LaTonya Evans
English 111
12-07-99
The Growing Profession of Speech Therapy
Speech therapy is an occupation that I have always been interested in. When I was in the eighth grade I lived in California and I had a chance to witness a speech therapists in action. A child had just moved to the area from Mexico and not only had a stuttering problem but also could not speak understandable English. The therapists proceeded to work with the child three days a week. By the end of the year not only was the stuttering so mild that no one could tell but his or her English was definitely understandable.
After completing the required six years of college one can enter the career field based on experience. You can acquire the experience by doing internships, and volunteer time. Internships usually pay some money while volunteering doesn’t. If you did not do either of these you will most likely be hired as only an assistant. There is a good salary range for speech therapists, the average starting pay is $32,000 a year and the top pay that I have seen is $110,000 and that’s if the person has been practicing for 10 years plus. Currently there are not many privately owned speech therapy offices, instead there are speech therapists in schools and in hospitals.
I would like to work in an elementary school in California where there is a high demand for speech therapists because of the high rate of immigrants coming into the country with very little English skills. I would also so like to eventually open up my own office and hire people out of college to help them gain experience.
There is a lot of hard work and patience involved in becoming a speech therapists, there are lots of classes and lots of time that is involved. One must be dedicated and have lots of will power to succeed.
Written communication is one of the major keys in being a speech therapists. When a speech therapists receives a new patient they must start a profile and document the progress that the person has made. The information that is documented is confidential and is kept in a locked file cabinet. The information written down during the session does not have to be formal but must be detailed, the sessions also need to be recorded so that the therapist can back and hear how the patient is improving. The final document that will be accommodated by the tape and the session’s notes must be formal, typed, and detailed. This information will be presented to a board of directors.
Speech therapists must also be good with communicating with people. When working with a patient they must be patient and understanding, speaking slowly so that the person can understand them and listening carefully so that they can evaluate and successfully figure out the problem. Working with children requires more communication skills and supplies than working with an adult. Every six months a therapists must go before the board and make a presentation on their progress, the board then reviews the patient profile and the tapes and proceeds to evaluate the therapist based on the techniques the therapists uses and the progress that the patient has made. The patient is also made aware of the progress he or she is making, in the case of a child the parent is made aware of the progress and whether the child will be able to fully or partially correct their speech.
The computer also pays a great part in the speech therapist job. Many of the therapists rely on the computer to store information such as the patients name, address, age and the progress they are making. They can also store the appointment days and the times. The major benefit of using the computer is to make charts and graphs which make a big impression on the board of directors. This shows the directors in a bright, colorful, easy to read way the achievements of your work. You can also use the computer for information, there are many sites that can give you technique advice and suggestions on what tools to use.
There are a lot of different tools and techniques needed to be a speech therapists, communication skills, patience, and computers, making speech therapy a diverse profession in the way of skills.
Works Cited.
National Speech/Language Therapy Center <www.systems.missouri.edu/hrs/comp.com> Accessed on 10/29/99.
Manager Speech Therapy, MRC <www.nationalspeech.com> Accessed on 10/29/99.
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