In honor of all the recent SLP grads, or undergrads looking for a career path, I’d like to offer my “reasons to be an SLP”.
Diversity, diversity, diversity: Speech therapist can work with clients from birth to the very elderly; in schools, hospitals or private practice; with mildly involved to profoundly disabled individuals.
Flexibility: You can choose to work a backbreaking overtime schedule, or just a couple hours a week (if your lifestyle cooperates!)
Passion: Time and time again I meet speech therapists who absolutely love their profession! How often do you run into other professionals that could enthusiastically chat about their work for hours?
Growth and Earnings: This might not be a clear path to riches, but it is a stable, growing field with above average earning potential. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 19% rate of growth in the employment of SLPs from 2008-2018.
Make a Difference: The gratitude you will get from clients and their families when you help—whether it be eliciting that first word, correcting that troublesome /r/, finding “safe” foods, or untangling a damaged language center—is overwhelming. Communication is at our core as people; forging these connections for others is thrilling.
Trendy: Who would have guessed?! After years of explaining to strangers what I do for a living, “The King’s Speech” made it, dare I say, sexy?