What does a SLP do?

“A what?”

Someone told you they work as a SLP.

Your child was referred to the school SLP.

Your family member had the SLP come in when they were hospitalized.

No matter how you first heard of this job title, your first reaction was, “A what? What’s a SLP?” We’re here to answer all your questions including what an SLP is, and what they do!

SLP is an acronym for Speech-Language Pathologist, also sometimes called Speech Therapists or Speech Paths. This is a profession that works with people of all ages in all areas of communication. These include speech, language, cognition, and swallowing.

Speech is the term used to mean the sounds we make when we talk, including fluency. When we talk we expect our speech sounds to be clear, and our sounds and words to flow together well, so everyone can understand us.

Language is how our words convey meaning. When we speak, we use the right words for the message we want to get across, and put words together in a way that makes sense to others. This is called expressive language. We can also understand the messages others say to us,

which is our receptive language. Finally, we follow social rules with our language, and use it for social purposes. We use expected tone, volume, and facial expressions. This is called social communication.

Cognition refers to many processes, such as attention, memory, planning, the way we organize our thoughts, reasoning, and solving problems. We can think in a way that is orderly, speak in a manner that follows a topic, and respond to others in a manner that makes sense.

Swallowing, and treating disorders related to swallowing, is also an important part of a SLP’s job.

A SLP works to prevent, diagnose, and treat disorders in any of these areas across many facilities, such as schools, hospitals, or

clinics; and in many areas, such as education, healthcare, or research. Disorders may be congenital, developmental, or a

result of stroke or other brain injury. A SLP will make an individualized plan of care for their client/student with personalized long-term goals, and short-term objectives to help them reach their goals.

SLPs typically work as part of a team. The team can include other service providers like psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists, physical therapists, audiologists, and counselors, as well as caregivers, physicians, and teachers.

Other aspects of a SLP’s job include:

Giving people a way to communicate when they cannot, due to severe disorders or neurological issues, such as using technology and/or pictures/symbols (referred to as AAC);

Working with people who want to be better understood (changing accents, or enhancing communication with other skills); and

Providing aural rehabilitation to those who are hard of hearing or deaf to lessen the effects of hearing loss.

So, what does this look like?

A day in the life of a SLP depends on the setting and individual(s) they work with. Here are several likely scenarios that occur in the workday of a SLP:

- Meeting with a family in their home to observe and assess their toddler’s overall communication skills to see if they’re meeting milestones or if they need some support from us.

- Playing a board game to engage a second grader as we help them say the “R” sound while pointing to visuals of the tongue and mouth.

- Directing a matching activity to help a group of middle school students learn and remember new vocabulary words.

- Singing, jumping, and dancing to build social connection and early communication skills with a three-year-old who does not yet speak.

- Pointing to pictures in a children’s book with a kindergartener as we help them learn new words to describe.

- Running a social skills group with autistic elementary school students so they can form friendships.

- Showing a preschooler that pointing to a picture of a snack means they will receive that snack as they learn to use pictures to communicate their wants and needs.

- Helping a third grader learn to retell a story by watching a short cartoon and then talking about all the main events in order.

- Helping a man in his thirties who is having trouble finding the words he wants to use after a concussion.

- Guiding a woman in her seventies through swallowing exercises to help her eat without choking.

- Directing a fiberoptic scope through a patient’s nose and looking at their airway and vocal folds to discover why they’re coughing whenever they drink water.

- Conducting a swallow study to see if a patient can safely swallow solid foods as they recover from a car accident in the hospital.

- Planning a meal from the act of buying groceries through food preparation with a stroke survivor in a skilled nursing facility.

I hope you enjoyed this "funtastic" blog post!

- Amanda Sherman, MS CCC-SLP