Speech Pathology, Behavior Analysis, Nursing or Social work?

[am89]

I'm confused on what to do next within my career. I hold my Bachelors in Speech Pathology and have been a Speech Language Pathologist Assistant since Aug 2013. I'm currently in school for my M.Ed in Special Education and will be done next year. The reason why I went back for a Masters in Special Education was because Autism and Behavior are very intriguing to me. The Behavior Analysts Certification Board website says that one must hold a Masters in Education, Psychology, or Behavior Analysis in order to sit for certification as a Behavior Analyst. Therefore, I figured instead of going back for a Masters in Behavior Analysis, I would go back for a Masters in Special Education since I like working in the Special Needs field and then go back for certification in Behavior Analysis; plus I didn't want to put all of my eggs in one basket. I want to be able to go into different paths in the future if I want too. I also decided to pursue a Masters in Special Education to help make up for my not so good GPA from undergrad in Speech Pathology which was embarrassingly a 2.7 when I graduated (please don't judge me). However, even though my GPA in grad school right now for isn't the best (3.32) I think it's enough to show a grad committee that I am capable of successfully completing graduate course work. I don't really want to be a teacher but I like learning about what they do; it is soooo interesting. My dilemma right now is I kind of want to go back and get my Masters in Speech Pathology after I graduate with my Masters in Special Education, then I would like to go back to get my Certification as a Behavior Analyst; Behavior Analysis paired with Speech Pathology would be beneficial when working with the pediatric and school age population. This a goal I really want to achieve. However, I feel self conscious at times because I have a few dysfluencies when speaking and I feel that doesn't look good for someone whose title is a Speech Therapist; but what most don't know is Speech Pathology has to do with a whole lot more than Speech . I absolutely love my job and love what I do, but I just feel self conscious at times which makes me feel I should choose another career path. That is where Nursing comes in, because I love helping people and the field seems fairly interesting.  I've also thought about Psychology and Social Work as well because they seem interesting too. I've already started the application process for a Masters in Speech Pathology at 3 schools, however, I just feel I shouldn't be having second thoughts about it. I can honestly say the main reason I feel I shouldn't do it is because I feel self conscious about my Speech at times. Any insight you guys? Thanks for reading this long essay  

Edited September 30, 2018 by audrii_slpa