Speech-language pathologists (SLP) play a critical role in the detection, evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of preschool and school-age children with spoken language disorders (SLD). SLPs perform many tasks in their roles, and among the most crucial are the diagnosis and treatment of communication disorders. As an SLP, you will diagnose and treat a range of communication disorders in diverse patient populations. Learn how an SLP degree can give you the skills you need to make a difference in educational and healthcare settings.
This is a guide to ASHA documents and references that should be considered when conducting comprehensive speech and language assessments. Unlike speech disorders, language disorders refer to a person's expressive and receptive language. The American Speech, Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) is the national professional, scientific and accrediting association with 223,000 members and affiliates who are audiologists, speech-language pathologists, speech-language pathologists, speech, language and hearing scientists; support staff in audiology and speech-language pathology; and students. To determine if the child has DLD, the presence of a biomedical condition that could explain the language disorder must be ruled out.
There are other disorders that continue to affect a person's vocal abilities and that are not classified as voice disorders, such as paradoxical vocal cord movement (PVFM), which an SLP will diagnose and treat with vocal and respiratory exercises to improve laryngeal and respiratory control. If you're interested in becoming a speech-language pathologist, it's important that you understand what the position entails and what you can expect during a normal day. A language disorder is not about speech or hearing, but about the form, content, or function of language. Information that comes to light in the future can and should be considered and the diagnosis modified as needed.
If you're interested in one day working as a speech-language pathologist to be able to treat people with communication disorders, learn more about the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Northeastern University. In this case, the SLP can recommend a patient to a psychologist or psychiatrist and can even work with them in an interdisciplinary way.
