September 2020 

Structure of Final Oral Examination 

The final oral examination is your opportunity to demonstrate breadth of knowledge and critical thinking and reasoning skills. 

Length of exam: 1 ½ hours. 

Length of student presentation: ~20 minutes/case with ~10-15 minutes of questions and answers/case. 

Format of exam presentation: PowerPoint or similar software program. 

Dates for the exam: October through mid- April during the final year of graduate school. The defense date is determined in consultation with your committee chair and committee members. 

Due dates: Graduate School due dates for final exam scheduling. 

Content: Oral examination will include 2 case presentations, questions related to the case presentations, and may include questions covering the nine major KASA content areas. 

Committee Members 

Students selecting the Non-Thesis/Case Study Final Oral Exam option will be assigned a faculty advisor (committee chair) and two other committee members for their oral examination during their first semester of graduate school. 

General Instructions to the Graduate Student 

Prepare two case studies of patients you have seen in clinic, practicum, or internship. Select patients with different etiologies. 

Intensive Case Review Content 

  1. Background
    • Describe your client using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) framework. ICF Framework (PDF).
    • Cultural and linguistic consideration 
    • Reason for referral 
    • Therapy history – Stay compliant with HIPAA guidelines and remove all identifying information. For example: Do NOT include identifying location information (e.g. State “an outpatient clinic” not “UPCD Speech & Hearing Clinic”) 
    • Prior progress in therapy 
  2. Assessment 
    • Results and interpretation of assessment, including diagnosis and relevant standardized and informal measures 
    • Resources utilized at this point (e.g., journal articles, class notes, textbooks, etc.) 
  3. Treatment plan
    • Goals and objectives 
    • Evidence-based rationale for goals and objectives 
    • Resources utilized at this point (e.g., journal articles, class notes, textbooks, etc.) 
  4. Treatment results
    • Goals and objectives met/partially met/unmet 
  5. End of semester recommendations
    • Did you discharge the patient?
      • If so, provide a rationale 
      • If not, what recommendations did you make for continuing treatment? 
      • Referrals made 
  6. Personal reflection
    • What did you do well with this client? 
    • What would you do differently? 
      • Justify those differences.
    • How would you apply what you learned from this case to future cases? 
    • Resources utilized at this point (e.g., journal articles, class notes, textbooks, etc.) 
  7. References
    • Final slide for each case should include a reference list of a minimum of 10 journal articles per case study and any additional applicable resources (e.g., book chapters, etc.) 

Typical Timeline 

You may want to select one patient from your first year of clinical experience, find and study related research, and begin preparing your case. 

G1 Fall 

Meet with your assigned committee chair to discuss final defense options. We understand that some students are undecided about intensive case review or research at this time. 

G1 Spring 

File your Program of Study – required of all students. 

G2 Fall 

Meet with your committee chair early in the semester to discuss your progress. 

Defense Semester – G2 Fall or Spring 

  1. Submit both cases to your committee chair for approval to move forward or revise and resubmit. 
  2. Find defense date that works for you and your committee and schedule your defense. 
  3. Submit your final examination scheduling form to the Graduate School at least 10 business days before your defense. 
  4. Send your PowerPoint to your committee at least 5 business days before your defense. If you are citing references that are likely unfamiliar to your committee, submit copies of the reference with the PowerPoint (e.g. Your client has Rubenstein-Taybi syndrome. You will want to include a research paper describing this disorder.) 

Case Study Defense Examples 

The following are presentation examples. 

Intensive Case Review Data Collection Sheet

Please do not include any identifying information.

  • PERSONAL FACTORS 
    • Pseudo name for your client.
    • Age: (if over 89 years, do not state exact age) 
  • BODY FUNCTION AND STRUCTURE 
    • Body functions: The physiological functions of body systems (including psychological functions). 
    • Body structures: Anatomical parts of the body such as organs, limbs and their components. 
  • HEALTH CONDITION (DISORDER OR DISEASE) 
    • Problems in body function and structure such as significant deviation or loss. 
    • Include medical Dx, speech Dx. 
  • ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS 
    • Environmental factors – The physical, social and attitudinal environment in which people live and conduct their lives. These are either barriers to or facilitators of the person’s functioning. 
    • Include setting for therapy (school, private clinic, hospital..) 
  • ACTIVITIES 
    • Difficulties an individual may have in executing activities. 
  • PARTICIPATION 
    • Problems an individual may experience in involvement in life situations. 
  • SPEECH THERAPY 
    • Past and present assessments with client data 

Tx approach/es 

Goals 

Progress on goals 

Tx recommendations 

ICF Model (PDF)