What Is A Speech-Language Pathologist?
Speech-language pathologist? Speech therapist? Speech teacher? Who are they and what do they do?
Great questions! Here is a video to answer this question in brief. Scroll down for more information.
Check out our other resources while you’re here - we have a blog full of reading lists, fun activities for sound practice, and even a few recipes.
Now, let’s dive in.
Speech-language pathologist or speech therapist?
Speech-language pathologist and speech therapist are two terms that mean the same thing. Our actual, full, professional title is speech-language pathologist. Our degrees are in the study of speech-language pathology and are focused on disorders affecting communication, which I’ll get into more in a little bit. Speech therapist, is the layman’s or public term - the title more people outside of our profession are familiar with. Some SLPs prefer one over the other, I’m fine with both.
In pediatric or school-based settings, we have sometimes been called speech teachers, as this was thought to make more sense to the students we served. We do provide education and support with education-based goals in our sessions, and we work closely with teachers and school staff. However, since our primary concerns and treatment methods are therapeutic in nature, and based on our degree title and subject matter, the terms SLP or speech therapist would be more appropriate.
What do speech therapists do?
We are trained and then certified to treat a variety of disorders in both children and adults. In fact, we can work with clients across the entire lifespan, from birth to end of life care. If you want an even more in depth look at what we do and what we can do, I encourage you to check out ASHA and our scope of practice.
Here are the areas within our scope of practice, and examples of the diagnoses we can address and the populations we work with:
Speech (e.g., speech sound disorders, corporate speech pathology and accent modification, apraxia of speech/motor speech, fluency/stuttering)
Language (e.g., receptive and expressive language delays and disorders in children, aphasia, reading challenges and dyslexia, late talkers/early intervention, AAC, pragmatics/social language, developmental delays, learning disorders)
Cognitive communication (e.g., dementia, traumatic brain injuries)
Swallowing and feeding (e.g., picky eaters, aspiration concerns)
Here are some of the settings where you can find a speech-language pathologist:
Schools
Corporate Settings
Private Practice
Outpatient Clinics
Hospitals and Emergency Rooms
Skilled Nursing Facilities
Home Health
Early Intervention Settings
Government Settings and Prisons
Universities and University Clinics
We provide direct treatment, evaluations, caregiver training and education, education and training for professions, consultative services, and resources to the public on our profession. We do research, write papers, and teach the next generation of SLPs. Our scope of practice is rather large, and this is one of the great benefits of our profession, we can specialize and also move around and be flexible as needed. We can also meet our clients and families where they are and help them make progress where it matters most, within their daily lives, routines and activities.
How are you trained? How do you become a SLP?
Undergraduate Degree and Observation Hours
We start our training during our undergraduate studies. Some of us, myself included, have a bachelor’s degree in something like “Communication Sciences and Disorders”, and we completed a required number of observational clinic hours before applying to graduate school, the norm the last time I checked was 20 hours.
Some speech therapists did not find the profession, or did not decide to pursue it, until later in the undergraduate studies or after college. They can pursue post-baccalaureate programs in speech-language pathology or communication science and disorders before pursuing a master’s degree, or come to a master’s program from a related field.
Graduate Degree and Praxis Exam
After this initial coursework, we pursue a 2-year master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology and are trained across the lifespan. For the large majority of programs, we are required to take classes and complete clinical placements across a variety of settings, with both adults and children, and working with a variety of disorders. Late in our degree program, and with our final clinical externships, we can choose our specialization and receive more in depth clinical training in that area. However, you can change your mind and pursue other clinical treatment focuses and training after graduation. I discovered my love for reading and literacy based therapy after graduation. At the end of our master’s program, we must also pass our speech-language pathology praxis exam.
Clinical Fellowship Year, State License and National Certification
We then graduate with our Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology, and move into our clinical fellowship year. In order to practice speech-language pathology, a state license is required. For the large majority of us, a national licensure through the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association is also required or desired. Before we can become fully licensed, we must complete this clinical fellowship period. This means, we work as a speech-language pathologist in our desired setting and are supervised and trained by an already licensed speech-language pathologist. This is a helpful way to begin your first year of work as a SLP, and can help the transition to be more smooth. If you want more information on the CFY process, look here. If you want more information on state licenses and requirements, check with your state licensing office, and look here. Of course, we then need to maintain our licenses and certification and complete ongoing training throughout our career. Some also choose to pursue doctorate degrees or further trainings in specific clinical areas.
TLDR:
Undergraduate Degree (or Post-Bacc) and Observation Hours (20 hrs)
Graduate Degree (including clinical hours and classwork) and pass the Praxis Exam
Clinical Fellowship Year
State License and National Certification
Ongoing Training and License Maintenance
Optional: Doctorate or other professional trainings/certifications
What does that mean, you’re trained and then certified?
We complete our degrees and then are required to maintain a state license. Many of us also pursue and maintain a national certification through the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. This is called our Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology, and is often abbreviated after our names as CCC-SLP. That is why you’ll see the distinction between “trained”, “licensed” and “certified”.
TLDR/Short Summary
We are professionals trained and licensed to support people across the lifespan to communicate and swallow.