Speech language pathology is an incredibly important medical service that can help people who experience speech-related issues due to injury or developmental problems function in the world.
It’s an excellent field to get into and although specialized certifications aren’t strictly necessary to pursue a career, they’re incredibly useful for developing crucial experiences and knowledge.
Here are 7 speech pathology certifications that will kickstart your career.
Lee Silverman Voice Treatment Certification
LSVT for short, this certification is specifically designed for helping reduce the adverse effects of Parkinson’s disease on speech formation. Training largely consists of reinforcing particular muscle groups and improving the vocalization of certain sounds.
Much of the expertise accumulated through this certification can be used in the treatment of other disorders, such as cerebral palsy, and obtaining other certifications might be necessary before LSVT can be pursued.
Child Language and Language Disorder Certification
A speech pathologist certification trains you to focus on assisting children who have difficulty articulating or speaking due to developmental problems.
It’s often considered a necessary component for pathologists who work in environments where lots of children congregate, like schools.
Board-Certified Specialist Certification
Often considered to be a prerequisite certification for pathologists, the BCS is an important form of accreditation that puts people on the path to becoming audiologists.
Possessing this certification allows you to become board-certified, meaning that you’ll be able to pursue major specialties, such as fluency or swallowing disorders.
Picture Exchange Communication System
Largely using pictures to correct behavior related to speech, this certification is designed to help with patients who have cognitive impairments that make standard communications difficult, such as those with intellectual disabilities or autism.
Board Certified Behavior Analyst Certification
Skills from this certification are often used as an additional form of support for typical forms of speech pathology. It involves helping patients develop abstract language capabilities rather than purely physical ones by improving their reading comprehension, basic communication skills, and adhering to instructions.
Fluency and Fluency Disorder Certification
This certification concerns itself with helping patients who have issues producing exact sounds with their speech. The primary focus is on the repetition of certain sounds, syllabification, and the spacing of words.
PROMPTS for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets
A fairly comprehensive certification, this type of training focuses on both the physical aspects of speech and underlying cognitive processes involved with communication.
People with this certification typically don’t work with very young children and most of the therapies consist of helping patients physically form words, avoid stuttering, focus on the proper ordering of words, understanding auditory input, and improve their overall motor regulation.
Getting Your Career Started
More than just a box to check off, speech language certifications provide a tremendous knowledge base that can be used to improve patient outcomes dramatically.
If you’re interested in pursuing a career in speech language pathology, a certification from a reputable place like SpeechPathologyGraduatePrograms.org should be high on your priority list.
