About Speech-Language Pathology
Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) work to prevent, assess, diagnose, and treat speech, language, social communication, cognitive-communication, and swallowing disorders in children and adults.
Speech Disorders
Speech disorders occur when a person has difficulty producing speech sounds correctly or fluently (e.g., stuttering is a form of disfluency) or has problems with his or her voice or resonance.
Language Disorders
Language disorders occur when a person has trouble understanding others (receptive language) or sharing thoughts, ideas, and feelings (expressive language). Language disorders may be spoken or written and may involve the form (phonology, morphology, syntax), content (semantics), and/or use (pragmatics) of language in functional and socially appropriate ways.
Social Communication Disorders
Social communication disorders occur when a person has trouble with the social use of verbal and nonverbal communication. These disorders may include problems (a) communicating for social purposes (e.g., greeting, commenting, asking questions), (b) talking in different ways to suit the listener and setting, and (c) following rules for conversation and storytelling.
Cognitive-Communication Disorders
Cognitive-communication disorders include problems organizing thoughts, paying attention, remembering, planning, and/or problem-solving. These disorders usually happen as a result of a stroke, traumatic brain injury, or dementia, although they can be congenital.
Swallowing Disorders
Swallowing disorders (dysphagia) are feeding and swallowing difficulties, which may follow an illness, surgery, stroke, or injury.
Additional Responsibilities of SLPs
- Provide aural rehabilitation for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.
- Provide augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems for individuals with severe expressive and/or language comprehension disorders.
- Work with individuals who want to learn how to communicate more effectively (e.g., work on accent modification or other forms of communication enhancement).
Careers in Speech-Language Pathology
- Evaluate and diagnose speech, language, communication, and swallowing disorders.
- Treat speech, language, communication, and swallowing disorders.
- Provide training and education to family/caregivers and other professionals.
- Work collaboratively with professionals from many other disciplines.
- Prepare future professionals in colleges and universities.
- Own or run clinics or private practices.
- Work for national, state, or local associations or agencies.
- Supervise and direct public school or clinical programs.
- Engage in research to enhance knowledge about human communication processes and develop new assessment and treatment methods.
- Provide counseling and consultative services.
- Train and supervise support personnel.
Employment Settings
SLPs work in many different research, education, and health care settings with varying roles, levels of responsibility, and client populations. Due to the high demand for speech-language pathology services, part-time, full-time, and PRN opportunities may be available depending on location, desired facility, employment flexibility, and other factors. In many settings, SLPs often work as part of a collaborative, interdisciplinary team, which may include teachers, physicians, audiologists, psychologists, social workers, physical and occupational therapists, and rehabilitation counselors.
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