Speech therapist education. Profession speech therapist. Requirements for a speech pathologist

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All professions are needed, all professions are important - I didn’t come up with this, but it’s true. The purpose does not have to be the daily saving of the world or travel. There is a purpose for everyone. And maybe an occupation that seems boring and mundane to you is a dream job for someone else. He just doesn't know it exists yet.

So I want to help you find out what you can do, get paid for it, who to work with, what to do and what different professions are. Maybe one of them will become your dream job and even turn out to be your destiny.

The essence of the profession of a speech therapist is quite simple - it is the correction of diction in children and adults, the elimination of its shortcomings, including stuttering, burr, lisp, etc.

Such a specialist helps to correct speech with the help of special exercises, massage and other methods that improve articulation. The functions of a speech therapist may include working with many speech disorders, but according to the representatives of this profession themselves, it is better to concentrate on one direction. For example, choose the treatment of stuttering or the elimination of dysgraphia and dyslexia (writing and reading problems).

Who is a speech pathologist

Speech disorders are not only in healthy children (without problems with hearing, vision and intelligence). There is a separate category - "heavy" children, and special specialists work with them - speech pathologists-defectologists. They develop not only articulation, but also the cognitive activity of children in general - memory, attention, perception, thinking and many other abilities and skills.

Places of work

As a rule, the position of a speech therapist is provided in educational and medical institutions:

in kindergartens;
in hospitals and clinics;
in specialized centers for psychological and pedagogical rehabilitation and correction, where hearing and speech disorders in children are treated.

An alternative option for “employment” is to open your own private speech therapy room.

History of the profession

The beginnings of speech therapy appeared in Europe in the 17th century as part of deaf education, a branch that deals with the problems of deaf and hard of hearing children. In the presence of hearing, speech dysfunctions were not treated, considering them to be a problem of an exclusively physical nature. If, nevertheless, they were taken, then they were treated only by medical methods.

Only from the middle of the 20th century, the problems of articulation began to be considered from the point of view of psychology, which led to the development of speech therapy as a science and a separate profession.

Responsibilities of a speech therapist

The main job responsibilities of a speech pathologist can be summarized as follows:

examining clients and identifying the features of their speech development;
statement of speech therapy diagnosis;
determination of methods and methods of treatment;
conducting individual and group classes on the production of speech;
development of exercises and "homework";
evaluation of learning outcomes based on the results of a certain period of time.

Also, a speech therapist can be engaged in the maintenance of reporting documentation and the development of teaching aids.

Requirements for a speech pathologist

The standard requirements for a speech therapist are as follows:

higher speech therapy (or defectological) education;
work experience, including in a certain area (with children, adults, patients with cerebral palsy, neurological patients, etc.).

In rare cases, a speech therapist is also required to have an author's methodology.

sample resume for speech pathologist

How to become a speech therapist

If you decide to become a speech therapist, then you need to get a higher pedagogical education in the specialty "Speech Therapy" and the qualification "Teacher-speech therapist". In addition to this, practical experience is required. It can be obtained from government agencies by working as an assistant or entry-level speech therapist.

In addition to education and experience, a number of personal qualities will be required - love for children, communication skills, a high level of patience and endurance, the ability to think outside the box and find an approach to each student.

Speech therapist salary

The salary of a speech therapist is quite low and ranges from 15 to about 60 thousand rubles a month. In private institutions of the capital and large metropolitan areas, they usually offer very decent salaries.

The average salary of a speech therapist is just over 20,000 rubles.

Another way to earn money is to open your office. If a speech therapist manages to reach an adult audience, often speaking to the public and in need of a clean, beautiful speech (representatives of business, politics and the media), you can earn very decent money.

- a specialist who corrects speech defects in children and adults, teaches them to speak correctly.

Almost no person can live without the society around him, every day we have to communicate with dozens of people, and in order to be understood and listened to, we need to have competent and clear speech, however, there are people whose speech is impaired, and a speech therapist is engaged in correcting it . In addition to the distortion of individual sounds (their incorrect pronunciation or their absence), there are a large number of more severe pathologies: general blurring of sounds, stuttering, voice disturbances, tempo or speech understanding (or lack of it at all), general underdevelopment of all aspects of speech (not only sound, but both grammatical and semantic, which later results in a violation of writing). Correcting all these shortcomings is the scope and task of a speech therapist.

This work requires serious preparation from a specialist, because speech is a systemic multifunctional education that affects psychological development. Therefore, a speech therapist must have knowledge not only in the field of physiology, but also in higher nervous activity, study psychology and pedagogy, linguistics and the Russian language, methods for correcting sounds and all other speech disorders, as well as gain the basic knowledge of deaf pedagogy (work with the hearing impaired), oligophrenic pedagogy ( work with the mentally handicapped) and medicine. In the arsenal of a speech therapist there should be a lot of non-standard techniques and educational games for children, since it is very important to captivate the child so that he wants to practice and correct his shortcomings.

