Speech And Language Pathologists

How often do passion and profession come together? For me, being a natural communicator, I have always dreamt of being part of a multi-disciplinary team, improving the lives of others in both a direct and true-to-life level. With my sincere interest in people and curiosity of the mechanisms’ of the human body, having a simple conversation with my cousin is what made me fall in love with this career.

During my interview with Speech Pathologist, Deborah Kirsch, I learned countless details about the Speech Pathology career field. When we first began talking, I learned that Mrs. Kirsch works out of a company called “Professional Therapy Services”, where she is contracted out to work for “Eunice Smith Nursing Home” which is located in Alton, Illinois. She has been working at this facility for about a year. She is a newly found graduate from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and she graduated in May 2011. Another thing that I learned about Mrs. Kirsch is that she originally did not go to school to become a speech pathologist, this was a career that she found later in life. After she had graduated from SIUE, the first time with a bachelors in Psychiatry, she started working at a nursing home around this area. She came to know a Speech Pathologist that worked there and she quickly found the field very fascinating. She had always been driven to help others, and she witnessed some of the exercises being done with individuals at the nursing home and decided to go back to school to get her masters in Speech Pathology.

According to the American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) 2016 School Survey, Speech Pathologists rated the amount of paperwork, high workload/caseload size, and limited time for collaboration and budget constraints among their greatest challenges. Immense pressure is placed on the SLPs in a school setting. Children with learning disabilities have a multitude of different needs, and for many, thirty-minute therapy sessions are not enough time to adequately address their problems. Furthermore, in many schools, Speech-Language Pathologists have had to make up some or all of missed student sessions themselves without any substitute coverage. This in turn has increased group therapy sizes which compromises the quality

This occurs due to diminished mental capacity, structural abnormalities such as unrepaired cleft palates, or lack of commitment on the part of the patient. An additional challenge sometimes faced by a school based SLP is dealing with difficult parents and rigid and sometimes unrealistic district expectations. However, despite the challenges faced by speech pathologists, the field of study continues to grow with an expectation of a 21% increase by 2024 (“Speech-Language Pathologists”). While jobs as an SLP are readily available nationwide in a variety of different settings, the key areas of growth in the field are in the states of Illinois, North Carolina, Texas, New York, and Ohio (“Best”). The growth of the field is due largely in part to people’s increased awareness of the benefits of treatment by a speech pathologist. SLPs provide treatments which allow individuals to function better in daily life. For example, SLPs in the education field provide techniques and strategies to help students function better both in the classroom and socially. SLPs in the medical field provide support in regaining the ability to accomplish daily tasks, safely ingest solid foods, and interact socially with family and

Some of the duties of a speech pathologist are, but are not limited to, evaluate patients’ levels of speech, language, or swallowing difficulty, identify treatment options, teach patients how to make sounds and improve their voices, work with patients to develop and strengthen the muscles used to swallow, and counsel patients and families on how to cope with communication and swallowing disorders (Duties, www.bls.org, 2015). ‘If the speech-language pathologists work in medical facilities, they work with physicians and surgeons, social workers, psychologists, and other healthcare workers’ (Duties, www.bls.org, 2015).

Speech-language pathologists play a significant role in evaluation and intervention with English Language Learners. More and more SLPs are playing a teacher role in the academic environment. The role and responsibility of a speech-language pathologist is essential when identifying the most ethical and appropriate services to meet the individual needs of the student. However, evaluating ELL students can be challenging from a clinical standpoint and typically is complicated by many factors including, personal, institutional, and society interests. Many school based SLPs are not proficient in a second language and therefore are not adequately trained to provide nonbiased bilingual assessments. Current practices in speech-language pathology support the decision making process for the family and their priorities when identifying assessment and treatment options. Consideration for implementing strategies that will benefit the student most should not be overlooked.

