Speech Therapy or Speech Pathologist Career

Now you need to have a Masters degree. Being a speech pathologist will give her the chance to work in a variety of settings.

A masters degree is required to be a Speech-Language Pathologist. However, one can become a Speech Therapy Assistant with a bachelor's degree only. An assistant does the actual work and treatment of patients but must be supervised by a full-fledged SLP. By "supervised," I mean the SLP is the one who evaluates the patient and decides on the plan of care. The assistant then goes in and implements the plan. A certain number of patient visits per month are required to be supervised in person by the SLP. Assistants naturally get paid less than SLPs and the job market is somewhat more limited because a company must have SLPs available to provide the required amount of supervision (I own a therapy company myself and I have this issue; I get contacted by ST assistants and am often unable to bring them on because of supervision issues). But the work can be just as rewarding and the job market for therapy in general is pretty solid. Good luck!

http://www.iseek.org/careers/careerDetail?oc=100456

My SIL is a Speech Pathologist and currently works in a grade school. She has previously worked in a nursing home and could work in a hospital. This is a field that is in demand. The school district she is working for has faced budget cuts, and even though she's new she knows she has job security because school districts are required by law to provide certain services.

As far as I know, a Master's Degree is required. Getting in to grad school is highly competitive, so grades will be very important.

I would have her find out which schools offer the program and then set up and appointment with one of the professors in the department. This will give her a much better picture of what's involved. Good luck!

As far as I know, A masters degree is the standard. I worked with a girl going to school for this. She said most states require a masters, and there are some additional licenses, that might be required. I think those licenses require a test and a fee.

Hi,
I'm sorry I'm answering so late, but my work computer blocks this link so I had to wait till I checked my email again at home! Anyways, I'm sure you've already gotten your questions answered, but I am a speech pathologist so I wanted to share my input. You need to have a Master's Degree in speech pathology to practice. It is best to have an undergraduate major in speech pathology too, but you can also go to graduate school with a bachelor's in another field as long as you do a year of post graduate prerequisites before starting grad school. I've been out of grad school for almost 10 years, but I think the same schools still offer an undergrad and grad program in MI, which includes, Western Michigan, Wayne State, Eastern Michigan, Northern Michigan, Michigan State and Central. It is best to look for a school that is ASHA (American Speech Hearing Association) accredited because they will make sure you have the 365 hours of clinical course work when you graduate. After grad school, she can get hired in as a Clinical Fellow and after one year of work, will receive the certificate of clinical competence in speech pathology and be able to practice without supervision. Also to get certified, she will need to take the praxis exam in speech pathology. It used to be recommended to have a teaching certificate as well to practice in the schools, but I don't think that is necessary anymore. However, at least when I was in undergrad, some schools offer a program where you can have a speech path major with elementary education miner and that will enable you to get the teaching certificate after your master's. I did that at WMU, but I'm not sure if it's still an option.

I know that is a lot, but I just wanted to give you/her an overview. It seems like a lot, but it is well worth it in the end because she will have a job! Once you're certified, you can work in any line of work whether it be adults or children, hospitals, clinics, nursing homes or schools.

Hope that helps, and good luck to her!

Jenny

She'll need a masters, M.. She will always have a lot of work, especially if she's good at her job. One thing that will always be important is her ability to write evaluation reports. One of my son's speech therapists said that about a woman one time who we were all waiting for a report from. She said that it didn't matter how good she was - if she couldn't get the reports written or done on time, she'd lose clients big-time. Insurance stops paying if they don't get their reports, and that makes clients very cranky!

One good thing to do is to find her a speech therapist who would be an encouraging mentor to talk to. NOT one who is a few years from retirement and dying to quit!

And tell her that if she had a mind to move overseas, she would also find plenty of business, because the expat community overseas needs good speech therapists to help them. And they are paid cash because if insurance is involved, the bills are filed with insurance after-the-fact. Your daughter wouldn't have to worry about doing the filing.

All my best,
Dawn

Hi M.,

I am a speech language pathologist in Plymouth. You do need a Masters along with certification through the American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA). To get certified you will need a masters and then pass a the ASHA exam.

There is a big demand for SLPs in a variety of settings. Finding a job should not be hard. I don't know of many jobs in this part of the state for Speech Langauge Pathologist Assistants. I know other states have them and I also believe they have positions on the west side of the state. I have never worked at a place that employs SLPAs.

If your daughter has any questions feel free to contact me.

Good Luck!

My best friend is a speech therapist. She has a Master's Degree, but she might have started working before she had it- I can't remember any more- She got her bachelor's degree at the University of Maryland- they have a really good program, and she loved it there.
Best wishes :)

I know people who went in with an undergrad degree 10 years ago. I have another friend who did an undergrad in elementary ed, taught a few years and then got her masters in SP. Now she works with the school system and in homes.

Having been a prior special ed teacher I have worked closely with speech therapists.....all of them had a masters degree. I'm pretty sure it is required. Check with local colleges, they will know what different states require.

Job growth is excellent. Pediatric speech therapists seem to be even higher in demand (although I don't know that for certain).

Maybe LoveMamaNetworking could comment. I would be interested to hear her opinion.