Written by: Roselyn Mathew / Treatment / January 28, 2021 / 10 minutes read

Speech language pathology is a field of expertise practice by a clinician known as a speech language pathologist. Speech language pathologist provide a wide range of services, mainly on an individual basis, but also as support for individuals, families, support groups and providing information for the general public speech language pathologists work to prevent, access, diagnose and treat speech, language, social communication, cognitive- communication, voice, fluency and swallowing disorders in children and adults. There are different working environments or job types for Speech Language Pathologists which are:

Pediatric Speech Pathologist work with children. Assessment and therapy are provided to children who might have difficulties in speaking, understanding speech, pronouncing certain sounds, have disfluencies in speech and swallowing. Pediatric speech therapists work in schools, hospitals, clinics, in private companies and at homes, daycare centers.

   Pros:

• Mental satisfaction of seeing children grow and develop.

• Lots of career opportunities.

• Can be fun and enjoyable if one likes children.

   Cons:

• Progress can be really slow.

• It is difficult to manage children especially if they are not in a good mood.

• It could be tiresome.

Adults Speech Therapists work with adults who can have difficulty in speaking or understanding speech due to a neurological insult. They also provide services for adults having difficulties in their voice, disfluencies, and pronunciation. They can also provide services for gender affirming voice and communication change. 

   Pros

• Unlike children, adults are motivated to attend sessions and try to improvise their speech and language skills.

• Progress can be fast.

• It is easier to assess the client.

   Cons

• Adults who are elder to the therapist might not take their words seriously.

• It is risky to assess and treat clients with swallowing issues as they might develop aspiration during the process. 

• Adults might not be able to practice with dedication as they might have work related issues and other responsibilities.

Some speech pathologists work in management related positions like being a supervisor or manager in a clinic, a rehabilitation facility or a nursing home. They manage and work on the overall development of the client and work closely with other professionals of different fields. 

   Pros

• The workload is less stressful.

• It is satisfying to work on and see the overall development in clients. 

• Can get more pay.

   Cons

• Might have to resolve conflicts that could arise between other professionals.

• The person would be fully responsible for the overall development of the client.

• Will have to closely supervise professionals of each field.

Travel speech pathologists travel from facility to facility on a short-term basis.  Some of them work as travel therapists for just a few months or years, while others make a career in the travel therapy sector. 

   Pros

• It is rewarding for people who like to travel and explore new places.

• They get to know the different types of therapy approaches and techniques used for therapy.

• They might receive good incentives.

   Cons

• Travelling can be tiresome

• Won’t be able to spend much time with family

• There could be language barriers during communication.

Speech pathologists can work as voice or speech coaches and can train actors, executives, singers and professional voice users to reduce their accent, adapt new dialects, and heal and prevent injuries to their vocal folds by using their voice appropriately. 

   Pros

• It is comparatively less stressful.

• It can be interesting and enjoyable.

• It is easier to motivate clients as they feel and hear the difference themselves. 

   Cons

• The number of clients for voice and accent alone are less.

• Since practicing vocal hygiene and accent modification is done throughout the day, clients might become frustrated.

• Other professionals like language teachers can also train clients with accent modification which could again result in fewer clients. 

Corporate speech pathologists or executive communication coach help clients to develop social skills, professional skills, prevent abuse or misuse of voice and also reduce accents. Clients are of a broader category, who would like to improve their social and professional life by improving their communication skills and to learn to communicate effectively with others. 

   Pros

• The number of clients received are higher than for voice coach as clients fall into a broader spectrum.

• Clients can be highly motivated which increases the success rate.

• Progress can be easily monitored by the therapist as well as by the clients themselves.

   Cons

• Some clients could have anxiety or depression, which could slow down the speed and extent of improvement.

• Other professionals like public speaking coaches could also train clients for professional speech and presentations, which could result in lesser case load.

• As accent reduction is needs to be practiced throughout the day in different speaking situations, clients might get frustrated. 

Speech pathologists in this category conduct studies and research in the field of speech pathology. The research topics could be related to assessment, treatment, standardization, studying speech and language characteristics in a specific population etc.  The research period can be of short term (a few months) or long term (many years). The numbers of research participants can also vary depending on the type of research, the research topic and variables that are considered in the research. 

   Pros

• Speech pathologists who are interested in studies and finding new details find this interesting and rewarding.

• The researcher can become well known if they publish their findings or create or standardize new test materials.

• They can access and be in touch with the latest advances and research studies more frequently.

   Cons

• It is required to earn a doctorate degree in the field of speech language pathology, who could be time consuming and expensive.

• The pay could be lesser compared to the same number of hours worked by a therapist who assess and provide therapy to clients.

• The work could get repetitive and boring.

• There are fewer job opportunities in this area.

A speech pathologist can work in a university as a teaching faculty. They can teach and guide students who are doing their studies in the field of speech language pathology. 

   Pros

• People who are interested in teaching and guiding others would find this field interesting. 

• Can be always in touch with the literature and can frequently get to know the recent studies and advances made in the field.

   Cons

• Doctorate degree is mandatory which could be expensive and time consuming.

• Not many job posts are available.

• Hours are fixed and not flexible. 

Hence, it can be seen that Speech Language Pathology is a vast area and has many job types that are quite different from one another. Working in one’s preferred job type leads to greater job satisfaction and contentment. 

To speak with one of the speech-language pathologists at Well Said: Toronto Speech Therapy, schedule an initial consultation by clicking the link below or calling (647) 795-5277.