What does a speech/language therapist do?
A Speech And Language Specialist assesses, analyzes, and diagnoses patients communication competencies. They write diagnostic reports for patients with language disorders.
Speech/language therapist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real speech/language therapist resumes:
- Provide speech therapy and child development services to children with autism and/or severe social and emotional delays.
- Work with children and teenagers with autism, learning difficulties, mental challenges, ADHD, and speech and language disorders
- Provide treatment for students diagnose with learning disabilities who demonstrate processing difficulties in various receptive and expressive language areas.
- Detail goal and objective writing and Medicaid billing
- Participate in IEP meetings for implementing new individualize goals.
- Maintain consistent and accurate therapy session data to bill Medicaid.
- Develop individualize IEP goals and objectives aiming to promote communication skills.
- Instruct patients and family members in strategies to cope with and avoid communication-relate misunderstandings.
- Develop and implement interesting and interactive learning mediums to improve student expressive and receptive language during riding lessons.
- Ensure successful treatment outcomes for patients through visitation of schools and discussion with teachers about program modification and classroom accommodations.
- Perform pediatric evaluations for speech-language, hearing screenings, adaptive behavior and early developmental assessments as single discipline and team member.
- Utilize Kaufman treatment kit for apraxia to improve functional communication.
Speech/language therapist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 23% of Speech/Language Therapists are proficient in Patients, Rehabilitation, and SLP. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Compassion.
We break down the percentage of Speech/Language Therapists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 23%
Ensured successful treatment outcomes for patients through visitation of schools and discussion with teachers about program modification and classroom accommodations.
- Rehabilitation, 10%
Ensured appropriate rehabilitation services were delivered to each client as need- ed
- SLP, 9%
Provided SLP services through diagnosing and treating children ages 2-5 with disorderand/or delays of speech, language, and/or fluency.
- Home Health, 7%
Organize and complete a daily schedule of speech and language therapy within a clinic setting and during home health appointments.
- Autism, 6%
Specialized in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and educational and physical challenges in district.
- IEPs, 5%
Create Individualized Education Plan (IEPs) for students and managed IEP meetings Successfully passed Adept and Formal Evaluation
"patients," "rehabilitation," and "slp" are among the most common skills that speech/language therapists use at work. You can find even more speech/language therapist responsibilities below, including:
Analytical skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a speech/language therapist to have is analytical skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "speech-language pathologists must select appropriate diagnostic tools and evaluate results to identify goals and develop a treatment plan." Speech/language therapists often use analytical skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "organize student data and create data collection sheets via ms excel in order to help track and evaluate student advancement. "
Communication skills. Many speech/language therapist duties rely on communication skills. "speech-language pathologists need to explain test results, diagnoses, and proposed treatments in a way that individuals and their families can understand," so a speech/language therapist will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways speech/language therapist responsibilities rely on communication skills: "provided daily speech/language therapy within a school setting to develop and enhance communication skills. "
Compassion. This is an important skill for speech/language therapists to perform their duties. For an example of how speech/language therapist responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "speech-language pathologists may work with people who are frustrated by their communication difficulties." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a speech/language therapist: "earned repeated commendations from supervisor and patients for providing high-quality, compassionate care. ".
Detail oriented. A big part of what speech/language therapists do relies on "detail oriented." You can see how essential it is to speech/language therapist responsibilities because "speech-language pathologists must comprehensive notes on clients' progress to ensure that they continue receiving proper treatment." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical speech/language therapist tasks: "detailed goal and objective writing and medicaid billing"
Listening skills. Another crucial skill for a speech/language therapist to carry out their responsibilities is "listening skills." A big part of what speech/language therapists relies on this skill, since "speech-language pathologists must pay attention to hear the clients' communication difficulties and determine a course of action." How this skill relates to speech/language therapist duties can be seen in an example from a speech/language therapist resume snippet: "communicated with non-speaking students, using sign language and computer technology. "
The three companies that hire the most speech/language therapists are:
- Total Education Solutions Inc.5 speech/language therapists jobs
- Catholic Health Care System3 speech/language therapists jobs
- Froedtert Hospital3 speech/language therapists jobs
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Compare different speech/language therapists
Speech/language therapist vs. Graduate student clinician
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.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between speech/language therapists and graduate student clinician. For instance, speech/language therapist responsibilities require skills such as "rehabilitation," "slp," "home health," and "ieps." Whereas a graduate student clinician is skilled in "motor speech disorders," "dysphagia," "traumatic brain injury," and "group therapy sessions." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Graduate student clinicians tend to reach similar levels of education than speech/language therapists. In fact, graduate student clinicians are 4.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.5% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Speech/language therapist vs. 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.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real speech/language therapist resumes. While speech/language therapist responsibilities can utilize skills like "rehabilitation," "slp," "home health," and "ieps," student clinicians use skills like "language disorders," "traumatic brain injury," "group therapy sessions," and "aphasia."
Student clinicians earn lower levels of education than speech/language therapists in general. They're 8.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for speech/language therapists in the next 3-5 years?
Monica Sampson Ph.D.
Director of Health Care Services in Speech-Language Pathology, ASHA
- 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.
Speech/language therapist vs. Speech correction consultant
The job of speech pathologists is to diagnose, treat, and prevent speech, social communication, language, swallowing, and cognitive-communication disorders in both children and adults. They are responsible for providing aural rehabilitation for people with hearing impairment and hearing loss, and alternative and augmentative systems for people with severe language comprehension disorders such as progressive neurological disorders and the autism spectrum. Speech pathologists may also work with individuals without language, swallowing, or speech disorders, but are eager to know how to communicate more effectively.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from speech/language therapist resumes include skills like "patients," "rehabilitation," "home health," and "ieps," whereas a speech correction consultant is more likely to list skills in "public speaking," "professional knowledge," "academic schedule," and "event planning. "
Speech correction consultants typically earn similar educational levels compared to speech/language therapists. Specifically, they're 1.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 2.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Speech/language therapist vs. Speech pathologist
Types of speech/language therapist
Updated January 8, 2025
