What You Need To Know If You Want To Train As A Speech Pathologist

A speech pathologist is someone who works with patients to overcome any problems they have with speaking and making themselves understood. It is a career which is more needed than many lay people realize, and there are nearly a hundred thousand speech pathologists quietly plying their trade in the United States alone. The Federal Government has now laid down some basic requirements which speech pathologists have to meet before they can be licensed to practice. It takes at least two years of post graduate work before you can break into the career, followed by the successful attainment of a graduate degree, and then a full year of field work under a trained supervisor.


Speech pathology jobs are difficult to obtain, but can be immensely rewarding. Financially, you can expect to be rewarded at a level way beyond the average, as you would expect from the amount of effort which is put into qualifying for the profession. The number of jobs available is expected to rise sharply over the next ten years or more, so if you are thinking about studying to be a speech pathologist, you are traveling a very safe road. It is not the type of job which is ever likely to be replaced by technology, either. The use of technology is far more likely to enhance the performance of the therapist than replace it.

A speech pathology job is very rewarding because you are helping people to overcome a debilitating condition which can have a serious effect on their life. No two cases are ever exactly the same, although there are obviously similarities. Some cases are deeply ingrained in the mind, and these will need a lot of care and attention over an extended period of time. Often, there will be a problem with articulation of the speech, and these problems can grow worse over time if they are not checked, as the sufferer collects bad experiences on their way through life.

Many speech defects have an underlying physical cause, and these obviously need a totally different kind of treatment from the mind based cases. This is all part of the variety which keeps speech therapy pathology the fascinating career that it is. Someone's voice can be pitched very harshly, or sound grating to the ear, after they have had treatment for cancer. It is also very common to find speech severely affected by any injury to the brain, or by a stroke.

The speech pathologist will need to be possessed of a very caring nature, along with an almost infinite supply of patience. Only experience can take you to the level where you can know very quickly which type of treatment is suitable for any given case. Even then, there are so many individualized variations that each patient will need a plan drawing up purely for themselves. It is important to develop a program that the patient can follow at home, because the amount of time you can spend with any one patient is obviously going to be limited. Dealing with an incredibly diverse population is all part of the varied life of the speech pathologist.



 

 

 

 

Speech Pathology News:

 

iPhone gives child a voice | Rockhampton News | Local News in .
This week (August 22-28) is Speech Pathology Week 2010, with the theme EURVocation CommunicationEUR. This highlights how communication is central to the many roles (or vocations) in which people participate during their life. ...


Speech Pathology Week Trivia Night | The RiotACT
Everyone is invited to attend the 6th annual Speech Pathology Australia Trivia Night EURVocation CommunicationEUR When: Thursday 26th August @ 7pm (for a...


Speech Pathology - My Health Degree
Speech pathologists â also commonly referred to as Speech Language Pathologists â work within a medical or educational setting to assess, diagnose, treat and help to prevent oral motor, swallowing, cognitive-linguistic, speech, ...


Conference held to discuss speech disorder
Editor's note: This is the first part of a two-day, three-story series on a recently held apraxia conference hosted in Pittsburgh by the Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America. See related story on Page C8. Researchers are still trying to determine the exact cause of a motor speech disorder found exclusively in children that have trouble planning and processing their thoughts ...


Franklin County academic news
Heather C. Barnhart, Chambersburg, was named to the summer 2010 dean's list at Pennsylvania College of Technology, a special mission affiliate of Pennsylvania State University, Williamsport...


Speech Pathology job Anchorage AK Juneau
Category: Schools - SLP - Location: Anchorage, AK -  Speech Language Pathology job Anchorage AK in a school setting. This SLP job is for the 2010-2011 school year and is full time. Mild to moderate disabilities. ...


Harvard schools gear up for new year
HARVARD -- Buses, air quality, back-to-school prep, MCAS results, Nature's Classroom and new teachers -- all were topics of discussion at Monday night's Harvard School Committee meeting...


Solving Healthcare Problems Through Healthy Competition, Australia
After four weeks of work, UQ's top three interprofessional teams of health students will come together to compete as part of the annual University of Queensland HealthFusion Team Challenge (UQ HFTC). The annual UQ HFTC will take place on Friday, August 27 at 4:30 pm in the auditorium at the UQ School of Pharmacy at Woolloongabba. Designed to foster teamwork and collaboration among the ...


Bradford County Speech Pathologist Charged with Fabricating More Than $366000 . - Gant Daily

Bradford County Speech Pathologist Charged with Fabricating More Than $366000 .
Gant Daily
HARRISBURG EUR Agents from the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Section have arrested a Bradford County speech pathologist who is accused of .

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Speech Pathology job Phoenix AZ SLP Glendale
Category: Schools - SLP - Location: Phoenix, AZ -  Full time Speech Pathology job in Phoenix AZ. This is for the 2010-2011 school year. It will be with an elementary population. Mild to moderate disabilities. As an employee of Sunbelt ...


Towanda speech pathologist charged with $365K fraud - Towanda Daily Review

WBNG-TV

Towanda speech pathologist charged with $365K fraud
Towanda Daily Review
Ferrulli, a speech pathologist, admitted to investigators from the Attorney General's Office that he submitted false claims to the Medical Assistance .
Bradford County man accused of submitting more than $350K in false Medicaid claimsElmira Star-Gazette

all 9 news articles »
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Taking speech to a higher plane - Mosman Daily

Taking speech to a higher plane
Mosman Daily
But with the help of a speech pathologist at the hospital, she has been retraining her voice to operate at a higher pitch. EURI have to do exercises, .

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A school in crisis fights back
(The Center Consolidated School District faces more challenges than most as they work to turn their school around. In 2009 90.09 percent of their 605 students qualified for free or reduced lunches and about 55 percent came from homes where English was not the primary language...


Speech support for Blaxland family - Cumberland Courier Newspapers

Cumberland Courier Newspapers

Speech support for Blaxland family
Cumberland Courier Newspapers
The Blaxland couple knew little about the condition but, after researching, found Kingswood speech pathologist Belinda Hill. Ms Hill was just one year out .

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