Speech Pathologist Career
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Speech Pathologist Job Description
Speech pathologists or speech language pathologists or speech therapists, work with people who have speech related disorders. These disorders include: failure to produce certain sounds, speech-rhythm and fluency issues, and voice disorders.
They also help individuals who want to change their accent or have swallowing difficulties.
A speech pathologist’s work entails history taking, evaluation, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of speech related disorders.
Most speech therapists work in schools. Others work in hospitals, clinics of other health care professionals, speech-language pathologists, nursing-care facilities, individual and family services, out-patient health centers and child day-care centers. Some speech therapists are self-employed.
Speech Pathologist Skills/Duties
Speech therapists use written and oral tests, and particular devices, to diagnose the nature and extent of impairment, and to document and evaluate the speech, language, and swallowing difficulties. They design an individualized strategy of care, according to each patient's needs.
They decide on augmentative / alternative communication routes, including automated devices and sign language, and teach their use to individuals with speech defects.
They train those with little / no speech, how to make sounds, develop their voices, or improve their language skills to correspond more effectively.
They help patients who have suffered loss of speech to recover speedily. Speech, language, and swallowing difficulties can occur due to a range of causes - stroke, brain injury, developmental delays or disorders, cerebral palsy, cleft palate, learning disabilities, voice pathology, hearing loss, mental retardation, or emotional problems
By and large, they work with people who cannot make any sounds, or can not make them clearly, those with speech-rhythm and fluency issues, like, stuttering, individuals with voice-quality problems, like an unsuitable pitch, those having trouble understanding and producing language, those who wish to enhance their communication skills by modifying an accent; individuals who have cognitive communication impairments, like, attention deficit, memory weakness, and problem-solving disorders, people with oral motor problems causing eating and swallowing difficulties.
A speech pathologist also teaches how to strengthen the muscles or use compensatory methods to swallow without choking or inhaling food or liquid.
Speech pathologists maintain records about the assessment, improvement, and treatment of patients. This helps identify problems, follow patient-progress, and justify the cost of treatment.
They advice the patients and their families about communication disorders and how to deal with the misunderstanding and stress that often go along with them. They work with family members to identify and change behavior-patterns that hamper communication, and show them communication-enhancing techniques to use at home.
In a medical set-up, they carry out their job in combination with doctors, psychologists, and other therapists. In schools, they team up with teachers, interpreters, special educators, other school staff, and parents to design and put into practice individual or group programs, offer counseling, and conduct classroom activities.
Some speech pathologists also conduct research on how people converse / correspond.
Speech Pathologist Education and Training
• A Master's degree in speech language pathology is the typical prerequisite. Some states need Teaching Certificates to work in Public Schools and licenses to work in clinics, hospitals or other non school set-ups.
• Licensing requirements differ from state to state. Certification by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association is advocated for those who want to advance. Applicants for certification must have a Master's degree or their equivalent and work experience.
• Some states need you to graduate from a program that is recognized by the Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech Language Pathology. Graduate students are given directed training.
• For a school setting, a speech therapist must pass the Praxis Exam in Speech Language Pathology.
• Licensing requirements include 300 - 375 hours of supervised clinical practice and 9 months of post-graduate experience.
Speech Pathologist Job Outlook
Job opportunities for of speech therapists are likely to increase as fast as the average for all occupations through the year 2016.
Importantly, bilingual speech pathologists will be greatly in demand, predominantly those who speak English and Spanish. A large number of speech pathologists will be engaged in private practices, clinics, hospitals and other health care facilities, and schools.
Speech Pathologist Salary
The mean earnings of salaried speech pathologists are approximately $57,710 per year. The salary largely depends on the experience, location and employer.
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