Why choosing SLP?

[Mirage112]

Hello!

I was accepted into the audiology and the speech language pathology programs. I was thinking of going in audiology, but realized that I might be interested in SLP too. I was wondering for which reasons you applied/are going into the SLP program! Do you also see some cons about SLP? I need to decide by Friday!

Thanks for your help!

[slptobe92]

You should go check out the Student Doctor forum on audiology. I had to do an observation with an audiologist for one of my classes and I became curious about audiology, but that forum turned me off immediately. SLP is so flexible and vast and in-demand. You can work with a million different populations in just about any setting you want. Also 100% employment rates aren't bad either!

[Mirage112]

2 hours ago, slptobe92 said:

You should go check out the Student Doctor forum on audiology. I had to do an observation with an audiologist for one of my classes and I became curious about audiology, but that forum turned me off immediately. SLP is so flexible and vast and in-demand. You can work with a million different populations in just about any setting you want. Also 100% employment rates aren't bad either!

Thanks for your answer. I was wondering... Do you think you need to be extrovert to be a speech language pathologist?

[jpiccolo]

21 minutes ago, Mirage112 said:

Thanks for your answer. I was wondering... Do you think you need to be extrovert to be a speech language pathologist?

I don't think so! I consider myself more introverted, but outgoing if I'm in the right setting. I just prefer having a lot of me time too. I'd say my cohort is a mix of the two. 

As for your original question, the one thing that turned me off from audiology was shadowing someone who spent most of her time fixing hearing aids. Didn't look that enjoyable. But if you do enjoy audiology you will get to do hearing screenings occasionally so you still get a little audiology exposure. 

[Crimson Wife]

I'm interested in auditory-verbal therapy for the deaf & hard-of-hearing and that is something that can be done with either an Aud.D., M.S.-SLP, or M.Ed. I joined ASHA SIG 9 (Hearing Disorders in Children) and asked on their forum. I got a ton of great responses from professionals working in a variety of fields.

Audiology is a 4 year program (occasionally 3) vs. 2 years for SLP or Deaf Ed. I'll be in my 40's before I start grad school so the sooner I can start earning an income and the less debt I have when I graduate the better. There are scholarships available for SLP and Deaf Ed students interested in auditory-verbal therapy but if there are similar ones for AudD. students, I haven't come across them.

Purchasing the sound-treated booth and the equipment required for audiology testing to have my own practice can easily run $60k. There are start-up costs for a SLP practice as well (all those assessments aren't cheap), but not remotely in the same ballpark.

SLP's often have the easiest time billing insurance companies for AVT.

SLP is the most flexible degree if I decide that I want to shift gears and work with a different client population. If I get burned out doing AVT at some point, I could easily retrain by just doing a few CEU's.

I took the observation class early in my 2nd bachelor's sequence and spent a lot of time observing both audiologists and SLP's who work with the deaf. I found that a *LOT* of what audiologists do on a daily basis is pretty dull.

[Mirage112]

On 12/4/2016 at 9:05 PM, jpiccolo said:

I don't think so! I consider myself more introverted, but outgoing if I'm in the right setting. I just prefer having a lot of me time too. I'd say my cohort is a mix of the two. 

As for your original question, the one thing that turned me off from audiology was shadowing someone who spent most of her time fixing hearing aids. Didn't look that enjoyable. But if you do enjoy audiology you will get to do hearing screenings occasionally so you still get a little audiology exposure. 

Thanks for your answer. I don't consider myself an outgoing person, but I believe when having my own clients, I can easily feel comfortable and "myself". (I was a swimming instructor for a few years, and was really fine when I was with the kids, teaching.) The SLPs I did shadowing with were all extraverted, so it mare me wonder if I would have the right personality for that job.

After thinking about the shadowing done with an audiologist, I realized that most of it is either providing the test to people without hearing lost or selling hearing aids. But the part which interests me in audiology is the rehabilitation. But from what I saw, there aren't a lot of job offer for this field.

[Mirage112]

22 hours ago, Crimson Wife said:

I'm interested in auditory-verbal therapy for the deaf & hard-of-hearing and that is something that can be done with either an Aud.D., M.S.-SLP, or M.Ed. I joined ASHA SIG 9 (Hearing Disorders in Children) and asked on their forum. I got a ton of great responses from professionals working in a variety of fields.

