The field of speech therapy is poised to grow rapidly in the coming years. Speech therapists use a variety of intervention methods to help individuals with speech, language, and swallowing disorders learn to communicate with others more effectively. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, speech pathology jobs will grow 21 percent annually between 2014 and 2024. Individuals looking to grow their careers, therefore, should consider the wide range of speech therapy jobs that are available in today’s world.
1. School Speech Therapist
Every child in the U.S. is required to attend school, but many of them struggle to learn how to speak correctly. Some children are born with a lisp, and others come from a home environment where English is spoken as a second language. School speech therapists, therefore, make a significant difference in the lives of children every day. Speech therapists who work in an educational environment can look forward to helping eager pupils acquire the skills they need to lead a successful future.
2. Adult Speech Therapist
Most speech therapists work outside the school environment at private businesses and hospitals. Adults need speech therapists for many reasons, including for treatment following an accident and for personal growth. Some individuals are never given the opportunity to work with a speech therapist as a child, but their careers require them to do so as an adult. Other adults suffer a medical complication that compels them to go into speech therapy to make a full recovery. Speech therapists can enjoy a flexible career path due to the broad range of opportunities that are available for treating the adult population.
3. Call Center Trainer
Call centers have become an essential part of modern life, and everything from billing to sales is handled by call centers in many businesses. Speech therapists are hired by many call centers to train staff members to sound more punctual on the phone. New employees often meet with a speech therapist several times to improve their tone, message, and clarity. With the call center market continuing to grow rapidly, speech therapists who specialize in servicing the needs of call centers could realize a prosperous career in the years ahead.
4. Diagnostic Speech Pathologist
New technologies are emerging in the modern world at a much faster rate than they did in the recent past. Therefore, demand for individuals who are skilled in using the latest diagnostic technologies is very high in today’s job marketplace. Since speech problems can arise from a wide variety of sources, including hearing problems, cognition deficiencies, and language disabilities, individuals who specialize in working with a particular diagnostic approach can become valuable members of the speech therapy community.
5. Foreign Language Instructor
Globalization has made fluent English skills more important than ever before, and this trend is unlikely to subside in the near future. Many immigrants desire for their entire families to master the lingual intricacies of English, and they are willing to pay a high price for speech therapists who can help them perfect their pronunciation skills. Moreover, fluent English speakers looking to learn another language often desire to work with a speech therapist who understands the difficulties associated with the learning curve that a challenging new language might represent. As the Internet brings the world closer together, speech therapists who train fluent speakers will continue to find new career opportunities with individuals who need to overcome language barriers.
Picking the Right Career Path
Individuals who are passionate about helping others to improve their oral communication skills can prosper as speech therapists. The vast range of speech therapy jobs available means that steady employment in a rewarding career can be enjoyed by anyone who completes the education and licensing requirements necessary to practice as a speech therapist.
You might also like: What Does a Behavioral Health Care Coordinator Do?
