Who Is Qualified To Help People With Speech Or Language Disorders?
Speech-language pathologists are specialists in human communication, its development, and its disorders. They are professionally educated to evaluate and treat persons with communication problems. The speech-language pathologist will have a master’s degree or doctoral degree in speech-language pathology and should hold a Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. In many states a license is also required. How Can The Speech-Language Pathologist Help? The clinical methods used will vary depending upon the nature and severity of the problem, the age of the individual, and the individual’s awareness of the problem. Speech-language pathologists provide many specialized professional services that include, for example: • Helping people with articulation disorders learn proper production of speech sounds; • Assisting people with voice disorders to develop proper control for correct production; • Assisting people who stutter to increase the
