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What They Do
About This Career
Assesses and treats persons with speech, language, voice, and fluency disorders. May select alternative communication systems and teach their use. May perform research related to speech and language problems.
This career is part of the Health Science cluster Therapeutic Services pathway.
A person in this career:
- Evaluates hearing or speech and language test results, barium swallow results, or medical or background information to diagnose and plan treatment for speech, language, fluency, voice, or swallowing disorders.
- Writes reports and maintains proper documentation of information, such as client Medicaid or billing records or caseload activities, including the initial evaluation, treatment, progress, and discharge of clients.
- Monitors patients' progress and adjusts treatments accordingly.
- Develops or implements treatment plans for problems such as stuttering, delayed language, swallowing disorders, or inappropriate pitch or harsh voice problems, based on own assessments and recommendations of physicians, psychologists, or social workers.
- Administers hearing or speech and language evaluations, tests, or examinations to patients to collect information on type and degree of impairments, using written or oral tests or special instruments.
- Educates patients and family members about various topics, such as communication techniques or strategies to cope with or to avoid personal misunderstandings.
- Supervises or collaborates with therapy team.
- Participates in and writes reports for meetings regarding patients' progress, such as individualized educational planning (IEP) meetings, in-service meetings, or intervention assistance team meetings.
- Instructs clients in techniques for more effective communication, such as sign language, lip reading, or voice improvement.
- Teaches clients to control or strengthen tongue, jaw, face muscles, or breathing mechanisms.
Working Conditions and Physical Demands
People who do this job report that:
- You would often handle loads up to 10 lbs., sometimes up to 20 lbs. You might do a lot of walking or standing, or you might sit but use your arms and legs to control machines, equipment or tools.
- Work in this occupation requires being inside most of the time
- Work in this occupation involves sitting more than one-third of the time
Working in this career involves (physical activities):
- Picking out a particular sound in the presence of other sounds
- Detecting sounds and hearing the differences between sounds of different pitch and loudness
- Seeing clearly up close
- Speaking clearly enough to be able to be understood by others
- Identifying and understanding the speech of another person
Work Hours and Travel
- Regular working hours and limited travel
Specialty and Similar Careers
Careers that are more detailed or close to this career:
- Pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist (Pediatric SLP)
- Speech and Language Teacher
- Speech Clinician
- Bilingual Speech-Language Pathologist (Bilingual SLP)
- Speech and Language Clinician
- Speech and Language Specialist
- Speech Pathologist
- Speech Therapist
- Speech and Language Therapist
Every year the U.S. Department of Labor conducts national surveys of wage data by occupation in every state and in all industry divisions. These surveys are conducted through the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program.
The statistics collected for one year are published the next fall. For example, 2013 wage information was published in the fall of 2014.
There are over 800 occupations in the surveys, and these occupations cover the entire U.S. labor market. The surveys ask for reports in a scale of ranges for both hourly wages and annual wages.
In many cases, these occupations are broad enough to cover many more detailed specialties of an occupation. A specific occupation may be included in a broader occupational category for which labor market data is available. When you look at the statistics for a broad category, be aware that the salary data for a specific career may differ.
For more details about how wage information is collected and calculated by the U.S. Department of Labor, visit their website at http://www.bls.gov/bls/blswage.htm.
Every year the U.S. Department of Labor conducts a national survey of over 400,000
employers in every state and in all industry divisions. This survey is conducted
through the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program. Every other year the
department publishes outlook information based on these surveys.
Each outlook period covers 10 years. For example, in 2003 the outlook information
was published for 2004-2014. Employers are asked to report the number of employees
in about 770 different occupations that cover the entire U.S. labor market.
From this information, staffing patterns for different industries are established.
Industry growth is projected into the future based on past trends and current economic
conditions. Industry staffing patterns are then applied to the industry projections
to obtain occupational projections.
In many cases, these occupations are broad enough to cover many more detailed specialties
of an occupation. A specific occupation may be included in a broader occupational
category for which labor market data is available. When you look at the statistics
for a broad category, be aware that the employment data for a specific field may
differ.
For more details about how employment information is collected and calculated by
the U.S. Department of Labor, visit their website at http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.
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