A speech-language pathologist specializes in diagnosing disorders in speech, language, and communication among children and adults. They are also responsible for devising and providing suitable treatments and therapeutic solutions that would improve a patient's condition. With each case varying from the rest, a speech-language pathologist must conduct an extensive assessment, research, analysis, and observation. Aside from providing treatments, a speech-language pathologist can also supervise other personnel in the same field, engage in various programs to share expertise, and provide consultations.

Speech Language Pathologist Responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real speech language pathologist resumes representing typical tasks they are likely to perform in their roles.

  • 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.
  • Execute necessary documentation and implement appropriate care plans, as indicated in compliance with medicare, medicaid, private insurance companies.
  • Leverage experience and expertise in speech pathology to design individualize educational plans for communication disorders in students on a self-pace curriculum.
  • Diagnose and treat communication issues of k-12 students.
  • Assist families with videofluorographic (MBS) swallow examinations.
  • Work with clients who are hearing impair using ASL.
  • Represent organization in community, to parents, with compassion and empathy.
  • Create personal schedule and regulate time management to maintain compliance with IEPs.
  • Prepare evaluation reports, treatment plans and therapy documentation for patients and determine need for referral to specialist using electronic documentation.
  • Administer screening, evaluations and examinations to diagnose and develop treatment plans to maximize functional independence of adult and geriatric patients.

Speech Language Pathologist Skills and Personality Traits

We calculated that 19% of Speech Language Pathologists are proficient in Patients, SLP, and Speech-Language Pathology. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Compassion.

We break down the percentage of Speech Language Pathologists that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Patients, 19%

    Administered screening, evaluations and examinations to diagnose and develop treatment plans to maximize functional independence of adult and geriatric patients.

  • SLP, 17%

    Identified need to improve interdepartmental communications and implemented use of SLP Microsoft SharePoint site with administrator level privileges for co-workers.

  • Speech-Language Pathology, 13%

    Participated in Continuous Quality Improvement Program, organization of utilization review studies, and budget request for speech-language pathology services.

  • Rehabilitation, 10%

    Completed 6 months of clinical fellowship in acute care, inpatient rehabilitation, outpatient rehabilitation, and skilled nursing facility settings.

  • Home Health, 8%

    Completed extensive daily documentation and billing for services provided for inpatient/ outpatient and home health therapy.

  • Patient Care, 6%

    Participated in Interdisciplinary Team Meetings, patient care conferences, in-services for facility staff as warranted, and utilization review meetings.

"patients," "slp," and "speech-language pathology" aren't the only skills we found speech language pathologists list on their resumes. In fact, there's a whole list of speech language pathologist responsibilities that we found, including:

  • Analytical skills can be considered to be the most important personality trait for a speech language pathologist to have. According to a speech language pathologist resume, "speech-language pathologists must select the most appropriate diagnostic tools and analyze results to arrive at an accurate diagnosis and develop an appropriate treatment plan." Speech language pathologists are able to use analytical skills in the following example we gathered from a resume: "interpreted evaluation results to decide if early intervention services were warranted and immediately presented assessment data to parents/ guardians. "
  • Another commonly found skill for being able to perform speech language pathologist duties is the following: communication skills. According to a speech language pathologist resume, "speech-language pathologists need to communicate test results, diagnoses, and proposed treatments in a way that individuals and their families can understand." Check out this example of how speech language pathologists use communication skills: "provide alternative/augmentative communication evaluations and develop aac programs for individuals as well as training for staff and family of aac users. "
  • Another skill that is quite popular among speech language pathologists is compassion. This skill is very critical to fulfilling every day responsibilities as is shown in this example from a speech language pathologist resume: "speech-language pathologists work with people who are often frustrated by their difficulties" This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "demonstrate the values of integrity, compassion, accountability, respect and excellence during all interactions. "
  • In order for certain speech language pathologist responsibilities to be completed, the job requires the skill "detail oriented." According to a speech language pathologist resume, "speech-language pathologists must take detailed notes on progress and treatment." As an example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies: "completed daily logs detailing objectives targeted, outcomes, and plans for future therapy sessions. "
  • As part of the speech language pathologist description, you might find that one of the skills that might be helpful to the job is "listening skills." A speech language pathologist resume included this snippet: "speech-language pathologists must listen to symptoms and concerns to decide on the appropriate course of treatment." This skill could be useful in this scenario: "communicated with non-verbal clients' using basic sign language and augmentative alternative communication (aac). "
  • See the full list of speech language pathologist skills.

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    What Graduate Student Clinicians Do

    Graduate student clinicians can be a nurse practitioner, pharmacist, or doctor whose primary job is to work with patients and assist patients in managing their medical condition or illness. They perform varied duties and responsibilities that include maintaining a good relationship with patients, discussing the treatment progress to patients, and documenting patients' medical history. Additionally, they are also responsible for assisting physicians on non-surgical procedures, updating the medical information of patients on charts, and giving diagnostic tests.