After practicing for over twenty years as a Speech Language Pathology Assistant, I have gained many skills and qualifications. I am a motivated self-starter, and licensed to practice in Idaho and Oregon. Working as an SLP-A has allowed me to be well versed in IDEA, and special education programs. My knowledge and proficiency have enabled me to perform therapy, follow directions, maintain daily notes, and assist with progress notes. I have been involved in various speech screenings in the schools. My experience is with a multitude of supervisors working with clients from pre-kindergarten to geriatric, both in group sessions and 1:1. In these sessions I have worked with to name a few articulation, fluency, expressive/receptive language,

Speech Language Pathologists (SLP) are professionals who diagnose and treat patients who have difficulty with language and speech. Patients have a speech disorder if they have trouble generating proper or fluent speech sounds. A person who has problems with resonance also has a speech disorder. A SLP teaches patients with speech disorders how to coordinate the muscles in their mouth to pronounce certain sounds. Patients with language disorders have difficulty expressing their own ideas or understanding others. A SLP will help a patient with language disorders learn how to form words together in order to communicate. SLPs also treat patients with social communication disorders. People with social communication disorder are usually those who have autism or have suffered a

Through each session I target each students needs through daily lesson plans created from the goals assigned by the licensed speech pathologist. I feel it is important to build a strong relationship that has a powerful effect on the students therapy progress, so I attempt to put myself in my students' shoes. It is important that I am compassionate, empathetic, and supportive to their needs. There is a quote by BJ Gallagher that states: “The land of opportunity is an attitude. It is an openness to new ideas, a willingness to listen, an eagerness to learn, a desire to grow, and the flexibility to change.” This quote reminds me why I love this career.

Surprisingly, I discovered that jobs for speech-language pathologists are projected to grow nationwide in the next few years. I found that there is a high demand for speech therapists, because of the increase of older people there will be more instances of certain health conditions, such as strokes and dementia, which can cause speech or language issues. The increased awareness of speech disorders in younger children and children with autism will also create more job opportunities for speech-language pathologists. The job outlook for speech-language pathologists is favorable in the years to come.

School social workers not only provide direct services to children who require basic needs or exhibit challenging behavior, but also lead prevention efforts that support children through building the capacity of family members, other school staff, and community agencies to improve student outcomes (NASW, 2012)

The article I have chosen is titled Speech-Language Pathologist In Schools For The deaf. This article analyzes a survey taken of speech-language pathologist in schools for the hard of hearing across the United States. It talks about their caseload size, characteristics, delivery of service, and scope of practice. The results of this survey are compared to previous surveys taken in large and small school settings.

As an SLPA, my role would be to help Chuck perform the tasks prescribed by the supervising SLP and actively participate with the SLP, during the therapy session. In this therapy session I would be helping participate in the role playing activities and playing the object game. Also, as an SLPA I would document the patient’s performance by tallying data for the SLP to use, prepare charts, records, or graphs and then report it to the supervising SLP. If Chuck’s family needs more supportive services then as an SLPA I could help find them resources in the local community to help them.

I have never had a family member who was a speech pathologist nor did any of my family members have speech problems. There isn’t an exact moment that have occurred in my life that made me want to become a speech pathologist. Instead, there are numerous reasons why I believe this profession is right for me. What initially made this profession stand out to me was the fact that a child is able to transition from stuttering every few words in everyday conversation to speaking several sentences at a time without stuttering, it’s astonishing to me. This incredible achievement was due to them attending therapy sessions and learning different strategies/methods to control it. The gradual process of a client making significant improvements with their

Levi is pulled once a week with another student from the classroom to work with the SLP specialist. Many times she will have the students taking turns playing a game. The SLP will have them repeat a word with a targeted sound that they are working on and then they get to take their turn. She will send an activity home in his folder that his parents can do at home with him. This way the parents are involved in helping him with his speech goals. He is only pulled out once a week for twenty minutes and is with his peers the rest of the time. Other than this time he is doing everything that his peers are doing and has access to the general curriculum. The rest of the time the teacher is working on his IEP goals with him. The teacher will model