What does a speech and language pathologist do?
So Many Things.
What exactly is a speech language pathologist? In most social settings when I share my professional title I am quickly met with a confession, “I had speech therapy when I was a kid! I couldn’t say my s or r sounds, can you tell?”. The majority of the population thinks that a speech language pathologist is aptly named and works with children targeting speech sound errors or lisps. What we really do is so much more, we really are poorly named.
Although a Master’s degree is entry level for an SLP to be licensed to assess and treat, our undergraduate and graduate degrees are as broad as the life span, as we provide services from birth to death. We study neurology (how the brain works), anatomy and physiology (as it relates to respiration, phonation, speech, swallowing and breathing and can be impacted by head and neck cancer) swallowing, feeding and swallowing disorders (dysphagia), motor speech disorders (dysarthria and apraxia), language learning and disorders (aphasia, auditory processing disorders, receptive and expressive language disorders), voice disorders, hearing disorders, speech sound errors, executive functioning and all the syndromes and conditions that impact learning, feeding and language in infants, children, adults and geriatrics. We can work in the school setting, out patient clinics, home health settings, hospitals, corporate business coaching and private practice. With so many areas of focus, our name tag couldn’t fit speech-language-hearing-cognition-feeding-swallowing-play-executive function-pathologist. With so many ways to build a career as an SLP it can be difficult to know how to find an SLP with the specialization you are looking for.
If you are looking for an SLP with specialized experience don’t be afraid to ask questions and interview potential SLP’s to find the right fit for you: How many years have you been practicing? Do you hold an certifications? How many hours of continuing education have you completed? Do you have testimonials form other families that have worked with you? Do you have experience with (age of population you are looking for)? Are you familiar with (syndrome or disease)? Do you have a mentor or affiliation you work with?
Within the health care system you are matched to an SLP based on location and availability rather than skill. In the educational setting, you get the SLP that the district hired. The best way to find an SLP that specializes in an area of focus such as voice disorders, infant feeding outside of the NICU, and swallowing disorders is to look for an outpatient clinic, specialized program or private practice SLP. If you are looking for a specialized infant and toddler feeding specialist, check out Little Stories to see if we would be the fit for your needs.
