What Is A Speech Pathologist And What Do They Do?
Ed Sheeran, Gabby Gifford, Colin Jost, and Bruce Willis have something in common, besides being famous — they have all had speech therapy. Ed Sheeran for stuttering, Gabby Gifford and Bruce Willis for Aphasia, and Colin Jost for speech production. Many famous people, and many not-so-famous people, have worked with a speech-language pathologist to improve some aspect(s) of their communication. But what actually is a speech pathologist?
Is it Speech Therapist or Speech Pathologist?
You may have heard the term speech-language pathologist (SLP) or speech therapist or speech pathologist but they are basically the same thing. Many people will use these terms interchangeably. These are titles that are used in the United States but other countries have their own titles and trainings for this field. I prefer to be called an SLP or speech pathologist as the “pathologist” part of the title indicates that we can diagnose disorders related to speech, language, feeding, swallowing, and cognitive-communication.
What IS A Speech Pathologist Though?
What is a speech pathologist? I get this question a lot. I have answered it many times responding to family, friends, and even strangers when it comes up in conversation.
Basically, SLPs are licensed healthcare professionals with specific and specialized training who can assess and treat a wide range of disorders related to cognition, communication, and swallowing across the lifespan.
Per the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA), the governing body of American Speech-Language Pathologists:
Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) work to prevent, assess, diagnose, and treat speech, language, social communication, cognitive-communication, and swallowing disorders in children and adults.
SLPs have a masters degree or doctorate, passed a board examination, and completed a university program along with practicums and a fellowship. Speech pathologists focus mainly on diagnoses that have to do with the following:
Speech Production—
This encompasses the way that we say sounds, how we put sounds together to make words, speech sound development, and the motor aspects of speech production.
Disorders in this area include articulation disorders, phonological disorders, apraxia of speech, and dysarthria.
Language —
This includes receptive language, how we understand what we hear, expressive language, how we share thoughts and feelings, as well as pragmatics, the verbal and nonverbal social aspects of communication.
Disorders in this area include receptive language disorder, expressive language disorder, a mixed receptive-expressive language disorder, social pragmatic communication disorder, and aphasia to name a few.
Literacy —
This includes both reading and writing and incompasses spelling as well. It would take into account the person's ability to decode (read) and then understand what they had just read.
Disorders in this area include dyslexia, alexia, and aphasia.
Voice —
This is a highly specialized part of the field that encompasses the person's ability to coordinate respiration (breathing) and phonation (voice) for communicative purposes. It includes resonance, pitch, volume and other aspects of voice.
Disorders in this area include dysphonia (altered vocal quality), vocal nodules or polyps (often in singers, coaches, and teachers), gender dysphoria (including gender affirming voice therapy), tracheostomies, and parkinson's disorder.
Fluency —
This area is also more commonly known as stuttering. It encompasses the flow of speech that is characterized by dysfluencies or disturbances. This includes repeating sounds and getting stuck on sounds but also includes the emotional response to stuttering such as avoiding speaking.
Disorders in this area include stuttering and cluttering.
Cognitive-Communication —
This area encompasses the thought processes that allow for successful communication and interaction. This can include memory, attention, problem solving, organization, orientation, processing, and executive functioning.
Disorders in this area may include a traumatic brain injury, stroke, dementia
Feeding and Swallowing Disorders —
This area includes self-feeding, chewing and swallowing of foods and drinks. It also encompasses the child or adult’s ability to self-feed, sensory considerations around mealtime, refusal, and feelings around eating.
Disorders in this area may include dysphagia (swallowing disorder), pediatric feeding disorder, arfid, and food/oral aversion.
As I mentioned earlier, it is a really broad field with a lot of areas that are treated.
Where Can Speech Therapists Work?
Speech therapists work in a variety of settings, and I personally have worked in many of them. We can work in hospitals, such as the NICU and ICU, rehabilitation facilities, schools and universities, homes, early interventions, childcare centers, outpatient facilities, nursing homes, group homes, private practices and long term care facilities. If there is a location where people are working on communication, speaking, and swallowing there is probably a speech therapist there.
Summary
Speech-language pathologists, also called speech therapists and speech pathologists, are healthcare professionals with specific and specialized training. SLPs can assess and treat a wide range of disorders in infants, children, teens, adults, and the elderly. SLPs work in schools, hospitals, childcare centers, and homes to support feeding, swallowing, cognitive and communication disorders. All kinds of people, including actors, musicians, and politicians seek the support of a speech therapist.
Interested in learning more about speech pathologists? Check out the links below.
TLC Speech Therapy is a speech pathology private practice, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, that specializes in feeding, swallowing, and communication skills in infants, children, teens, and adults.
For more information check out our website at tlcspeechtherapy.com or contact us at hello@tlcspeechtherapy.com
