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Career Advice for Job Seekers

Edifications of Becoming a Speech Therapist

William Frierson AvatarWilliam Frierson
August 26, 2014


Child in speech therapy

Child in speech therapy. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

With the economization of several industries, it is becoming quite difficult to choose your career path, or to know whether your position would be qualified or required by the industry. In spite of this chaos, there are few areas which assure a strong possibility of career development in the upcoming years. One such area is of speech and language pathology which tends to deal with the patients suffering from speech problems like stuttering, stammering and more.

What do Speech Pathologists do?

The speech and language therapists (SLT’s) develop a bond and work with babies, kids and adults who are suffering from different levels of speech, communication and language problems. Those suffering with drinking, swallowing or eating difficulties can also seek the aid of a speech pathologist. They prove a boon to the people with physical and dyslexic disabilities, deafness/ problems in hearing, psychological traumas or dementia.

According to a survey, there are about 2.5 million people in the United Kingdom who have problems with their speech or language.

The Speech pathologists Newcastle use particular assessment equipments like total communication, Hanen, MULTILIT and THRASS methods to aid the patient in diagnosing the basic problem and develop a medical schedule for treatment.

Requirements for this Career

The students, who wish to make their bright future as speech therapists, would really need to study hard with a sincere approach. Reason being, the medical degrees would be awarded when the student completes his/her masters. However, the career planning should begin from the school level itself. Those students who are willing to enter the program are advised to make a selection from the offered undergraduate courses. It would help them to become an all rounder. It includes the courses in Mathematics, language arts, English, social science, science, health, psychology, humanities and more.

During their undergraduate careers students must maintain high standards or at least a B+ average in order to obtain the best chance of getting admission into their desired speech therapy schools.

Making an entrance in one of the three hundred programs is challenging for the student. It would require them to maintain their average, as well as having a qualified Bachelor’s degree along with various courses. It would guide them in building their education in speech language pathology. The students also need to have a complete section of medical experience, where they would obtain essential guidance from qualified professionals. When the students have completed their education and earned the Masters degree in the speech language pathology, they would be ready to set foot in the field. However, they need to apply for license in their region or state.

The main aim of the Speech pathologists Newcastle is to care about their clients. They want to make a difference in the lives of the kids that they work with.  These therapists make the therapy sessions light and enjoyable for the individual. They do not want the patients or their families to feel any kind of stress. Whole of the therapy session is focused on developing a child’s confidence and self esteem.

Additional Tips

Multilinguistic Skills: The students/ speech therapists that can read write and speak more than one language have greater chances of career development. They can work with more patients. You can opt for the selective courses of foreign language who aides the would-be speech pathologist to understand the problem of patients, coming from different areas and also to expand their multilingual skills.
Opt for Fellowships: The students can also participate in various clinical fellowships which provide actual clinical experience. They generally hold the session up to 36 weeks (depends on the curriculum) and requires a full-time work from the member.

Procedure in other Countries

In countries like the U.S. and Canada most provinces and states, need the speech pathologists to be legally certified and licensed. Only those students who have completed their under graduation with eligible performance and records, are given the certification. The United Kingdom and some other regions are liable to get registered under Nation’s health council. Their requirements include the successful completion of a two-year program that might have a particular process for entrance. And yes, a bachelor degree is a must to get a reputed job.

The American Speech Hearing Association (ASHA) selects the qualified individual under certification and offers chances to the ones seeking the certification. The Canadian association of speech language pathologists (CASLPA) maintains the certification process and gives ample career opportunities to the individuals. Similarly, the Health and Care professional council (HCPC) keeps the record of all the professionals who are eligible to start their practice.

About the Author

Christopher the author of this post is a psychotherapist. Apart from his profession, he likes to provide information regarding the benefits of choosing psychology as a career and its uses in human educare.

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