Speech Language Pathology

[sangtarah]

Is it a good field to pursue a degree in?

 

Asking for myself, not dc. I have a BA, but I would like to be employable in the future (7-8 years from now) and I am interested in this. It sounds like a fascinating and rewarding job, and I'd love a job that directly helps people.

If you know about this field, what pointers can you give me?

[Guest]

Yes, for the advanced certification and masters level studies, absolutely. I've heard mixed reviews about the BA level though.

[Shellydon]

You need a Master's degree.  What is your BA in?  You'd either need to find a program that offers leveling courses, or get a second Bachelor's degree prior to beginning the Master's degree.  It is flexible with lots of different work environments, ages and specialties available, the salary is good ( I think around $75K-$90k depending on area and place of work).  A friend's daughter is completing her B.S. in communication disorders and applying for graduate school and apparently competition for acceptance is tough. 

[nixpix5]

Absolutely! You need a masters but it pays well, there is a ton of flexibility, it is a fun field (my two best friends are SLPs) and a high need for practitioners. This is room to specialize depending upon if you want to be a reading specialist, strictly speech production focus, or you can even work with kids and their social skills.

[Ailaena]

Speaking only of salaries:

 

Here in Colorado, ds's main Slp got this job (with a private company that offers ot/pt/Slp) after her master's and 2 years of university-related post-grad working. She makes $42k at 28 years old (I once asked her straight out, but it was relevant to the conversation, I didn't just blurt it out :p ).

 

His other Slp is a year older and works for a Children's hospital. She also has a master's and makes an hourly wage of "less than $24/hr" and won't be able to work full-time until she has worked for children's for 3 years, but she loves it.

 

I always thought they were better paid, but maybe when you go into practice for yourself or specialize?

[Crimson Wife]

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association does periodic wage surveys of its members. Here is the most recent one for school-based SLP's. Here is the most recent one I could find for SLP's working in healthcare settings.

 

Graduate school admission in SLP is VERY competitive. Even the "less competitive" programs reject 75-80+% of their applicants. Many state schools have single digit admission rates. You will need a 3.7+ GPA in your leveling courses, a high GRE (300+ total and >50th percentile on all sections), and relevant work/volunteer experience in order to be competitive.

 

I did my 2nd bachelor's 100% online but the master's requires supervised practica and many "hybrid" programs still require several weeks on campus (a full semester in one case).

[DawnM]

Yes!  Our local schools can never find enough of them to fill the positions.

 

I think the competitiveness is not as great for some schools.  You would have to look at your local colleges and see.  There are some private school that are not as difficult to get into as well.

 

I thought about it, they certainly get better pay than teachers/counselors, but I am too old to be starting over again and most of the programs around here would require either 5 years to finish while working, or full time for 2 years with me not working at all.  

 

 

[Hilltopmom]

Depends where you are.

Here in an area with a college with a program, our area is saturated with SLPs. But, we do need a lot of them... Schools, hospitals, rehab places, early intervention, & preschool special Ed agencies/ preschools all hire SLPs.

 

Special Ed teacher does a lot of the same stuff as SLPs, especially working with the preschool crowd.

We used to have too many spec Ed teachers, but now we're desperate for those.

 

I just went back to work as a preschool special Ed teacher & work with lots of SLPs. Fun job, flexible, pays pretty well for part time if that's what you need, we get to play with kids all day (OK, technically we work on specific goals through play) & get paid for it ;)

 

OT assistant and PT assistant also both pay well and have job flexibility and demand. (Well, OT and PT too, but I'm guessing you don't want to try to get to a doctorate program & they are hard to get into these days, not nearly enough slots as needed)

Edited September 26, 2017 by Hilltopmom

[JFSinIL]

I suspect you'd have as many patients in the post-stroke, geriatric crowd as with kids, too. Something to consider.  There are going to be more of us old folks needing help than young kids in the future, right?

[Hilltopmom]

I suspect you'd have as many patients in the post-stroke, geriatric crowd as with kids, too. Something to consider. There are going to be more of us old folks needing help than young kids in the future, right?

