Due to the increasing number of cases of speech problems in children and adults, the profession of speech therapist is becoming increasingly popular. Despite the fact that specialized universities graduate defectologists every year, the market is not oversaturated with personnel. A certified employee can easily find a place to start his career, and experienced professionals have no shortage of interesting offers. Depending on the chosen direction, a speech correction specialist works with children or adults. He can get a job in a commercial or budgetary institution, or open a private practice.
Who is a speech therapist
Expert opinion
Ekaterina Kolokolova
Career guidance. Certified specialist in the problems of children's involvement in learning.
A speech therapist (defectologist) is a specialist in speech disorders and methods of their correction. This is a highly qualified professional whose work is aimed at identifying the patient’s problem, establishing its cause, and eliminating negative manifestations.
Such an employee knows techniques, the use of which helps people speak correctly. It can get rid of negative manifestations or smooth them out as much as possible. An employee of this profile is able to help with disorders of both physiological and mental nature.
Despite the description, this profession is not directly related to medicine, so you do not need to graduate from a medical university to obtain it. The main emphasis in training employees is on teaching them psychological methods and techniques. Often, the effectiveness of a speech therapist’s work primarily depends on the specialist’s ability to find an approach to his client.
Speech therapist is a relevant profession in the modern world. The goal of the activity is to prevent and correct speech problems.
Pedobuchenie.rf
Website : https://pedobuchenie.rf Phone Cost : course prof. retraining - 5000-14000 rubles, advanced training courses - 1600-2400 rubles.
Prof. course retraining: Speech therapy and pedagogy in general education and preschool organizations
Assigned qualification: Teacher-speech therapist.
Duration of training (enrollment every day):
- 1504 hours, 151 days
- 1008 hours, 126 days
- 600 hours, 75 days
- 288 hours, 36 days
Program curriculum:
- Regulatory and legal foundations of speech therapy activities
- Basics of speech therapy. Etiology of speech disorders
- Psychology in speech therapy
- Psychodiagnostic techniques used in speech therapy
- Written language disorders in children
- Specifics of speech therapy work at school
- Speech therapy rhythm technique
- Basics of speech therapy massage
Enrollment, training and final certification are carried out remotely. You can take courses and take tests in your specialty at any time.
Minimum requirements for enrollment: higher or secondary vocational education. The profile doesn't matter.
Advanced training course : Organization and content of speech therapy work of a speech therapist in the context of the implementation of the Federal State Educational Standard
Duration of training:
- 144 hours, 24 days
- 108 hours, 18 days
- 72 hours, 12 days
- 36 hours, 6 days
The following sections are studied in the advanced training course program:
- Regulatory and legal foundations of speech therapy activities
- Basics of speech therapy. Etiology of speech disorders
- Specifics of speech therapy work at school
What personal qualities should a speech therapist have?
Work in this specialty is suitable for calm and reasonable people who are committed to helping those who need it. A representative of the profession needs patience, endurance and the ability to establish contact with people. Such employees must be tolerant and open, tactful, attentive, and friendly.
Speech therapists in most cases work with patients suffering from self-doubt and complexes. They can be closed, aloof and even aggressive. A professional is obliged to show concern for their situation, but at the same time one cannot be too soft, one must be persistent. Another important quality for an employee is stress resistance, which is manifested in the ability to maintain a good mood in any circumstances.
Story
The name of the profession comes from the Greek words logos and paideia, which mean “speech education.”
The first attempts to correct impaired ability to speak were made in ancient times, but were recorded only in the 17th century in works on deaf pedagogy. At that time, speech disorders were viewed as a medical problem. And only in the 1930s, with the development of scientific thought, came the realization that speaking defects are associated not only with problems of articulatory muscles or breathing, but also with personality psychology. The basis of the modern science of “speech education” is pedagogy, physiology, linguistics and psychology, and speech therapists began to be taught en masse in universities in the middle of the 20th century.
