Speech Therapist

Lisps and stutters are fairly simple, common problems, but they can make a child feel afraid or humiliated when speaking. The way you communicate has a huge impact on how you move through life. As a Speech Therapist, you usually work with children in school settings, helping them improve their oral communication skills.

When students are sent to you for pronunciation problems, you’ll be armed with several methods for helping them communicate more effectively. You might have them strengthen their mouth muscles through exercises using a tongue depressor, or you might have them look into a mirror while carefully pronouncing certain sounds. For young children, you’ll turn the speech practice into games. For example, if a child has trouble understanding what people are saying to him, you could play Simon Says with him to get him to focus on listening.

Sometimes the term Speech Therapist is used interchangeably with Speech-Language Pathologist, but a Therapist may not be required to have the level of education and certification that a Pathologist has. As a Speech Therapist, you might refer students with more complex cases to a Pathologist, who can go more in-depth into psychological and medical solutions.

Since speaking is such an important skill in life, school, and careers, your work is very rewarding, especially since you are helping these students from such a young age. You’ll see some of them go on to be valedictorians, business people, or performers—and you’ll know that your therapy sessions were their first step toward success.