A speech pathologist, also known as a speech therapist or speech language pathologist, is an allied health professional who supports people with communication and swallowing concerns. Speech pathologists can work across a number of different settings, including:
- Hospitals (as part of acute, rehabilitation and outpatient teams)
- Schools (both primary and secondary schools as well as pre-school)
- Private practices
- Community health centres
- Not-for-profit organisations
- Aged-care facilities
- Disability support services
- As consultants to community and government organisations
- Numerous other settings
Speech pathologists are essentially communication specialists and they work in assessing, treating and offering advice in relation to a vast range of communication concerns and difficulties, including:
- Speech clarity
- Understanding and processing what other people say (receptive language disorders)
- Using verbal and/or written communication to express (expressive language disorders)
- Stuttering
- Voice disorders
- Social skills
- Problem solving
- Literacy and learning difficulties
- Cleft lip, cleft palate and craniofacial abnormalities
- Loss of speech after stroke or brain injury
- Learning to communicate after laryngectomy (removal of the larynx)
- Communicating with hearing loss
- Selective mutism
- Communication difficulties relating to disabilities
- Supporting people who can’t speak to communicate via alternative means
- Speech and eating with a tracheostomy tube
As all the same nerves and muscles required for speech are also required for feeding and swallowing, speech pathologists are the professionals who support people to eat and swallow safely. A speech pathologist will be asked to support when a person’s ability to swallow safely is compromised due to weakness post-surgery, after a stroke or as a result of a degenerative disease, disability, old age or anything else that can impact their ability to swallow efficiently and consistently. Speech pathologists also work with babies who are having difficulty breast feeding and children who are fussy eaters or who have sensory related difficulties with eating.
Speech pathologists working in hospitals and aged-care facilities will often assess patients to determine whether the nerves and muscles in the head and neck are working adequately for them to be able to swallow safely and effectively. If a person is demonstrating that they are not able to eat their typical diet safely, effectively and consistently and without risk of the food or drink going down into the lungs, the speech therapist will often prescribe a modified diet of food that can be more safely and easily eaten. This can include applying a special thickening agent to drinks so they can be more easily swallowed.
Speech pathologists can work with people across the lifespan for a variety of different reasons. Infants, young children, older adults, people with disabilities, people who stutter, people who have injured their voices in their jobs and many others can be eligible to receive speech pathology services and supports.
As you can see, speech pathology is a very diverse profession. Speech pathologists work across many different sectors and in a variety of different roles. To become a speech pathologist you need to either complete a bachelor or master’s degree in speech pathology.