Speech-Language Pathologist Assess and treat persons with speech, language, voice, and fluency disorders. May select alternative communication systems and teach their use. May perform research related to speech and language problems.
Speech-Language Pathologist is Also Know as
In different settings, Speech-Language Pathologist is titled as
- Bilingual Speech-Language Pathologist (Bilingual SLP)
- Pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist (Pediatric SLP)
- Speech and Language Clinician
- Speech and Language Specialist
- Speech and Language Teacher
- Speech and Language Therapist
- Speech Clinician
- Speech Pathologist
- Speech Therapist
- Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP)
Education and Training of Speech-Language Pathologist
Speech-Language Pathologist is categorized in Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Speech-Language Pathologist
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Education Required for Speech-Language Pathologist
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Degrees Related to Speech-Language Pathologist
- Bachelor in Communication Sciences and Disorders, General
- Associate Degree Courses in Communication Sciences and Disorders, General
- Masters Degree Courses in Communication Sciences and Disorders, General
- Bachelor in Speech-Language Pathology/Pathologist
- Associate Degree Courses in Speech-Language Pathology/Pathologist
- Masters Degree Courses in Speech-Language Pathology/Pathologist
- Bachelor in Audiology/Audiologist and Speech-Language Patholog
- Associate Degree Courses in Audiology/Audiologist and Speech-Language Patholog
- Masters Degree Courses in Audiology/Audiologist and Speech-Language Patholog
- Bachelor in Communication Disorders Sciences and Services, Oth
- Associate Degree Courses in Communication Disorders Sciences and Services, Oth
- Masters Degree Courses in Communication Disorders Sciences and Services, Oth
Training Required for Speech-Language Pathologist
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Speech-Language Pathologist in different industries are
- Audiologists
- Occupational Therapists
- Low Vision Therapists, Orientation and Mobility Specialists, and Vision Rehabilitation Therapists
- Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses
- Psychiatrists
- Family Medicine Physicians
- Clinical and Counseling Psychologists
- Clinical Nurse Specialists
- Neurologists
- Physical Therapists
- Speech-Language Pathology Assistants
- Occupational Therapy Aides
- Recreational Therapists
- Psychiatric Technicians
- Occupational Therapy Assistants
- Physical Therapist Assistants
- Emergency Medicine Physicians
- Physical Therapist Aides
- Hearing Aid Specialists
- Music Therapists
What Do Speech-Language Pathologist do?
- Monitor patients' progress and adjust treatments accordingly.
- Administer hearing or speech and language evaluations, tests, or examinations to patients to collect information on type and degree of impairments, using written or oral tests or special instruments.
- Develop or implement treatment plans for problems such as stuttering, delayed language, swallowing disorders, or inappropriate pitch or harsh voice problems, based on own assessments and recommendations of physicians, psychologists, or social workers.
- Instruct clients in techniques for more effective communication, such as sign language, lip reading, or voice improvement.
- Teach clients to control or strengthen tongue, jaw, face muscles, or breathing mechanisms.
- Develop speech exercise programs to reduce disabilities.
- Consult with and advise educators or medical staff on speech or hearing topics, such as communication strategies or speech and language stimulation.
- Design, develop, or employ alternative diagnostic or communication devices or strategies.
- Conduct lessons or direct educational or therapeutic games to assist teachers dealing with speech problems.
- Communicate with non-speaking students, using sign language or computer technology.
- Provide communication instruction to dialect speakers or students with limited English proficiency.
- Use computer applications to identify or assist with communication disabilities.
- Conduct or direct research on speech or hearing topics and report findings for use in developing procedures, technologies, or treatments.
- Evaluate hearing or speech and language test results, barium swallow results, or medical or background information to diagnose and plan treatment for speech, language, fluency, voice, or swallowing disorders.
- Write reports and maintain proper documentation of information, such as client Medicaid or billing records or caseload activities, including the initial evaluation, treatment, progress, and discharge of clients.
- Develop individual or group activities or programs in schools to deal with behavior, speech, language, or swallowing problems.
- Participate in and write reports for meetings regarding patients' progress, such as individualized educational planning (IEP) meetings, in-service meetings, or intervention assistance team meetings.
- Complete administrative responsibilities, such as coordinating paperwork, scheduling case management activities, or writing lesson plans.
- Educate patients and family members about various topics, such as communication techniques or strategies to cope with or to avoid personal misunderstandings.
- Participate in conferences, training, continuing education courses, or publish research results to share knowledge of new hearing or speech disorder treatment methods or technologies.
- Supervise or collaborate with therapy team.
- Consult with and refer clients to additional medical or educational services.
- Supervise students or assistants.
- Evaluate oral motor function in infants.
Qualities of Good Speech-Language Pathologist
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
Tools Used by Speech-Language Pathologist
- Airflow measurement devices
- Alternative computer keyboards
- Audiometers
- Augmentative communication devices
- Closed circuit television systems
- Compact disk CD players
- Compact stereo systems
- Desktop computers
- Diagnostic stroboscopes
- Digital audio recorders
- Digital cameras
- Digital video stroboscopy systems
- Dynamic display devices
- Electroglottographs EGG
- Electromyographs EMG
- Handheld camcorders
- Headphones
- Infrared switches
- Jellybean switches
- Laptop computers
- Laryngographs
- Personal computers
- Reading pens
- Recording microphones
- Sound booths
- Sound switches
- Speech therapy mirrors
- Subglottal air pressure measurement devices
- Tablet computers
- Tape recorders
- Therapeutic voice synthesizers
- Touch switches
- Video cassette recorders VCR
- Video stroboscopes
Technology Skills required for Speech-Language Pathologist
- Adobe Audition
- Apple Logic Pro
- Avaaz Innovations AphasiaMate
- Avaaz Innovations Computerized Speech Research Environment CSRE
- Avaaz Innovations Interactive Voice Analysis System IVANS
- Biofeedback software
- Bungalow Software Aphasia Tutor
- Dropbox
- eClinicalWorks EHR software
- ELR Software eLr Extra Language Resources
- Email software
- KayPENTAX Multi-Speech
- KayPENTAX Nasometer
- Language analysis software
- Learning Fundamentals Speech Visualization
- Micro Video Voice Speech Training System
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft Word
- Propeller Multimedia React2
- Signal analysis software
- Speech analysis software
- Tadpoles
- Text to speech software
- Web browser software
- Words+ E Z Keys for Windows
- YouTube