Teacher Academy Speech Therapy Katie Lanning

What is a speech therapist? It is actually a Speech Language Pathologist (SPL) and the technical definition is a person who “evaluates and diagnoses speech, language, cognitive communication, and swallowing disorders and treat such disorders in individuals of all ages, from infants to the elderly.” (From ASHA.org).

What does being a SLP entail? To evaluate, diagnose, and treat speech, language, and swallowing disorders. This means anything to do with communication or the body parts you use to communicate. SLP’s work with persons who have deficits in articulation and phonology (individual speech sounds and patterns of speech sound errors), language (receptive, expressive, pragmatics/social), fluency (stuttering), voice, and swallowing.

These disorders may be independent of any other deficits, meaning a typically developing child may have a communication disorder. Other populations that SLP’s work with are person's with traumatic brain injury (TBI),stroke, cognitive impairments, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Parkinson’s Diseases, or most any degenerative disease that impacts cognition or swallowing, and people who use alternative and augmentative communication.

According to ASHA.org SLP’s also: “Prepare future professionals in college and universities Manage agencies, clinics, organizations, or private practices Engage in research to enhance knowledge about human communication processes Supervise and direct public school or clinical problems Establish more effective treatments Investigate behavioral patterns associated with communication disorders.”

When did you first decide to become a SLP and why? I got my associates in elementary education and didn’t feel passionate about teaching a classroom filled with children (I wasn’t sure I would be able to make an impact). I happened to run into one of my elementary teachers around this time who said her daughter was an SLP. I had never heard of it before so I looked into it. I decided working with a small group of kids would be great so I applied for a bachelor’s program in SLP and Audiology, was accepted, and started my bachelor's that fall.

Why do you think that Speech Therapy is important? Communication is the basis for nearly everything that happens in our world. If you have a deficit in communication it impacts nearly every aspect of your life, so speech/language therapy is important for people who need support in this area.

What do you like most about being an SLP? Helping others. Seeing the sparkle in peoples eyes or the smile on their face when they are able to communicate something they never could before or could and then lost the ability to communicate. I also really like being involved in and reading research. It is such an important part of what an SLP does and I like learning new things.

What do you like least about it? Paperwork and politics.

What surprised you the most about speech therapy? The vast amount of knowledge there is within what seems like such a small field. Most SLP’s have a specialty area or something they are really good at. For example, working in a school, I don’t often have interactions with people who have voice or swallowing deficits, but SLP’s in hospitals often have a lot of experience in these areas and may find it difficult to understand and work with kids.

What was it like finding a job as an SLP? What were your options and why did you decide what you did? It was not difficult to find a job as an SLP. There is a big need for SLP’s in my areas and so there are always opportunities available. I have been offered an opportunity to work for a private party with students who use alternative augmentative communication, schools, and outpatient clinics, and have also been approached by parents asking for private therapy. I choose to work in schools because I have a family and enjoy being able to spend every holiday and months in the summer with them. They are my top priority.

On average, how many hours a week do you work? My work week is supposed to be 40 hours, but I often stay late and work from home on the evenings and weekends, so I am not sure how often I am actually working.

If you could go back, would you still choose the same career path? Why or why not? This is a really difficult question for me to answer. I love what I do and would not choose a different proffesional career path, but I have learned a lot about life in general since I first started school and I would do things differently than I did. I do not recommend taking out a significant amount of money in school loans to pursue a specific career path.

I believe that living simply is the better choice, even if that means waiting a longer time before you begin school or taking a longer time to complete school so that you have less debt. So, yes, I would choose that same career because I love what I do, but at ties I wish I didn’t have debt to pay back so I could provide services more freely.

Where do you see SLP in 10 years? As long as there are people with disabilities there will be a need for my profession. There may be fewer jobs in the field as more people are learning about it and going to school for it, but I see it as a field that will still be relevant. As more and more research continues to come out, things may look different in terms of evaluation and service models and I'm not sure what that might look like.

What kind of advice do you have for someone who wants to go into SLP? Go for it and don’t let anyone tell you that you cant! My only word of advice is to watch the amount of debt that you are collecting. There are may scholarships for students in this profession and seeking them out is a great idea as well as saving your money now.

Is there a correlations between Autism and Speech Therapy? Often times there is a communication component to Autism. Social language is still language and people who have ASD may need support in learning how to communicate in an appropriate social manner (eye contact, personal space, topic maintenance, turn taking, etc.)