ASHA-certified SLPs provide important services in a variety of education and health care settings, including:
More than half of SLPs (56%) are employed in educational settings, including 53% in schools and 3% in colleges and universities.
SLPs employed in early childhood and educational settings provide a range of services:
Opportunities abound for teaching, research, and clinical supervision. SLPs may work with a variety of clients/patients in the university core clinical facility and/or its affiliated health care or education facility.
Some 39% of SLPs are employed in health care settings, including 16% in nonresidential health care facilities, 13% in hospitals, and 10% in residential health care facilities.
Acute care, rehabilitation, and psychiatric hospitals may offer speech and language services on an in/outpatient basis. Hospitals may provide services for patients of all ages, while some—such as children's hospitals and VA or military hospitals—may treat specific populations.
SLPs in a hospital setting may:
SLPs perform screenings and assessments and deliver treatment in skilled nursing facilities and other types of residential facilities, such as assisted living facilities. They treat the same disorders that are seen in hospitals, but typically stay longer to work on functional skills to become more independent.
SLPs treat clients/patients of all ages in their homes or in free-standing outpatient settings, such as speech and hearing clinics or doctors' offices. SLPs who provide home care services may be employed by home health agencies, work in early intervention programs, or be in private practice. They may specialize in certain disorders or populations or treat a wide range of clients/patients.
Nearly one-fifth (19%) of SLPs are employed full- or part-time in private practice. Owning a private practice allows SLPs to be entrepreneurial and make their own decisions about their schedules, caseloads, and target populations. Some private practitioners work alone, and some own large practices that employ a large staff with different types of professionals as well as SLPs. Private practitioners also manage business aspects of their practices, such as billing, marketing, and contracting.
Corporate speech-language pathology involves providing services to a company, or its customers, as a consultant. SLPs offer assessment and training in many aspects of communication—such as speech sound production, fluency, voice, language, and social communication—as well as other services needed by the business world. Training topics may include presentation skills, accent modification, professional diction and grammar, interviewing skills, business writing, and business communication etiquette. SLPs may also train customer service representatives to work with clients who have hearing loss.
SLPs are employed in administrative and clinical capacities.
Services for individuals with speech, language, communication, and swallowing disorders vary by state. In general, SLPs provide consultative services, contractual services, or direct services to patients.
Clinicians and research scientists are employed by the U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy, and The U.S. Public Health Services. They provide services to active military and veterans and underserved populations.