How do you know you’re getting the best speech pathologist for your needs?

Written By Laura Thompson

Speech Pathologists train for many years to develop their specialist skill set. Many do a Bachelor of Hearing and Speech Science or A Bachelor of Cognitive Psychology, plus a Bachelors Degree of Speech and Language Pathology. Many study for a Masters Degree of Speech Pathology thereafter. They are all accredited training pathways, so how can you decipher which Speech Pathologist is right for you? And aren’t they all the same?

Let’s explore a little together.

How do you find a Speech Pathologist? Google search? ‘Best Speech Pathologist near me?’ A recommendation maybe?

The most important factor is looking at their specialism. You see, Speech Pathologist are trained in both Paediatrics and Adult Speech Pathology, but they are vastly different fields. Broadly speaking, Paediatrics may focus more on speech, articulation, feeding, literacy and developmental needs. Adult Speech Pathologist will use a medical framework to work with people of all ages who may have difficulty eating and drinking or swallowing known as Dysphagia. They may also have difficulty using their words (Aphasia) or difficulty using their speech (Apraxia and Dysarthria) or they may want help with their voice. They will also work with clients with acquired diagnoses such as Stroke, Parkinson’s Disease, Dementia, Primary Progressive Aphasia, Multiple Sclerosis and Motor Neurone Disease.  

When choosing a neuro-specialist speech pathologist, consider things like their past working experience? Have they worked in the acute and rehabilitation hospital? Have they worked alongside the real life challenges of living day to day with an acquired neurological disorder? How many years experience do they have? Are they leaders in the field and are they actively advocating for services to improve and change.

At Adult Speech and Swallow Clinic our aim is to match up clients with the skill set in that field. To be a market and clinical leader in that space. To support clients and their families in the most traumatic of experiences. To fight for their rehab alongside them. To provide community group opportunities in rural areas. To provide support for psycho-social changes in the acquired neuro population. 

Adult Speech and Swallow Clinic wants to provide the best clinical speech pathology care to you, as we can best serve you. Combined we have 23 years experience working in the adult specific industry and lecture in this clinical area. We have assessed and provided intervention for over 1000 clients and are published researchers in the area. 

The clinic's mission is to provide convenient and easy access to highly trained speech pathologists; to bring warmth, compassion, hope and inspiration ……and the best possible care to our patients’ lives.