One other comment. One of my best friends in undergrad got their masters in education for hearing impaired. She worked at that job for almost 10 years. She then segued into the business works where she worked until she retired. She had no difficulty finding a job, and loved her business related work.
This is fantastic info, thank you! And it’s precisely the sort of thing my daughter needs to read. I don’t think it’s necessarily a natural transition for someone who geeks out about syntax and morphology and the structure of languages to what is essentially a healthcare field, so I think she really needs to consider what she wants to do.
Can you clarify what you mean by “segued into the business works” – what kind of business?
This SLP applied for jobs in the business world and had no trouble moving to that area. We also have a nurse friend who did the same. Left healthcare and moved to corporate life.
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Thank you so much! I really like the suggestion to take an Intro to Communication Disorders class locally – I think if she can do that while home next summer, along with shadowing an SLP in a couple different settings, it will give her an idea of whether she wants to pursue this field.
For grad programs that allow you to apply without having completed the prereqs – and then offer them that fall to level up – are those students behind the rest of the cohort? Or do they form their own little group that graduates a semester later?
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Yes, D was paid during her clinical fellowship. But her pay was lower than it would be for a licensed SLP and she was limited as to jobs that were available to her as a CF.
Not a critical thing in the course of a long career, but D suggested I mention it. D would not have changed her career path but, as I said upthread, she just would have liked have known about this requirement ahead of time.
In D’s case her cohort (with non-speech backgrounds) was pretty much on a separate track and they took an extra semester to graduate. It was a small close-knit group (under 20 students) in her cohort. The majority of grad students (probably another 50 students or so) entering the Communication Disorders grad program came in with background in the field.
Most programs she found ran the students without speech backgrounds through an intensive summer program so they could have one cohort in the fall. D thinks her old grad school may do it this way now - not sure.
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She does not have to work in healthcare, she can work in education which uses a different model (medical vs education model).
She can work with older students and that might align more with her interests.
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Oh, that makes sense. I know when my son was little, much of his speech therapy and myofunctional therapy included face stretches to address low tone, tongue exercises and so on. But currently he’s in high school, and his speech therapist at school is working primarily on reading comprehension for the SAT and ACT. (He still has minor articulation problems, but negligible, so the school isn’t focused on it.)
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If you are willing, I would love to know – through DM if you prefer – which school it was, or any suggestions for schools she should consider. We’re in Atlanta, and I did a search on ASHA EdFind for schools that don’t require prereqs – assuming those are the ones that offer leveling courses as part of the program – and came up with 15 schools that might appeal to her geographically.
Grad school seems like such a different beast than undergrad – she was very focused on that search, and she ended up at Rice because of the residential colleges, culture of care, blah blah. But obvs the criteria are different this time around!
Actually, her linguistics background will be her strength and an asset. I worked in the schools after I had my own children to “match” their calendars.
When students, with syntax issues, are on your caseload, you have to have the background to teach that.
I had high school students who didn’t know what/why a verb was used. We spent an entire week on playing with verbs. The students had a blast! So it became a tradition to have a “verb week” every quarter.
I explained, in simple terms, that, “Verbs are typically something you can do. If you can’t do it, it’s not a verb!” Then I asked, “Can you: run, read, walk, sing? Those are verbs.” Then I asked, “Can you turtle, chair, foreign, because, apple? No? Those are other parts of speech.”
Our rule, during verb week, was that they could only use one-word utterances in my class and they could only use verbs. They got extra points for creativity, which they used for the student store. So when I asked, what did you do this this weekend? I would get responses like: “cycled, ate, slept, studied”. They got really good after a while. In order to “entertain” and get good progress, with this generation of kids, you have to make things fun and creative, especially with language, syntax, morphology, voice, etc.
Your daughter will like using her linguistics background to make lesson plans like that. She does however, have to have the background in the medical aspects of the field because she won’t just be teaching language, She’ll also be teaching movement of the articulators, social behaviors for language Including gesturing.
If she is a geek about language, she shouldn’t have an issue in this field.
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Just wanted to add that later on, we got into auxiliary, intransitive/transitive verbs, modals, etc. The HS kids in my syntax groups became really good editors for their classmates’ papers. (I had them practice by reading sentences backwards, then forwards to diagram their sentences and initially had them “act” on the verb).
Moon, the, over, jumped, cow, the. (They had to “jump”)
noun, article, preposition, past tense v., noun, article
The cow jumped over the moon.
They learned the parts of speech quickly using guidance and this method along with the morphology; they immediately learned gerunds, past tense ed, plurals. If I hadn’t made it in Jeopardy format or any games, then it would have been a LOT harder to teach these concepts. The point being, you need a very strong background in language development and the mechanics of grammar (syntax).
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This varies by location. Where I live in CT, CFYs are paid like any other first year masters person in the schools. They just have to complete the necessary observations and paperwork with a licensed supervisor during that year.
@happy1 I am very surprised your daughter didn’t know this was a requirement for ASHA certification, and licensing in most states.
I don’t believe this is the case in CA, but @aunt_bea can clarify.
Yes, CFY was a requirement before we could accept any positions, especially anything clinical. My supervisors split my supervision because one was a hospital supervisor and the other was a supervisor in the schools. We weren’t allowed to be paid at that time. Now, I think they pay the Fellow. I am in SD County.
The professors constantly brought up CFY within their courses. Everyone had the “purple CFY handbook”. WE knew that you were required to “practice” before you actually “practiced” without pay. I made more money working the lab in phlebotomy.
Really? I did my CFY year 1976-77 and I was fully paid on the masters scale on the schools during my CFY. Perhaps this is a CA thing?
Nope, California has always been strict with the budget. As a CFY, I wasn’t paid. I remember it well. The excuse was that we could be “influenced”. I had just had a baby and my husband pestered me and wondered why I wasn’t paid, since the CFY was required for my California clinical license.
Well…this is something CFYs should then check where they are doing their CFY year. Where I am…CFYs are compensated. I would love to know if they are not compensated in CA.
And regarding responsibility…I had the same responsibilities I had once I was fully licensed. The difference was that during my CFY I had a wonderful mentor SLP who gave me great supervisory guidance, and helped me navigate being a new SLP in the schools. Honestly…every profession would benefit from this sort of thing. But that’s a whole other discussion.
I will add I have worked in four different states and CFYs were paid in all of those states. But none of my jobs were on the west coast.
I did my CFY in NYC and was paid. I never heard of these positions not being compensated until today.
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D learned of the requirement to do a CF once she started grad school – she did not research the ASHA requirements prior to that (perhaps she should have). As I noted it would not have changed her decision to become a SLP.
In terms of her CF pay…the place she did her CF did not offer her a raise when she became ASHA certified. She took another job (at a preferred place) for a 25% raise. Just one person’s experience of course.
I think SLPs do need to shop around for jobs once fully certified. There is a nation wide shortage of SLPs. It’s no secret that some places pay a lot more than others…and with better benefits as well. Very much worth doing some research when job hunting time comes.
A question one can ask if offered a position as a CFY is about whether the salary for a CF is the same as for a first year. Or what happens when the person does get their CCC and license. Well worth asking.
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