Are you thinking about becoming an early language Speech Pathologist? Maybe you’re a university student and after learning more about child development, you have sparked a passion for helping little ones in the early intervention stage of their speech pathology journey. 

Here at SpeechEase Speech Therapy, we have a whole team of Speech Pathologists who are experienced and passionate in the area of early language intervention. Over the years they’ve each found their own favourite things about supporting clients of this age. 

Keep on reading to find out what you’ll love about being an early language Speech Pathologist.  

 

7 Best Things About Being an Early Language Speech Pathologist

 

You’ll Find Your Work Incredibly Rewarding 

As an early language Speech Pathologist, you have the unique opportunity of supporting a child through one of the most important developmental periods in their life. A child’s language skills will go on to impact every area of their life – from their engagement in school to their ability to communicate with others and form close friendships. Through your therapeutic relationship, and evidence-based speech therapy, you can help develop those critical early language skills to set your clients up for what’s ahead of them.  

 

You Can Help Showcase Your Client’s Strengths 

When parents first bring their little one in for early language intervention, they can often feel quite overwhelmed by it all. At first, they may feel at a loss for what to do if their child isn’t talking all that much. But over time, as an early language Speech Pathologists, we get to highlight our client’s strengths and help parents to notice and respond when their child uses non-speech communication attempts – it really is a magical experience! 

 

You’ll Have SO Much Fun 

One of the joys of working with little ones is you get to play with a lot of cool games! Play-based therapy is one of our mainstays for this age range, so you’ll often find yourself playing with everything from toy vehicles, animals, food, as well as songs and did we mention the arts and crafts? It really is so much fun being an early language Speech Pathologist.
 

You Can Help Parents Make Progress at Home 

Parents and Speech Pathologists need to work together to be able to achieve progress. Most parents are eager and willing to learn anything they can to help their little one achieve their early language goals as soon as they can. That’s where Speech Pathologists come in with plenty of early language strategies and supportive parent education! It really is a wonderful part of our job. We love getting to work closely with parents to show them how they can support their little one’s language at home. 

 

You Can Tailor Your Therapy to Your Client’s Interests 

Do you have a little one that really likes Bluey? Or maybe you’ve noticed they really enjoy playing with toys that light-up or move around. One of the best things about being an early language Speech Pathologist is you can tailor your therapy to suit your client’s interests. It helps keep things fresh and interesting when we involve our clients in choosing the speech therapy resources. Sometimes they even surprise us with what they choose to play with from our resource cupboard when we go in for a session! 

 

You Get to Celebrate Progress Alongside Your Client’s Family 

Early language Speech Pathologists develop strong bonds with the families and clients they work with. With every target reached and story shared about progress outside of the clinic room, early language Speech Pathologists get to be a part of something truly special. There’s nothing quite like being able to support a little one and their family from their first speech therapy session right through to them discharging with stronger language skills and the confidence that comes with them. We get to share in parents’ excitement when they see their little ones say their first word, use their first gesture or sign, or point to their first symbol. Their first ‘communication steps’ are such a wonderful thing to be a part of. 

 

You’ll Get to Hear (And See!) Some Really Funny Things 

When you’re working as an early language Speech Pathologist, you’ll hear children say the funniest things! You’ll also notice some interesting facial expressions and gestures as little ones get comfortable expressing how they feel towards you (a new person in their life!). One of our favourite things to hear is the way children combine two known words to label something they don’t know the name of yet – just the other day, one of our Speech Pathologists had her client say “hand necklace” for bracelet. How cute is that? 

 

We hope you’ve found this article helpful as you start to think about what kind of Speech Pathologist you want to be. If you’re based in Mackay or Townsville and would like to try out being an early language Speech Pathologist for a day, join us for a Day in the Clinic!