    In this section, we compare the average speech language pathologist annual salary with that of a graduate student clinician. Typically, graduate student clinicians earn a $2,673 lower salary than speech language pathologists earn annually.

    While their salaries may differ, one common ground between speech language pathologists and graduate student clinicians are a few of the skills required in each craft. In both careers, employees bring forth skills like patients, communication disorders, and acute care.

    There are some key differences in responsibilities as well. For example, a speech language pathologist responsibilities require skills like "slp," "speech-language pathology," "rehabilitation," and "home health." Meanwhile a typical graduate student clinician has skills in areas such as "motor speech disorders," "group therapy sessions," "treatment sessions," and "individual therapy sessions." This difference in skills reveals how truly different these two careers really are.

    Graduate student clinicians tend to reach lower levels of education than speech language pathologists. In fact, graduate student clinicians are 27.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

    What Are The Duties Of a Student Clinician?

    A Student Clinician is a healthcare practitioner who works as caregiver of a patient in a hospital or clinic. They integrate knowledge obtained in courses into the clinical practicum assignments.

    Next up, we have the student clinician profession to look over. This career brings along a lower average salary when compared to a speech language pathologist annual salary. In fact, student clinicians salary difference is $2,834 lower than the salary of speech language pathologists per year.

    Not everything about these jobs is different. Take their skills, for example. Speech language pathologists and student clinicians both include similar skills like "patients," "communication disorders," and "autism" on their resumes.

    In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences that are worth noting. For example, speech language pathologist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "slp," "speech-language pathology," "rehabilitation," and "home health." Meanwhile, a student clinician might be skilled in areas such as "group therapy sessions," "individual therapy sessions," "treatment sessions," and "speech-language pathologist." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.

    In general, student clinicians study at lower levels of education than speech language pathologists. They're 31.5% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

    What Technology Do You Think Will Become More Important And Prevalent For Speech Language Pathologists In The Next 3-5 Years?

    Monica Sampson Ph.D.

    Director of Health Care Services in Speech-Language Pathology, ASHA

    The biggest technology trends in the coming years related to speech-language pathology will include the following:

    - Telehealth platforms to enable access to patients who otherwise have limited access to timely and reliable SLP services
    - Electronic documentation systems, especially ones that seamlessly integrate across providers in hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home health, and outpatient clinics. This minimizes gaps in communication among clinicians with easy transfer of records.
    - Assistive technology to enhance to either provide or augment access to communication for children and adults who cannot communicate or have difficulty communicating verbally, including SGDs.
    - Apps and digital material as assessment and treatment tools: With an increased focus on digital access to SLP services, the profession has a critical need for digital material for assessment and treatment of communication, cognition, and swallowing impairments across the lifespan.
    - Use of artificial intelligence to bolster learning and enhance creativity in pedagogy.

    The lack of access to technology by underrepresented populations will continue to be a pressing need post-COVID-19.
    Show more

    How a Graduate Student Internship Compares

    Graduate interns work in different industries, and their job responsibilities may vary. As a graduate student intern, you may be expected to offer your services free of charge to the company you find placement in exchange for the experience you'll be getting. In other cases, you may be offered compensation of some sort. Most often than not, you will be assigned to a department to work under the supervision of the head of that unit.

    Let's now take a look at the graduate student internship profession. On average, these workers make lower salaries than speech language pathologists with a $31,395 difference per year.

    While looking through the resumes of several speech language pathologists and graduate student interns we discovered that both professions have similar skills. These similarities include skills such as "patients," "communication disorders," and "acute care," but they differ when it comes to other required skills.

    As mentioned, these two careers differ between other skills that are required for performing the work exceedingly well. For example, gathering from speech language pathologists resumes, they are more likely to have skills like "slp," "speech-language pathology," "rehabilitation," and "home health." But a graduate student internship might have skills like "speech-language pathologist," "data collection," "mental health," and "group therapy sessions."

    Graduate student interns typically study at lower levels compared with speech language pathologists. For example, they're 22.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

    Description Of a Speech Correction Consultant

    The fourth career we look at typically earns lower pay than speech language pathologists. On average, speech correction consultants earn a difference of $30,989 lower per year.

    While their salaries may vary, speech language pathologists and speech correction consultants both use similar skills to perform their jobs. Resumes from both professions include skills like "slp," "communication disorders," and "cfy. "

    While some skills are shared by these professions, there are some differences to note. "patients," "speech-language pathology," "rehabilitation," and "home health" are skills that have shown up on speech language pathologists resumes. Additionally, speech correction consultant uses skills like public speaking, professional knowledge, language therapy, and data collection on their resumes.

    The average resume of speech correction consultants showed that they earn lower levels of education to speech language pathologists. So much so that the likelihood of them earning a Master's Degree is 21.7% less. Additionally, they're more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 2.5%.