Speech pathologist jobs are increasing rapidly in the industry as people start to recognize the importance and benefits of SLPs. If you are looking for a speech pathologist jobs los angeles, make sure you know the following first.
About speech pathologists
Speech pathologists or speech-language pathologists (SLP) are professionals in preventing, assessing, diagnosing, and treating communication disorders in children and adults. This includes:
1) Speech disorder
This disorder occurs in people with difficulty producing speech sounds fluently or correctly or have problems with their voice resonance. For example, stuttering.
2) Social communication
This disorder occurs in people with difficulty using social verbal and nonverbal communication. This includes communication for social purposes (e.g. greeting), following rules of conversation, and differentiating language to suit the listener. People with autism spectrum disorder and traumatic brain injury have social communication disorders.
3) Cognitive communication
This disorder occurs in people with difficulty remembering, organizing thoughts, planning, paying attention, and solving problems. Cognitive communication disorder usually happens after traumatic brain injury, stroke, or dementia, although it can be hereditary.
4) Language disorder
This disorder occurs in people with difficulty sharing feelings, ideas, thoughts (expressive language) and understanding others (receptive language). Language disorders can be written or spoken. It also involves using pragmatic language, semantics content, and forms like syntax, morphology, and phonology in socially and functionally appropriate ways.
5) Swallowing disorder
This disorder is also called dysphagia and occurs in people with difficulty feeding and swallowing foods. Swallowing disorder can lead to injury, illness, stroke, and surgery.
Additionally, speech pathologists also provide:
- AAC system for people with progressive neurological disorders and autism spectrum disorders.
- Aural rehabilitation center for people with hearing problems or who are deaf.
- Work with people who don’t have any communication disorders but want to improve their communication such as modifying accents, etc.
Careers of speech pathologist
Speech pathologists work with both swallowing disorders and human communication with people of all ages. SLPs:
- Evaluate and diagnose language, speech, swallowing, and communication disorders.
- Treat language, speech, swallowing, and communication disorders.
- Provide education and training to caregivers, family, and other professionals.
- Work with professionals from several other disciplines.
Additionally, SLPs:
- Work for local, state, and national agencies or associations.
- Prepare future expertise in universities and colleges.
- Run or own private practices or clinics.
- Provide consultative and counseling services.
- Supervise and train support personnel.
- Supervise and direct clinical or public school programs.
- Research to increase knowledge about human communication processes and develop new therapeutic strategies and diagnostics. This can lead to more effective results.
Employment settings
Speech pathologists work in several different education, research, and healthcare settings with varying responsibilities, roles, and patient populations. Due to its high demand, PRN, full-time, and part-time opportunities are available depending on the desired facility, location, and employment flexibility. In most settings, SLPs usually work as part of an interdisciplinary, collaborative team. This can include physicians, teachers, social workers, audiologists, rehabilitation counselors, psychologists, and occupational and physical therapists.
Salary information
The salary of speech-language pathologists depends on the work setting, experience, educational background, and geographical location.
As per the ASHA Health Care Survey in 2015, the annual salary of SLPs ranges between $70,000 to $93,000 in healthcare settings. Those SLPs in administration can earn more than $90,000. The hourly wage for SLPs ranges between $40 to $76.
As per the ASHA Schools Survey in 2014, the salary for SLPs who worked an academic year ranges between $60,000 to $72,000. The hourly wage is $53.76 and $55.00 for contract employees.
Education requirements
Candidates for the CCC-SLP (Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology) must get a graduate’s degree, and pass a national exam by completing the required clinical experiences. A PhD is preferred in some fields such as research, college teaching, and private practice.
