A speech language pathologist or an SLP works with customers to treat issues that have to do with communication and swallowing. In other words, the SLP might work with somebody to enhance the way they pronounce words, to treat ailments that make it difficult for the patient to speak in the first place, or helping clients understand social signals and sociatal norms when it comes to speeking. They are similarly in charge of dealing with swallowing disorders, which themselves might lead to a number of other medical issues.
How To Become a Speech Language Pathologist
Summary. We reviewed real candidate profiles to learn the best path to become a speech language pathologist. We'll guide you through the education, experiences, and skills hiring managers look for in a speech language pathologist.
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Most companies require a speech language pathologist to have a bachelor's degree degree in a related field, such as communication disorders sciences or speech-language pathology.
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Common job titles before becoming a speech language pathologist include graduate student clinician, speech-language pathology internship, and graduate clinician.
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Hiring managers expect a speech language pathologist to have soft skills such as analytical skills, communication skills, and compassion.
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Once you have all the required skills and experience, it takes an average of 3-6 months of job training to become a speech language pathologist.
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Getting a certification as a Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology (CCC-SLP) will help you to earn more as a speech language pathologist.
Before becoming a speech language pathologist, 51.2% earned their bachelor's degree. When it comes down to graduating with a master's degree, 46.2% speech language pathologists went for the extra education. If you're wanting to pursue this career, it may be impossible to be successful with a high school degree. In fact, most speech language pathologists have a college degree. But about one out of every ten speech language pathologists didn't attend college at all.
Those speech language pathologists who do attend college, typically earn either communication disorders sciences degrees or speech-language pathology degrees. Less commonly earned degrees for speech language pathologists include special education degrees or physiology and anatomy degrees.
How to become a Speech Language Pathologist in 5 steps:
- Step 1: Explore speech language pathologist education
- Step 2: Develop speech language pathologist skills
- Step 3: Complete relevent training/internship
- Step 4: Research speech language pathologist duties
- Step 5: Prepare your resume
Key Steps To Become a Speech Language Pathologist
Explore Speech Language Pathologist Education
If you're interested in becoming a speech language pathologist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 51.2% of speech language pathologists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 46.2% of speech language pathologists have master's degrees. Even though most speech language pathologists have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a speech language pathologist. When we researched the most common majors for a speech language pathologist, we found that they most commonly have communication disorders sciences, speech-language pathology and special education.
Speech Language Pathologist Major Percentages Communication Disorders Sciences 40.20% Speech-Language Pathology 31.70% Special Education 6.70% Physiology And Anatomy 3.70% Other Degrees 17.70% Develop Speech Language Pathologist Skills
It'll be a good idea to develop speech language pathologist skills before applying for a job. Here are some skills commonly requested in speech language pathologist job descriptions:
Skills Percentages Patients 18.76% SLP 17.19% Speech-Language Pathology 12.69% Rehabilitation 9.94% Home Health 8.10% Complete Relevent Training/Internship
Speech language pathologists spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. During this time, new speech language pathologists learn the skills and techniques required for their specific job and employer. The chart below shows how much time it takes to gain competency as a speech language pathologist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real speech language pathologist resumes.
Average Amount Of Time At Training
Research Speech Language Pathologist Duties
When you decide to become a speech language pathologist, It's important to know what duties and responsibilities are required for this position. Some common responsibilities are a part of most speech language pathologist jobs. Here is a list of the main duties that define the role:
- Plan and provide speech therapy services to preschool and elementary school children with autism, communication disorders and developmental disabilities.
- Offer speech therapy services in schools k-12 grade.
- Perform tasks prescribe, direct, and supervise by ASHA certify speech language pathologist.
- Diagnose, assess and provide treatment in private practice for kids of all ages presenting a language delays.
- Act as primary liaison between administrative staff, rehabilitation managers, multidisciplinary team members and SLP staff.
- Provide formal evaluation of communication, cognitive-linguistic, and swallowing deficits for both short term rehabilitation patients and long term residents.
Prepare Your Resume
Finally, when you already have checked the skills and responsibilities for this role, you can start creating your resume. Everything that goes into creating a perfect resume can take hours, days, or even weeks. No worries, we created a resume builder to make this process as easy as possible with tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and a summary.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Speech Language Pathologist Resume templates
Build a professional Speech Language Pathologist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Speech Language Pathologist resume.Apply For a Speech Language Pathologist Job
Speech Language Pathologist Jobs