Often speech disorders are accompanied by mental problems, so the speech therapist works in close connection with the psychologist. In severe cases, interaction with a neurologist or neuropathologist, as well as a defectologist is required.

A candidate for the position of a speech therapist must be attentive, sensitive and patient, because people with defective speech are often embarrassed by their shortcomings, so in communicating with them you need to be as delicate as possible, be able to support and encourage them. Working with people with speech defects requires great dedication, emotional and physical strength, so a speech therapist must love children.

How to become a speech therapist

The work of a speech therapist is at the intersection of pedagogy and medicine, so many people think that you can study as a speech therapist at a medical university. However, this is not so, a speech therapist is a teacher, therefore, basic education in the specialty "Speech Therapy" can be obtained at a pedagogical university.

Beginning: 15000 ⃏ per month

Experienced: 20000 ⃏ per month

Professional: 60000 ⃏ per month

* - information on salaries is given approximately based on vacancies on profiling sites. Salary in a particular region or company may differ from those given. Your income is greatly influenced by how you can apply yourself in the chosen field of activity. Income is not always limited only by the fact that you are offered vacancies in the labor market.

Demand for the profession

According to statistics, in the last decade there has been a sad trend: from year to year, the number of children with certain speech problems is growing. And this applies not only to oral speech, but also to writing. Children are getting worse at reading and writing. Therefore, the specialty of a speech therapist will be very, very in demand for a long time.

Who is the profession for?

The profession of a speech therapist is more suitable for people who like to communicate with people.

Career

You can grow up to the head, in the place where he worked.

Duties

Children and adults with various problems of pronunciation, reading and writing turn to a speech therapist: stuttering, incorrect pronunciation of sounds, dyslexia, dysgraphia, etc. The speech therapist selects exercises and massages, teaches you to speak and articulate correctly, eliminates lisping, burr and stuttering. As a rule, work lasts from six months to several years. It all depends on the complexity of the task and the age of the client. It is best to treat in childhood, problems are quickly resolved at the stage of growing up.

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The profession of a speech pathologist is certainly very important. Nowadays, more and more often there are children with speech defects and who, if not a speech therapist, is able to correct them.

A speech therapist is a person whose profession is to implement the necessary technique to eliminate speech defects not only in children, but also in adults.

Unfortunately, the career growth of a speech therapist is limited. To increase your own income, you need to take care of your reputation. As a rule, new clients seek help from a speech therapist based on the recommendations of their environment. If you do your work efficiently, strictly following the developed methods and of course in good faith, then there will be a lot of customers.

Let's move on to the next important point - these are the pros and cons of the profession.

Let's start with the good - the pros:

First: the ability to have a private appointment, but again, it depends on your reputation and the recommendations of patients, without this, a private appointment simply does not make sense;

The second plus is the importance of the profession. Everything is simple here, a child at 6 years old cannot pronounce the letter “P”, who will help us in this situation? - only a speech therapist;

The third plus is its own separate office. Working in silence and tranquility is very convenient. You can turn on quiet relaxing music and enjoy being at work;

Fourth: the duration of the work shift. For example, the work of a speech therapist in a kindergarten often lasts no more than 5 hours, as a result, most of the day is free and just this free time can be devoted to the development of a private appointment or even opening your personal office somewhere in a private clinic, why not? ;

And finally, the fifth advantage is vacation. If you work in an educational institution (kindergarten), then your vacation is as much as 56 days, and plus everything, vacation always falls in the summer.

But even in such a seemingly convenient and simple profession, there are drawbacks and its own specifics.

Minuses:

The first - the most difficult - a certain difficulty in the work. Everyone knows that a speech therapist works in the neuropsychological field, not everyone will be able to endure such an emotional burden;

Second: documentation. Often, a speech therapist has to fill out certain documentation outside of working hours, otherwise there is simply no time for this. As a result, a delay at work or an early arrival;

Despite the fact that a speech therapist is the first professional help for a speech defect, it often happens that even speech therapy intervention is powerless, in the end, the success of a speech therapist is simply impossible.

As you can understand, every doctor simply needs to have a list of special skills:

The most important thing is love for children;
Willingness to constantly learn, take exams for advanced training;
Responsibility for the health of young patients
Patience and stress resistance;
Ability to get along with children, everyone knows that children are afraid of doctors.

Only a speech therapist with a medical education is allowed to work in the clinic

You can get education in the relevant educational institutions, and you can also get education as a speech therapist remotely, which is much more difficult to perceive, but you can combine your studies with your personal life and work.

You can learn more about the work of a speech therapist in the video below.

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