Image Map

Unique SLP Opportunities

22 January 2013

Now, you probably have heard of the typical settings in which Speech-Language Pathologists work through your research of the profession. Time and time again you've become aware that most SLP graduate students often face the ultimatums of either Medical vs School and Adult vs Child speech therapy. After all, there's countless blogs written by and for those specialties. And don't get me wrong, they are a big part of this career, especially the one about Adult vs Children. But what if I told you a little secret? There's actually other possibilities within this field that you can go into! Of course, you'll still come across those decisions, but they don't "have" to be in those settings... ready to listen? You better keep these a secret...

-DIALECT COACH: Have you ever envisioned yourself strolling down the streets of LA? Well, now you can do that, and possibly meet actors without having to act yourself! Many actors have to go through accent training for films to gain that southern drawl, new york dialect, or even just to lose their natural one... and guess who has the phonetic knowledge to teach them? SLPs!

-VOICE: If someone like say... a singer is having voice issues they may see a doctor. They also might go to a SLP. Part of our training is in voice disorders, and that gives us the necessities to possibly help them recover for/from tours!

-ACCENT REDUCTIONVery similar to being a dialect coach, but more for assisting foreigners lose their accent so they can assimilate more into American culture. So, if you've always wanted to mingle with foreigners, whether if it's in the USA or abroad at a language school/ accent center... this could be a viable option!

-TRAVEL SLP: Not sure if staying in one facility is the best thing for you? Would you rather be jumping between different facilities and having a broader range of clients? There's plenty of opportunities for people to be travel SLPs around the USA, just look on some job search engines! 


-TELEREHABILITATION: Perhaps you'd rather not face the hustle and bustle of a commute. Maybe you're a stay-at-home parent that would rather work from home. Or you possibly want to reach to clients that don't have a clinic near them that need speech therapy. It can also be that you want to live abroad, but still have clients from home. All of these are possible reasons why doing telerehabilitation is an interesting choice. It's gaining popularity, especially with products like Skype making this much easier!

-VOLUNTEER/NON-PROFIT: Another possibility is for those that want to take their practices to another level and donate their services to those in other places that lack the supplies and ability to provide speech therapy. There are several companies that take medical personnel abroad, or even domestically, to help these areas in need.

-SPECIALTIES/OTHER: Of course there are plenty of other options, such as specializing in a special aspect of SLP. One example could be stuttering... did you know that Samuel L. Jackson himself, as well as King George VI of Britain  both had stuttering issues? ... And guess who helped them over come that. I think you already know the answer ;)

No comments:

Post a Comment