5 Great Career Options for a Speech-Language Pathologist
- Stroke Center Rehab
- Speech Evaluations
- Teaching Sign Language
- Speech Injury Rehabilitation
- Travel Therapy
A career in speech and language pathology can be an advantageous and robust career choice. Once you have achieved your degree in this area of studies and you are ready to job search, the options for job placement is vast. You might work with children diagnosed with a language disorder, the elderly population recovering from a stroke or other medical impairments, and much more. Below are five great places where you can work as a speech and language pathologist.
1. Stroke Center Rehab
When a person has a stroke their brain is affected in several ways. Depending on the severity of the stroke and what part of the brain suffered the injury, speech is often affected to some degree. Sometimes this side effect of a stroke will go away in a few weeks after recovery, but sometimes a patient will need to re-learn how to speak. Essentially they are teaching a different part of their brain to take over speech. This is a really great group of patients to work with if you have the interest, according to the US News and World Report.
2. Speech Evaluations
Speech evaluations are used for a number of different age groups of people. A lot of children will go through speech evaluations when they first begin speaking if their parents think they are a bit behind on the learning curve. You may evaluate older children that are in the school system but seem to have some issues learning. There will be the need to evaluate other patients because of injury, illness and sometimes to see if there is a justification for their health insurance to cover their assistance.
3. Teaching Sign Language
The study sign language is an important skill for a speech pathologist, because it will allow you to communicate in your job with people who are having communication disorders. Sign language teachers are always in high-demand and will allow another avenue to this rewards career. Sign language is very important for young children who are having difficulty learning to speak. Teaching sign-language to children at a young age will often help ease in their frustration of not being able to communicate.
4. Speech Injury Rehabilitation
When a person has speech issues from a traumatic event, such as a brain injury, there will be rehabilitation needed for them to be able to regain their ability to speak. This might be on a subtle level, to simply help perfect sounds; however often, the patient will need to learn to speak again. This career takes patience and understanding, as often the patient is recovering from physical injuries in addition to their brain injury. These jobs are often found in hospitals and rehabilitation centers.
5. Early Intervention
Many speech and language pathologists will work for agencies that go into the homes, daycares and schools of clients who are in need of speech related services. This is most-often done in early intervention programs that are contracted through state agencies. They will help children from birth to age three that are having difficulty learning to speak from medical conditions. These pathologists will not only give services to help correct speech, but will often perform evaluations to monitor the progress of their clients.
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Working towards a degree in the field of speech language pathology is a big undertaking but the end result is worth it. This is a lucrative career field but it is also incredibly rewarding. While you are still in school, you might want to intern and find out as much as you can about a variety of jobs so you can decide what area you would like to specialize in.
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