Profession speech therapist: pros and cons
There are many positive aspects to working as a speech therapist:
- the opportunity to help people - the ability to speak correctly frees people from complexes and self-doubt, for which they thank their teachers;
- demand - manifested in the popularity of services, the opportunity to get a job in a hospital, clinic, development center, rehabilitation department, etc.;
- respect for representatives of the profession - speech therapists are respected no less than doctors, and you need to study not 8 years, but an average of 4 years (this can even be done in absentia or remotely);
- different options for earning money - professionals are able to work in budget and paid institutions, as well as conduct private practice;
- The value of experience is one of those areas in which experience is more important than “fresh knowledge,” which allows you to work calmly until retirement and even after it.
The profession is not without its drawbacks. Negative aspects include low salaries for newcomers, as well as the need to prove yourself in order to get a good place. It is worth preparing in advance for serious psycho-emotional stress. It may also be difficult to establish contact with patients. In some workplaces, speech therapists are forced to maintain large volumes of documentation, which is not always adequately paid.
Who is the specialty suitable for?
Speech defects often cause complexes in people. This leads to unjustified aggression, stiffness, and reluctance to make contacts and interact with society. In such cases, the speech therapist needs not only methodological, theoretical, medical training, but also psychological.
The speech therapist must be sociable and stress-resistant
If a person has such qualities as resistance to stress, sociability, tact and goodwill, then speech therapy may be the right profile.
The profession of speech therapist is suitable for people who willingly interact with society and strive to be useful. Tolerance, balance and determination will help you achieve heights in speech therapy, because people make contact with those who are favorable to them. Private clinics, medical and rehabilitation centers are waiting for such professionals.
Famous representatives of the profession
Levina Roza Evgenievna
Soviet teacher, psychologist
The biggest achievement is the construction of the concept of general speech underdevelopment. She developed a classification of general speech underdevelopment and revealed ways to overcome it.
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Lyapidevsky Sergey Semenovich
Russian scientist in the field of speech therapy.
His research on the study and correction of people who stutter is of great importance. He participated in the creation of natural scientific foundations for the education and training of children with speech disorders, studied issues of differential diagnosis, child psychopathology and neuropathology.
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What is defectology?
The essence of this term consists of the interpretation of its constituent elements. The concept of “defectology” was formed by merging two words:
- defectus, which in Latin means “absence” or “lack”;
- logos is a Greek word literally translated as “teaching,” “word,” or “thought.”
Defectology is a scientific discipline whose main goal is to study the psychophysical characteristics of the development of people (primarily children) with mental or physical disabilities. This is a system of theoretical and practical targeted training, education and socialization of persons with developmental delays.
Training to become a defectologist
To work in this field, you must have a specialized higher education. To undergo training, you can enroll in a university or, if you have a teaching diploma, complete retraining courses for specialists. As practice shows, employers trust applicants with higher education in their field more. Certificates and diploma courses are welcome as an addition.
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What subjects are studied
Training in Speech Therapy involves intensive preparation for interaction with patients. For this reason, the focus is on subjects with an emphasis on psychology. An employee of this profile must understand people, be able to establish contact with them and win them over.
Regardless of plans for the future, speech therapists must master the basics of psychology of adults and children. Additionally, basic principles of teacher education are given, and courses are taken in anatomy and the medical causes of speech disorders.
Courses
Taking courses to become a speech therapist is important for people with a pedagogical education. In this case, they can attend a retraining program for specialists lasting 1 thousand hours. After this, you need to pass a series of tests and exams to get permission to work with patients. In the absence of a pedagogical base, completing a retraining program does not give the right to work in the profile.
Universities
To enroll in the field of “Speech Therapy” or “Defectology” at one of the universities, you usually do not need to take exams. It is enough to have high Unified State Exam scores in Russian language and biology. Additional disciplines include social studies, literature or mathematics. Some universities still sometimes require an additional entrance test, which allows you to get into a budget place.
