Speech Therapy
What is Speech Therapy?
A Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) is a professional who is trained to evaluate and treat communication disorders, cognitive disorders, and swallowing disorders in people of all ages. SLPs may also call themselves Speech Therapist, Speech Clinician, or Speech Teacher depending on where they work or personal preference.
The most important credential your speech-language pathologist should have is to be Nationally Certified by the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA). You can tell if a SLP is nationally certified by the initials CCC-SLP after their name.
Speech-Language Pathologists must also be licensed by the state in which they provide services. All SLPs are required to complete ongoing rigorous education credits as part of maintaining their national certification and state licensure. Speech therapists tend to become specialized in treating either adults or children and often in a certain treatment area.