I thought I would kick off my first blog post for May since it is Better Speech and Hearing Month by answering the question… What in the world is an SLP??

I honestly had very little knowledge as to what a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) was or did for a living, even as I enrolled in the program twenty years ago. 

Sure, I shadowed one SLP in the school and watched as each student practiced “their sound” or worked on fluency (aka stuttering), but I really had no idea about the scope of a medical SLP.

Fortunately for me, I had an amazing clinical supervisor who took me under her wing and persuaded me to give being a medical SLP a chance… and now here I am! For the sake of what I do and my clients, the focus of this article will be more geared toward those wanting more information on the medical side of Speech Pathology.

Why is our profession so obscure?

Most people do not know us as Speech Language Pathologists (or even Speech Pathologists), but as  “Speech Therapists”. Some may even dare to say “Speech Teacher”. 

Those who do know of our profession, mostly think we work with kids on sounds and are an extension of the teaching profession. 

Then there are those few in the medical field or patients have had to use our services that understand that we work with swallowing, trachs, cognition, etc. However, it’s common place that even those people who work by our side, including nurses and physicians, do not really know our full scope of our practice.

I get it. We are not the “holy grail” and it’s on a need to know basis,… but it’s a serious frustration among SLP’s that no one seems to know about us or understand what we do. Even more alarming is the fact that many patients who could greatly benefit from our services, do not receive them.

SO what does an SLP do really?

I’m going to try and be brief so I can get to the meat of this, but simply as I can:

An SLP is a professional who diagnoses and treats a variety of disorders (what most of us call “the Big 9”) across the life span. That means we can have patients or clients from birth to well over 100 years of age. 

The Big 9 includes:

• articulation (production of speech sounds)
• language ( understanding/expressing vocabulary, grammar, etc)
• voice (production of voice including quality, volume, endurance, or even speaking valves for trachs)
• fluency (stuttering)
• alternative augmentative communication (other forms of communication other than speech, including high tech devices)
• pragmatics (social aspects of communication)
• hearing
• dysphagia (swallowing impairment)
• cognition (memory, problem solving, attention/concentration, etc)

Each of these areas are HUGE and are vastly different between children and adults. Many SLPs feel our name is not fitting (hello, I agree) and it’s hard to fit in one sentence the scope of what we do. I used to jokingly tell my patients, I’m the neck up person.

In simplest terms- that’s what we do. It would take an entire article for each disorder we diagnose and treat to fully explain, but I don’t think that is why you are here. So I will move on.

What does it take to be an SLP?

This is probably one of the largest misconceptions in the general public. I have been mistaken as having a “certificate” or even a teenager working a “summer job”. Yes,.. really.

It requires a Bachelors Degree (generally in communication disorders) and then a Master’s Degree in Speech Language Pathology that is typically two years in length. While attending the Master’s, they must complete 400 clinical hours. Those hours must be spread across settings (both educational and medical) in the “Big 9” areas. After graduating with their Master’s Degree, they must pass an exam (Praxis Exam) to become licensed. Once they pass the exam, they can begin work as a CF (Clinical Fellowship) which is a paid 9 month internship where they are supervised by an SLP with at least three years of CCC’d experience (I’ll get to CCC’s in a moment). After they complete their CF year, they can then apply to get their CCC’s- now they are a fully licensed MS CCC-SLP! Whew.. so it’s a lot of school and experience.

So, wait, what is MS CCC-SLP?

It stands for Master’s of Science, Certificate of Clinical Competence – Speech Language Pathologist. (We like words, obviously.) You may also see MA, which is a Master of Arts, depending on where they received their degree plan. 

Mainly what people need to know is that if someone is practicing as an SLP in the medical field- they MUST have these credentials. SLP assistants (who hold a bachelor’s degree) are in most (some states differ) cases unable to legally work in the medical field. Medicare does not recognize them as a “skilled service” and most insurances follow suit. 

And of course, there are those really over achieving SLP’s who go on for their doctorate, either educational or PhD.

Where do medical SLP’s work?

Typically anywhere adults would be seen for a medical condition, however children affected with medical conditions are also treated by SLP’s. We work in hospitals, skilled nursing facilities (aka nursing homes), home health, inpatient or outpatient rehabilitation settings, private clinics, or even through tele-practice.

Okay, so what do you really want us to know?

The SLP is highly qualified… BUT… Those who work in the medical field, may not be really proficient in treating a kid’s /r/ sound. Those who work in the schools, may not have a lot of knowledge about treating a swallowing disorder, and even more unlikely, have hands-on experience with how to put on a speaking valve on a cuffed trach, and so on.

Are we licensed to do it all?

Most Certainly

Our field is young and vast, current evidence based practice is literally changing every single year, especially within the field of swallowing disorders. There is also the chance that a clinical supervisor may teach out-of-date practices that are no longer evidence based practice. It is vital that SLP’s continue to keep up-to-date through CEUs and their own research to best serve their clients.

So what I really want you to know is, the vast majority of us are doing our best to get the medical side of Speech Pathology to be the best it can be for our clients and patients however not everyone is an expert in every area of Speech Pathology. It is quite literally impossible.

So if you or your loved one with a need for a speech pathologist, it is important to get a SLP who is knowledgable and highly skilled in your condition if at all possible. I hope you enjoyed my first blog and learned something today about an SLP! I will continue to do educational blogs on each disorder, common conditions we see, and specialized programs.