preview

Speech Language Pathologist Essay

Decent Essays

As a Speech-Language Pathologist major my job setting of interest is working in a school system. To be more specific I would like to work with special needs children in a school site. This setting is the most attractive to me because for the past three years I have worked in this exact situation. I was a paraprofessional/teachers’ assistant at a middle school in a life skills classroom. My job allowed me to work alongside a speech language pathologist, a physical therapist, an occupational therapist and a music therapist. All of these therapies played such a huge role in helping my students become more independent and successful. The therapy that I really enjoyed being a part of and seemed most exciting to me was speech. Being there for three …show more content…

According to Libby Kumin and the National Down Syndrome Society “Factors that can contribute to speech intelligibility problems include: articulation problems with specific sounds, low oral-facial muscle tone, difficulty with sensory processing and oral tactile feedback, use of phonological processes (e.g. leaving off final sounds in words) and difficulties in motor planning for speech.” I had a couple of students in my class that have down syndrome. They received speech therapy twice a week to help with some of these disorders previously mentioned. These communication disorders make it hard for the student to communicate which teachers, peers, cafeteria staff and bus drivers. If they are unable to be understood because of articulation disorders it can often lead to frustration and behavior problems. Language disorders lead to a slower development of vocabulary, not being able to use different communication styles depending on the situation and a poor understanding and expression of ideas. Having good communication skills allows the students to be successful in many areas such as thinking, writing, learning, speaking and

Get Access