Who Are Speech-Language Pathologists, And What Do They Do?

Speech-language pathologists within the school setting, also called SLPs, are experts in facilitating communication.

These are some areas addressed by a school based SLP:

Language—how well we understand what we hear or read and how we use words to tell others what we are thinking.

Social communication—how well we follow rules: taking turns, how to talk to different people, or how close to stand to someone when talking. These are also called pragmatic language skills.

Speech sounds—how we say sounds and put sounds together into words. Other words for these problems are articulation or phonological disorders.

Fluency—also called stuttering, is how well speech flows. Someone who stutters may repeat sounds. Many young children will go through a time when they stutter, but most outgrow it.