Audiology is a 4 year program (occasionally 3) vs. 2 years for SLP or Deaf Ed. I'll be in my 40's before I start grad school so the sooner I can start earning an income and the less debt I have when I graduate the better. There are scholarships available for SLP and Deaf Ed students interested in auditory-verbal therapy but if there are similar ones for AudD. students, I haven't come across them.

Purchasing the sound-treated booth and the equipment required for audiology testing to have my own practice can easily run $60k. There are start-up costs for a SLP practice as well (all those assessments aren't cheap), but not remotely in the same ballpark.

SLP's often have the easiest time billing insurance companies for AVT.

SLP is the most flexible degree if I decide that I want to shift gears and work with a different client population. If I get burned out doing AVT at some point, I could easily retrain by just doing a few CEU's.

I took the observation class early in my 2nd bachelor's sequence and spent a lot of time observing both audiologists and SLP's who work with the deaf. I found that a *LOT* of what audiologists do on a daily basis is pretty dull.

Thanks for your answer! I'm really interested in the hard of hearing/ deaf population and I felt that audiology was the field were I would be more in contact with them. I'm happy to know many see a SLP as well.

I agree, the flexibility in SLP seems more huge than in audiology. But it also means that if I change the population I want to work with, I also loose advantages of the first job (pension, and stuff like that.) 

Thanks it helps me think about all sides.

[Crimson Wife]

5 hours ago, Mirage112 said:

Thanks for your answer! I'm really interested in the hard of hearing/ deaf population and I felt that audiology was the field were I would be more in contact with them. I'm happy to know many see a SLP as well.

I agree, the flexibility in SLP seems more huge than in audiology. But it also means that if I change the population I want to work with, I also loose advantages of the first job (pension, and stuff like that.) 

Thanks it helps me think about all sides.

If you want to work with the deaf & hard-of-hearing, there are two pretty different approaches.

The first is going into auditory-verbal therapy and getting your certification as a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist (LSLS). Sign language is seen as optional and best learned after the child has a strong foundation in spoken English. You can find out more information about that here: http://www.agbell.org/AcademyDocument.aspx?id=541

The second would be "Total Communication" (TC), where the emphasis is on the client using both sign language and speech, with signing being considered the "native language". Gallaudet's and Fresno State's SLP programs have a TC emphasis. I know that you have already been accepted to a SLP program in Canada, but you might want to take a look at their coursework requirements if this is an approach that interests you.

I'm in favor of parents having options and deciding for themselves which approach is right for their child.

[Mirage112]

3 hours ago, Crimson Wife said:

If you want to work with the deaf & hard-of-hearing, there are two pretty different approaches.

The first is going into auditory-verbal therapy and getting your certification as a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist (LSLS). Sign language is seen as optional and best learned after the child has a strong foundation in spoken English. You can find out more information about that here: http://www.agbell.org/AcademyDocument.aspx?id=541

The second would be "Total Communication" (TC), where the emphasis is on the client using both sign language and speech, with signing being considered the "native language". Gallaudet's and Fresno State's SLP programs have a TC emphasis. I know that you have already been accepted to a SLP program in Canada, but you might want to take a look at their coursework requirements if this is an approach that interests you.

I'm in favor of parents having options and deciding for themselves which approach is right for their child.

Thanks! I'll take a look at that for sure!

[Crimson Wife]

I don't know how close you are to Toronto, but if you can make it to the Sound Intuition conference on 4/22, I would highly encourage it. I've heard Tina Childress speak and she's an awesome presenter.

[Mirage112]

4 hours ago, Crimson Wife said:

I don't know how close you are to Toronto, but if you can make it to the Sound Intuition conference on 4/22, I would highly encourage it. I've heard Tina Childress speak and she's an awesome presenter.

I looks reaaaally interesting!

Unfortunately I live 5h from there and I have a final exam the next day. (And 310$ fee is not cheap when you don't yet work and still have 2 more years in school without any income. I'll keep those names and will look for a future conference for the next years!

Thanks again.

 

* Edit: I actually just read that it's written "2015"! Not sure if it's a mistake or if it happened last year!

Edited April 14, 2016 by Mirage112

[Crimson Wife]

There's definitely one happening in a few weeks because I follow Karen MacIver-Lux on Facebook and she's been promoting it. Conferences often have a reduced registration fee for students and they're not always advertised. I always contact the sponsor to find out if there are any student discounts. The one drawback is that sometimes the student rate will not qualify for credits towards AG Bell LSL certification the way the full price registration does.