Speech Pathologist: Career Profile

Speech pathologists, officially called speech-language pathologists and sometimes called speech therapists, work with people who have a variety of speech-related disorders. These disorders can include the inability to produce certain sounds, speech rhythm and fluency problems, and voice disorders. They also help people who want to modify accents or who have swallowing difficulties. Speech pathologists' work involves assessment, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of speech-related disorders.

Speech pathologists held about 119,000 jobs in 2008. Approximately half of these jobs were in schools, including pre-schools and elementary and secondary schools. Other speech pathologists worked in hospitals, offices of other health practitioners, including speech-language pathologists, nursing care facilities, home health care services, individual and family services, outpatient care centers and child day care services. Some speech pathologists were self-employed.

In most states one must have a master's degree in speech-language pathology to work as a speech pathologist. Some states will only license speech pathologists who have graduated from a program that is accredited by the Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology. Coursework includes anatomy, physiology, the nature of disorders and the principles of acoustics. Graduate students recieve supervised clinical training.

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Speech pathologists working in 47 states must be licensed. They must pass the Praxis Exam in Speech-Language Pathology, a national exam administered by the Educational Testing Service. Licensing requirements also include 300 to 375 hours of supervised clinical practice and nine months of postgraduate clinical experience. Forty-one states also have continuing education requirements for license renewal.

Employment of speech pathologists is expected to grow faster than the average for all occupations through the year 2018. Bilingual speech pathologists will be most in demand, particularly those who speak Spanish and English. More speech pathologists will work in private practices as hospitals and other health care facilities, as well as schools, will contract out for services.

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Median annual earnings of salaried speech pathologists were $65,090 in 2009.

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On a typical day a speech pathologist will:

• use written and oral tests, as well as special instruments, to diagnose the nature and extent of impairment and to record and analyze speech, language, and swallowing irregularities;
• develop an individualized plan of care tailored to each patient's needs;
• select augmentative or alternative communication methods, including automated devices and sign language, and teach their use to individuals with little or no speech capability;
• teach those with little or no speech capability how to make sounds, improve their voices, or increase their language skills to communicate more effectively;
• help patients who have suffered loss of speech develop, or recover, reliable communication skills so patients can fulfill their educational, vocational, and social roles

They work with:

• people who cannot make speech sounds, or cannot make them clearly;
• those with speech rhythm and fluency problems, such as stuttering;
• people with voice quality problems,such as inappropriate pitch or harsh voice;
• people who have problems understanding and producing language;
• those who wish to improve their communication skills by modifying an accent;
• those with cognitive communication impairments, such as attention, memory, and problem solving disorders;
• people who have oral motor problems causing eating and swallowing difficulties

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition, Speech-Language Pathologist, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos099.htm (visited December 7, 2010).
Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, O*NET Online, Speech-Language Pathologists, on the Internet at http://online.onetcenter.org/link/details/29-1127.00 (visited December 7, 2010).

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