Video:Career Profile of a Pediatric Speech Pathologist

Transcript:Career Profile of a Pediatric Speech Pathologist

Hi. I'm Craig Selinger, I'm a speech language pathologist and founder of Brooklyn Learning, here for About.com.

Profile of a Pediatric Speech Pathologist

I'm going to show you what it's like to be a pediatric speech language pathologist.

I really do a variety of different things. In general, what I'm really trying to do is to help a child with a speech and language delay, by facilitating their speech and language development.

Becoming a Pediatric Speech Pathologist

To be a certified speech and language pathologist you need a masters degree. And, then, after you receive your masters by an accredited university you have to do a nine month full time fellowship.

I chose to work as a speech language pathologist because I really connect with children. When you play with a child it's always important to describe what they're doing, what the child sees and experiences. And, also, as an adult you should describe what you're doing and also describe what the both of you are doing. That's a technique using descriptive language, because when a child hears language it helps them process the language better, which, in turn will help them learn vocabulary.

You want train? Say I want train….now, I'm going to use a fill in. I'm going to see if I say I want, and then, he'll fill in train. K, Niko…? I want….

Salary of a Pediatric Speech Pathologist

The salary really ranges. School language pathologists typically make I think what teachers make. If you'r a private speech language pathologist the salaries are usually a bit higher. If you were in a medical setting I think typically the average salary is probably comparable to what a teacher makes. So, the salary really varies depending on the setting or if you are in a private practice.

Reasons for Becoming a Pediatric Speech Pathologist

I think, for those that are interested in being a speech language pathologist is for those that love, as I said, to be with children and those that want to help and educate and help those children that are having certain issues and delays with their communicated development.

You can be a speech language pathologist and help those with feeding difficulties, you can be a speech language pathologist and help those with literacy difficulties. You can work in care. Voice speech language pathologist with vocal pathology. So, it's a really wide open field, in terms of different areas of expertise.

I am a home based and office based speech language pathologist. And, what I love about my job is that I can bike to my client's home. Where I can work with the child and form a relationship with the family.

I also have clients that come to my home based office. So, in a typical day, I see anywhere from seven to nine children. I have a backpack full of activities and I see the child and I have goals. And, I work on the goals.

I also, in terms of working with children, I also work with elementary school age children as well. One of the most rewarding things for me as speech language pathologist is really developing the relationship with the child and seeing them grow.

I really get a kick when I see a child that's really excited to see me. Really excited to learn.

I think that it's just an amazing feeling when you know that a child is really excited to see you and then when you teach a child and then a child is demonstrating what they learned, it's just an amazing feeling.

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