"Why Am I Here? I Can Talk Just Fine!"

Okay, for the millionth time, someone asked me, "What does a speech pathologist do?".  Speech Pathology is such a small discipline and no one seems to know what we work with.  Our name is at fault as it doesn't necessarily imply what our job entails.  "Speech Pathologist", in my opinion, is somewhat of a misnomer.  People think of speech therapy and immediately assume I only work with eliminating a lisp or teaching a kid how to say the "r" sound correctly...that is something that can be done by a "speech teacher" and is such a small part of our scope of practice.  If you're interested in what a licensed speech pathologist really does, read on...

Speech-Language Pathology is a discipline that works with many of the types of injuries, disorders, or diseases that involve the head and neck region of the body.  We deal with a big, diverse population of all ages with a variety of difficulties.  We work with developmental speech/language difficulties, such as with auditory processing disorders, the mentally challenged, stuttering, phonological disorders, specific language impairments, etc.  We provide diagnosis and therapy for aphasia, dysarthria, apraxia, dyslexia, and/or dysgraphia (loss of speech, language, reading, and/or writing function caused by injury or lesion to the brain, usually a stroke, progressive disease, or trauma to the head).  We provide voice therapy for voice disorders, such as paralysis of the vocal folds, insufficient breath support, or hyperfunctional voice problems, etc.  We provide pre-operative and post-operative consultation and therapy for patients with head and neck cancers (those who require removal or radiation of parts of the face and neck region that are necessary for speech and/or swallowing).   We provide therapy for social communication problems, such as those in patients with autism or injury to the right hemisphere of the brain.  We provide cognitive rehabilitation (memory, processing, attention, executive function, reasoning, and thought organization) for those who have suffered a lesion to the brain or progressive disorders.  And, last but not least, (in fact, this pertains to the majority of my patients) we diagnose and treat swallowing disorders.   

...Oh and, yes, we do work with lisps and /w/-for-/r/ substitutions as well as accent reduction---but those are "cosmetic" problems, I feel, and are not on my priority list. 

There you have it.  That's just a simplified version what I do.  I just had to get that off my chest. Some of us specialize in specific areas with specific age groups but I prefer to work with them all (more of a challenge, I think).  In my opinion, in order to be a good speech pathologist, you have to truly understand the composition and function of the brain, muscles, and the nervous system.  Only then can you work to train or re-train specific skills.  The human brain is the most fascinating object on this Earth....and its abilities are , literally, "mind-boggling". 

I still have patients come into my office and say, "Why am I here?  I don't have a speech problem? I can talk just fine!".  I just deal with it and begin my usual explanation.  Anyway, there's no point in changing our name to "speech-language-memory-attention-processing-swallowing-social-voice-stuttering-etc. therapist", is there?

Comments

[Mitzi]

Hey
"speech-language-memory-attention-processing-swallowing-social-voice-stuttering-ect. therapist"!! You have a cool job! :P

[Bernie]

How did I find such a smart woman? Hey, I need some accent reduction, please.

[penny]

Well said! I have the same problem. Did you know that technically ASHA made up the name Speech-language Pathologist and you can only be considered one if you are ASHA certified?