In Moscow, the leaders in training in this profile are considered to be MPGU, the Institute of Social Pedagogy and Psychology named after. Raoul Wallenberg, Herzen State Pedagogical University. A high level of training is guaranteed at the Pushkin State University in St. Petersburg.
You can obtain the profession of a speech therapist at almost any pedagogical university, on the basis of which the department of speech therapy or the faculty of defectology operates.
Why is it necessary?
Why do you need a speech therapist? A speech therapist is a specialist who helps to formulate speech correctly and diagnoses the state of speech function. To determine defects, he conducts the necessary tests - this process is called a speech therapy examination.
After the examination, the specialist draws up a speech therapy report, where he writes about the presence or absence of speech dysfunction. The card records sounds that are poorly pronounced by the child, omissions of letters, their replacement, rearrangement, and the presence of violations of speech tempo (fast, slow, stuttering). If the patient has pathologies, the speech therapist will refer you to specialized specialists. Often, a child with speech changes requires consultation with doctors: a neurologist, psychologist, otolaryngologist. If there are brain diseases or other pathologies that impair speech function, the patient takes a course of medications, after which corrective classes are carried out.
After drawing up a speech therapy report, the specialist prescribes a lesson plan. They can be carried out in the office of a speech therapist-teacher, kindergarten, or at home. Sometimes a small patient with severe deviations is sent to special kindergartens that correct speech. A speech therapist can work individually or conduct lessons with a group of children. Group lessons have an advantage over individual ones, as they provide the opportunity to teach a preschooler to hear other children’s pronunciation errors, allow them to pronounce sounds, and form words and sentences properly.
A speech therapist at a preschool institution (preschool) shapes the sound pronunciation of pupils. A speech therapy specialist trains teachers in the correct correction of speech disorders, organizes classes, games, and events with a speech therapy focus. The well-coordinated work of staff under the guidance of a speech therapist makes it possible to improve the quality of speech and eliminate existing defects in kindergarten students.
Where can I work?
Professionals with speech therapy education are accepted into kindergartens, schools, and clinics. They are also in demand in additional education centers for preschoolers, schoolchildren and adults. Having work experience will allow you to get a job in a rehabilitation center or organization to combat speech disorders. Speech therapists, whose classes have an obvious positive effect, easily gain a client base. This allows you to conduct consultations at the same time or even open your own private office.
Example resume
Sample resume (page 2)
Teacher-pedagog.ru
Website : https://uchitel-pedagog.ru Phone Cost : on request
Prof. course retraining: “Speech therapy”
The program is compiled in accordance with the current Federal State Educational Standards. It consists of several sections:
- Anatomy and physiology of the articulatory apparatus
- Causes of speech impairment
- Main types of speech pathologies
- Methods for diagnosing speech development disorders
- Development of correction programs
- Basics of logopsychology
- Speech therapy rhythmics
- Organization of work with educators, teachers, parents
- Prevention of speech deviations
- Professional standards
- Occupational safety for specialists
Each student receives access to a closed electronic library, which contains teaching materials and manuals on the topic being studied. You can master them at a convenient time.
When all the questions have been sorted out, you need to complete the online test. Positive test results are the basis for issuing a diploma confirming receipt of additional education.
A refresher course is also conducted .
The program provides students with an introduction to general and specific topics:
- Types and specifics of major speech disorders in children
- Diagnostic methods in speech therapy
- Systematic approaches used in corrections of varying complexity
- Anatomical and physiological features of speech development pathologies
- Mental organization of children with speech disorders and ways of communicating with them
- Ethical issues in speech therapy and defectology
- Professional standards and methods of their application
- Principles of labor protection for specialists
How much do they get
Each speech therapist has his own approach to working with patients, which affects the effectiveness of the treatment they provide. This factor has a great influence on the level of earnings of a specialist. At the initial stage of his career, such an employee receives 20-30 thousand rubles.
