What does a Speech Pathologist Do?

 

What does a Speech Pathologist do??? So many people think that we only work with speech sound difficulties. How different is the truth! Let me tell you about one of my days. First, a team meeting at school for a Year 3 client with language processing difficulties. This shows in her difficulty always understanding what is said to her and in comprehending what she is reading. She also struggles to contribute to conversations with extended responses and rarely initiates interactions except with very familiar people. At the team meeting, all those working with her (parents, class teacher, special education teacher, and speech pathologist) shared their view of her progress, their concerns and suggestions for ‘the way ahead’, finishing with decisions made regarding management. Next, a session with a Year 1 student with phonological processing disorder (the key component of dyslexia). We are providing him a programme with minute steps and many, many practice opportunities to increase his letter-sound knowledge, his reading and spelling. He is so motivated! Year 1 student with an interdental /s/ (=lisp) – a special request to work on this (often we would not do so until after the child turns 8 as it will often resolve spontaneously up until that time). At this age, she has limited self-monitoring ability and we are having to move her slowly in order to ensure the /s/ is strongly established. Then a change: over to secondary for a Year 10 student. He asked to work on his surfing assignment (truly!). So, there I was learning a lot about wave mechanics and the geography necessary to produce ‘the perfect wave’, as I helped him to understand the task requirements and then supported his research (most of the language used on the net is not accessible to students with a language disorder and needs an adult to ‘translate’ the meaning so they have any hope of learning the new vocabulary). Next, Year 7. And working on reading comprehension, especially focussing on the ability to infer information from a short paragraph. He is improving! (with lots of supported practice). And work on producing oral and written sentences that contain more than one clause (more than one verb, often joined with a conjunction). Struggling with this, even with a conjunction list provided. So adjust task for next session. Back to do a session with our Year 3. Meeting with the Principal. Meeting with the Preschool teacher (3 year old group), talking about a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder she would like assessed. Back to the clinic. Meeting with Admin staff. Final session of the day – Year 8 student, with an Autism Spectrum Disorder, working on his ability to stay on task (this frequently requires the use of our high level language skills to organise our thinking and actions). We are also working on increasing his vocabulary knowledge which is limited, primarily because he has read little, but also, up until recently, not engaged in much conversation with others. He’s now discovering the enjoyment in finding, learning and using interesting vocabulary items. I love my work! There is an incredible variety of goals that are worked on during any one day. And I have the privilege of meeting a vast array of interesting people. My passion for working with students and adults with language-learning disabilities has not diminished over the years!