Rama
What is most enjoyable about being a speech therapist?
I am a sophomore in high school and I am shadowing a speech therapist that works at a private school. Sometimes I get bored because my mentor does the same thing in every session and I am just sitting there observing. I want to know if it is different for speech therapists not working at a school. For any speech therapists out there...what do you like the most about your job? Why do you like it? #therapy #children #speech-pathology #speech #schools #offices
2 answers
Holly Z.
Holly’s Answer
Dear, Rama,
I found this on a website, and you can google all about speech patholigist and therapist, The Work Environment About this sectionSpeech-language Speech-language pathologists held about 134,100 jobs in 2012. Almost half of all speech-language pathologists work in schools. Most others work in healthcare facilities, such as hospitals. Some work in patients’ homes.
The industries that employed the most speech-language pathologists in 2012 were as follows:
Elementary and secondary schools; state, local, and private 41%
Offices of physical, occupational and speech therapists, and audiologists 17
Hospitals; state, local, and private 13
Nursing and residential care facilities 5
Work Schedules
Most speech-language pathologists work full time. About 1 out of 4 worked part time in 2012. Those who work on a contract basis may spend a lot of time traveling between facilities.
family would see a Speech Therapist if they have any concerns for their child’s development in any of the areas mentioned above. (See: Speech and Language Milestone Chart) They will generally need a referral from their Primary Care Physician or from another healthcare provider that is overseeing their child’s care. After the referral is received an evaluation is scheduled. (See: Talking With Your Audiologist or SLP: Getting the Most from Your Visit) During the evaluation the Speech Therapist will look into the parent’s concerns and any other concerns that arise during this time. After the evaluation the Speech Therapist will determine whether or not the child will need ongoing services. There are many books about speech therpist and stories about patients. Most with great endings. I think this career choice would be highly rewarding, especially for children whom just need a little push or guidance that they need in order to correct small impairments. Sadly, my sister went to speech theapy, she would not pronounce words. She would just point and make noises. Finally, she acclerated in life and blossom into a wonderful successful human being because of her speech therapist. So I think that you can make a huge difference in a persons life and the future of that individual. I think that you would love the job and look forward to helping others, while making good earnings for your work. Great Choice. I think when you are solo, you will find you are in contol of the situation and not just an observer, I would think depending on individual cases what type of therapy you would use would differ oppose to shadow and watching a mentor repeat the same ol session using the same techniques. Has he or she explain why they repeat the same technique used for different clients? I am wondering because maybe this paticular school system has a certain set of teaching skills that are used and only those paticular ones. I would ask many more questions as the why's of what the goals are in the sessions etc adk to help out more and do more other than just observing. Then it will not be be boring and turn it into a positive fun learning experience for you. . You must try and maybe give the job a chance at different places too. If you are not happy after a year or so , then maybe I would look for other options too. However, jumping around can be a red mark on your resume too. For your self you may want to why you are bored? Ask your mentor to help out more with the actual theapy other than just observing? I hope that was more helpful to you. Good luck be positive this would be a great job. I hope this person is doing client charting, and doing progress reports and all the paperwork too. Ask to help with some case managment too. If she or he is not doing case documentation ask why? You want to compare to see if this person you are working with is making progress. Give them new ideas if you feel you can contribute to the session.
I did write a few more paragraphs for you after reading your question again. I hope this helps you.
Holly Z.
Wow, thanks so much! That is great advice and I guess my mentor sees her job differently than I do because I am just observing. I think she uses the same games and activities for all children just because it's easier for her, but I'll try to ask her. I try to help out as much as possible but most things are confidential and she does therapy documentation. Today I helped write addresses on envelopes for her. I think the job is pretty interesting, but boring at times. I don't know if it is in my future, but it is definitely an option now. Thanks for the reply, it really means a lot.
Rama
T. Crawford, MA CCC-SLP
T.’s Answer
I love my field. I don't do the same thing every day because we as humans do not do the same thing everyday. We might have a routine, but things happen...life happens. And even in a school setting you can create an exciting environment.
There are many settings available for the speech language pathologist. I encourage you to shadow multiple SLP clinicians to get a varied idea.
Most enjoyable? Seeing the success a kid has in communicating a sentence level idea when they were nonverbal when you met them. Seeing an 81 year old with a PhD be able to eat a regular meal with his wife again after a traumatizing motor vehicle accident. Making a difference in people's lives is most enjoyable as an SLP in my years of experience.