14. SPEECH PATHOLOGIST

JOB DESCRIPTION

Overview

Speech pathologists (technically called speech-language pathologists, and sometimes, less appropriately, called speech therapists) assess, diagnose, and treat persons with communication disabilities (e.g., stuttering, impaired language, articulation problems). They often work in medical settings in which they serve as members of a team of allied health professionals, e.g., with physicians, psychologists, social workers, physical therapists, and audiologists. Speech pathologists also can be found in schools, nursing homes, community mental health/health centers, and private practices.

Some speech pathologists are also certified to practice audiology, which involves the identification, assessment, and rehabilitation of hearing disorders. Audiologists may prescribe and fit hearing aids, provide training in speech reading, or serve as consultants in business/industry regarding environmentally-induced hearing loss.

Typical Job Duties

• helping individuals who stutter increase their fluency

• assisting people who have had strokes or brain injuries to regain lost language and speech

• designing and implementing training programs for children and adolescents with speech/language disorders

• counseling individuals and families to better understand and deal with speech/language disorders

• serving as a consultant to educators of persons with speech/language problems

• assessing the relationship between psychological and social factors and speech/language problems

Job Outlook

Much-faster-than-average job growth is expected because of a growing elderly population (prone to hearing loss problems), medical advances that improve the survival rate of premature infants and trauma victims (prone to speech/language problems), and increased emphasis on early detection and prevention of speech/language disorders.

Speech/language pathologists and audiologists are ranked 17th on the BLS list of the 30 fastest-growing occupations. The professions appeared in two categories in the MSU study: good demand with possible shortage and near balance.

Potential Earnings

The average starting salary range for new graduates in speech/language pathology in 1995 was $30,000. According to a survey conducted by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), the median salary in 1997 for certified speech-language pathologists was $44,000; for audiologists, $55,000; and for professionals certified in both, $53,000.

TRAINING

Professional Degree Required

Although some universities offer an undergraduate major in communication disorders, a master’s degree is necessary for certification as a speech pathologist and is generally considered the entry level professional degree. Typically, this degree requires two years of full-time study.

How to Find Programs

Graduate programs are accredited by ASHA. You can write to this organization or view its home page for a complete list of programs (addresses below).

Entrance Requirements/Admissions

Some graduate programs prefer applicants with an academic background in communication disorders (i.e., either the undergraduate major or selected course work); other graduate programs neither require nor prefer this (i.e., any undergraduate liberal arts major is acceptable). However, students who have no prior course work in communication disorders will likely need to take extra courses in graduate school, often adding 1-2 semesters to the time required for the master’s degree. Among schools requesting undergraduate exposure to communication disorders, typical prerequisites include one or more courses in linguistic and psycholinguistic bases (e.g., psychology of language), one or more courses in physical and psychological bases (e.g., applied phonetics, sound patterns in language, linguistic phonetics), one or more courses in anatomic and physiologic bases for the normal development of speech and hearing, and one course in statistics.

The competitiveness of speech pathology programs varies. Many schools do not provide minimum GPA/GRE standards nor data on the qualifications of incoming classes, making comparisons across programs difficult to assess. When minimums are reported, they tend to be in the 3.0 GPA and 1000 combined-GRE range. ASHA has surveyed program directors about this information and maintains summary statistics of programs that supply it on its home page.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Print Materials/Organizations

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). 10801 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. 301/897-5700. Free brochures, fact sheets, and list of accredited programs.

Funding Sources: A guide for future audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists (1996). Available from ASHA for $20.

Internet Resources

ASHA home page: http://www.asha.org/

ASHA list of accredited graduate programs: http://www.asha.org/students/students.htm