The Many Hats of a Speech Language Pathologist

When I tell people I’m a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP), I’m often met with “I went to speech therapy. I couldn’t say my ‘r.’” While articulation therapy - or fixing the speech sounds - is often what SLP’s are most known for it is only a small piece of what we do.

SLPs have to complete a ton of coursework and clinical experience to get a Master's Degree in our field. After that, we have to complete a Clinical Fellowship Year where we get direct and indirect supervision of all our services, to help us develop our clinical skills. Once we're licensed with the coveted CCCs (Certificate of Clinical Competence), we also have to get a state license to practice. And if we want to work in a school, we have to meet all the requirements to get a teaching license too.

Once formal training is completed, SLP’s are credentialed to serve the population from birth through end of life. A SLP’s scope of practice is broad and includes:

Fluency

• Stuttering

• Cluttering

Speech Production

• Motor planning and execution

• Articulation

• Phonological

Language- Spoken and written language (listening, processing, speaking, reading, writing, pragmatics)

• Phonology

• Morphology

• Syntax

• Semantics

• Pragmatics (language use and social aspects of communication)

• Prelinguistic communication (e.g., joint attention, intentionality, communicative signaling)

• Paralinguistic communication (e.g., gestures, signs, body language)

• Literacy (reading, writing, spelling)

Cognition

• Attention

• Memory

• Problem solving

• Executive functioning

Voice

• Phonation quality

• Pitch

• Loudness

• Alaryngeal voice

Resonance

• Hypernasality

• Hyponasality

• Cul-de-sac resonance

• Forward focus

Feeding and Swallowing

• Oral phase

• Pharyngeal phase

• Esophageal phase

• Atypical eating (e.g., food selectivity/refusal, negative physiologic response)

Auditory Habilitation/Rehabilitation

• Speech, language, communication, and listening skills impacted by hearing loss, deafness

• Auditory processing

An SLP will evaluate, diagnose and develop a treatment plan in order to help each individual succeed. Our goal is to identify strengths and weaknesses and provide treatment and recommendations to help make daily life more manageable.

If you have concerns for yourself or a loved one, reach out to a SLP. We’re happy to help.