As his professionalism grows, he can already choose his place of work. If in budgetary organizations defectologists are paid 35-45 thousand rubles, then in private companies their earnings reach 60-70 thousand rubles. Professionals running private practices earn from 80 thousand rubles if they have a client base and proper organization of work.
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What about medical education?
Many note that the discipline “Speech Therapy” is at the intersection of pedagogy and medicine. We have already mentioned that to work as a speech therapist, pedagogical education is sufficient. In addition, in the first years of defectology departments, aspects related to medicine are studied in some detail. Future speech therapists become familiar with pediatric neuropathology and receive all the necessary knowledge about the functioning of the brain and speech apparatus, the central and peripheral nervous systems.
At the same time, many speech therapists who have a medical education in addition to pedagogical education note that deep knowledge in medicine helped them a lot. Conversely, those who did not receive sufficiently deep medical knowledge as part of the pedagogical course indicate that they are periodically forced to engage in self-education. So working as a speech therapist based on medical education is not at all meaningless.
By the way, until the 1960s, speech therapy in Russia was classified as a field of medicine, and in some countries it still remains a field of work exclusively for people with a “medical” diploma.
They will teach you everything! Or not?
Many adults are accustomed to thinking that at school a child will be taught everything necessary - to speak, count, and behave correctly. The opinion is erroneous - the school does not have such obligations. The period for studying the primer is strictly limited by time, and teachers simply do not have the opportunity to adjust the program for individual children who cannot keep up with the main group. Simultaneously with studying the ABC book, the baby is taught to read syllables. Sometimes parents, at some point discovering the unsatisfactory results of such training, clutch their heads in horror and begin to search for a speech pathologist who can correct the situation.
It is known from pedagogical practice that incorrect speech perception is possible in clearly speaking, congenial children if there are phonemic difficulties. This is more typical for the preschool age period. Left-handed people are more likely to have problems. If you do not pay attention to this in time, by secondary school the problem will cause a lag in various humanities disciplines.
When is a specialist needed?
It is not always clear to parents whether it is time to see a professional or whether the child is developing normally and does not need a speech pathologist. As experts say, the child should be referred for correction, if there is indication for it, from a very early age. Children are registered with a speech therapist from the age of three. The difference in time is explained by the characteristics of a particular condition, the presence of deviations (hearing impairment, vision impairment, etc.).
When planning to refer your child to a speech pathologist, it is important to do it on time - better sooner than later. Upon receiving a qualification at a university, a speech pathologist-defectologist firmly understands that work must begin when the disorder is accurately diagnosed. The baby’s speech skills develop gradually, improvement occurs step by step. For a child to start speaking, he needs a formed speech apparatus, mature centers in the cerebral cortex. An important condition is being in society. This does not allow the speech therapist to begin work before the patient reaches the age of three - only by this time all the prerequisites are finally ready. If, before reaching 3 years of age, it is clear that the child is significantly behind, it is necessary to contact the commission to select a defectologist - probably at first it will not be a speech therapist, but a specialist with related qualifications.
Do I need this?
A children's speech pathologist-defectologist seems to many parents to be an incomprehensible specialist whose help their children definitely do not need - what if those around them think that the child is behind in development! As professionals say, this approach is incorrect. There is no need to be afraid of a defectologist, or to be shy if you need the help of a qualified specialist. The average person is unlikely to be able to teach a child who has problems with speech and reading on their own, since there is no access to the specific techniques that speech therapists use in their work - and this has been taught in universities for many years.
Poor reading precludes a child's literacy in the future. Illiteracy and sluggishness of language do not allow a person to think fully. Teaching speech is a difficult task, and the work requires a lot of time. A children's speech therapist-defectologist works painstakingly on all the difficulties inherent in a particular case, but in a week or two of classes with a new specialist, the child will not learn everything as if by magic - you should not count on this, the course will be long.
