So, WHAT do you do?

What I do for my job, is speech pathology. Or more specifically, speech-language pathology (SLP). Which also includes swallowing disorders, since swallowing is in the head and throat area.

And still you probably don't know what I do. You're not alone, oftentimes it seems that no one really understands what a speech pathologist does. My mom doesn't get it, my non-SLP friends don't get it, one of my sisters doesn't get it. My relatives don't get it, my nanny is fuzzy, my neighbors think I'm either a teacher or a nurse. As a matter of fact, there are doctors who could be referring patients to speech pathology don't really understand what it's about either.

My husband, ever willing to listen to my rants and aspirations, does get it. When a glassy-eyed stare follows my remark that I work a lot with swallowing disorders, he jumps in and says, "Quick, try not to swallow for the next minute. You can't do it, can you? Now imagine that you couldn't swallow if you wanted to, pretty freaky, right?"

Back in the day, speech pathology was more commonly known as "speech therapy." But that didn't help people understand what SLP's did, so our big accrediting organization (ASHA, the American Speech-Language Hearing Association, www.asha.org) decided to officially change our job title. The big difference is that therapists do treatment, whereas speech-language pathologists diagnose and do treatment.

"But diagnose and treat what?!?" you may ask. True, that was the original point of this entry. SLP's are known for being rather chatty. So, to get to the point, a clinical description of my job is that I diagnose and treat communication, cognitive-communication, and swallowing disorders in all ages.

Some people think of stuttering, and others think of correcting a slushy s-lisp or an Elmer Fudd "R." That's certainly part of it, SLP's do dysfluency (aka stuttering) and articulation (speech sounds, including the S and R). We also do language therapy for children with delayed language development and social language therapy for individuals on the autism spectrum. Some speech pathologists are also pediatric feeding specialists.

Beyond the pediatric side of speech pathology, there are adults who benefit from speech therapy as well. People who have suffered a stroke or head injury, people with progressive neurological diseases such as Parkinson disease or multiple sclerosis, and people with head and neck cancers may require interventions for the way their speech sounds, difficulty understanding or communicating with others, difficulty with memory and mental organization, or problems with eating and swallowing.

Then there are the voice patients. This group includes people who overuse their voice such as teachers and singers, people with poor vocal habits such as smoking and dehydration, and people who use their breath and vocal cords inefficiently. You know Stevie Nicks' signature raspy singing voice? It was from recurrent vocal nodules, which are basically calluses on the vocal cords.

So what do I do? I interview patients and their caregivers to help determine the areas of difficulty, I play on the floor with toddlers, I administer tests to score strengths and weaknesses, and I educate families about relevant diagnoses and work with them to set goals for treatment. I play card games and board games, I pull out the Legos and Barbies, I discuss current events and upcoming vacation plans. I blow bubbles, instruct patients in oral care, recommend food textures and swallowing postures, and provide recipes to make eating safer. I counsel patients and caregivers through frustrations and provide encouragement and strategies to try to make life a little easier. I help to shape and reinforce correct responses and train families to implement home programs so that the skills carry over into the real world.

In short, I help children learn how to interact with the world and I help adults regain parts of their lives back.

I'm a speech pathologist, and I have an awesome job.

Completely unrelated to speech pathology is my beautiful daughter Cleo.