Yep. You can specialize in either

[BlsdMama]

Yep. You can specialize in either

 

 

I see a speech path in clinic - he watches my tongue and speech for signs of atrophy, my swallow too.  Interesting.  I asked him once that wouldn't he rather be working with little kids with lisps and he said that wasn't his cuppa.

 

DD intended on going into Speech Path for her Masters but U Iowa is #1 or #2 depending on the year and if your GPA isn't crazy high, you aren't getting in.  She did have an instructor in a speech path class once say that he wondered if speech path would continue in schools long term.  There is some scientific basis for this - speech issues is a very organic issue with dyslexics (20% of the population) and there are those who believe the children would naturally develop healthy speech patterns.

 

I am split.  I have had two kiddos with speech issues who did naturally outgrow them.  I have a current 7yo who needs practice to be made "mindful" of her speech patterns and I think it would develop into a longer term issue and she is in speech.  We have accepted speech pathology as a normal course for, most likely, dyslexic children, but the question is whether or not they would "outgrow" the issue by 9/10.  I can say that definitely happened with my oldest son.

[Crimson Wife]

 She did have an instructor in a speech path class once say that he wondered if speech path would continue in schools long term.  There is some scientific basis for this - speech issues is a very organic issue with dyslexics (20% of the population) and there are those who believe the children would naturally develop healthy speech patterns.

 

50% of the kids who have speech issues in preschool are just "late bloomers" and will outgrow it all on their own. Speech therapy may help to speed up the improvement but it doesn't change the ultimate outcome.

 

HOWEVER, the other 50% won't improve on their own and speech therapy actually leads to a better outcome than they otherwise would have.

 

Unfortunately, there is no way right now to distinguish between the "late bloomers" and the kids with actual speech & language impairments. The brain is most plastic during the early years so taking a "wait and see" attitude means that the kids who really need therapy lose out on some of that "critical window".

 

I am personally in favor of doing early intervention even if that means we give it to "late bloomers". If therapy is done well, it should look like play at that age. It's not going to hurt a "late bloomer" to do language-rich play activities with a SLP :)

[Guest]

Hilariously Benny just had his first SLP appointment with our new team about an hour ago, and at the end the therapist takes me aside and says "I know you said you don't work but you really should go into the field when your kids are gone. You're great!" :lol:

 

Homeschool mamas, sign on up!

Edited September 26, 2017 by Arctic Mama

[Hilltopmom]

I see a speech path in clinic - he watches my tongue and speech for signs of atrophy, my swallow too. Interesting. I asked him once that wouldn't he rather be working with little kids with lisps and he said that wasn't his cuppa.

 

DD intended on going into Speech Path for her Masters but U Iowa is #1 or #2 depending on the year and if your GPA isn't crazy high, you aren't getting in. She did have an instructor in a speech path class once say that he wondered if speech path would continue in schools long term. There is some scientific basis for this - speech issues is a very organic issue with dyslexics (20% of the population) and there are those who believe the children would naturally develop healthy speech patterns.

 

I am split. I have had two kiddos with speech issues who did naturally outgrow them. I have a current 7yo who needs practice to be made "mindful" of her speech patterns and I think it would develop into a longer term issue and she is in speech. We have accepted speech pathology as a normal course for, most likely, dyslexic children, but the question is whether or not they would "outgrow" the issue by 9/10. I can say that definitely happened with my oldest son.

as you point out in seeing a SLP for swallowing issues, SLPs don't just work on speech/ articulation issues. Lots of other stuff they do too,regardless of whether kids will outgrow their speech struggles.

[Crimson Wife]

as you point out in seeing a SLP for swallowing issues, SLPs don't just work on speech/ articulation issues. Lots of other stuff they do too,regardless of whether kids will outgrow their speech struggles.

 

This is why I'm aiming for SLP over Teacher of the Deaf. Even if scientists are able to come up with a true cure for hearing loss that fully restores the natural functioning of the inner ear, SLP's will be needed for other areas. TOD's will need to go back to school for certification in a different field.