Economic Numbers that Shape Speech Pathology
November 30, 2009
US Bureau of Statistics
¨ Employment of SLPs will grow much faster than other occupations through 2010
¨ SLP ranks 25th out of 700 occupations and 11th out of 68 health-related occupations in terms of growth
¨ Estimated that more than 34,000 additional SLPs will be needed to fill the demand between 2000 and 2010
¨ Total of 57,000 job openings for SLPs projected between 2000-2010 due to growth and net replacements
¨ *51% of respondents to the ASHA 2000 Schools Survey reported a shortage of SLPs, particularly in rural and urban areas
*ASHA Issue Brief on Personnel Preparation & Credentialing in SLP (June 2003)
Will Economic Rains Befall SLPs?
November 23, 2009
Job Satisfaction and Need expected to sustain us in the interim.
¨ Job growth in speech pathology and audiology expected to continue for next 8 years (http://www.asha.org/students/professions/trends.htm).
¨ The combination of growth in the occupation and an expected increase in retirements over the coming years should create excellent job opportunities for speech-language pathologists (The Bureau of Labor Statistics bls.gov).
¨ Audiology is ranked as one of the top 30 careers in 2009 (U.S. News and World Report).
¨ SLP ranks 25th out of the 700 fastest growing professions, and 11th out of 68 health related occupations, according to an estimate by the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for supply and demand of professions in the next decade (as cited in ASHA, 2003). To meet the demands of this growing profession, job openings will increase by 39% creating more than 34,000 new jobs.
Texas Speech Conferences this Year
November 16, 2009
Restricted budgets! Large caseloads! Diverse Populations! Ethical Requirements! How are we supposed to do our jobs successfully? Changing times have lead to changing requirements and a uniquely quick response by our local, regional, state, and national organizations to respond to the distress that they are sensing from the field.
Yes we still have the typical conferences put on by each group annually. However, these conferences have grown to cover a larger variety of topics and are packed with task forces, lobbying, and meetings on every concern you could imagine.
Additionally, technology has allowed more people to participate in more discrete topics from all over the country. If you haven’t taken the technological leap and joined a webinar, online presentation, audio course, etc., many events are free or short to allow you to get your feet wet. Here are a few that are taking place in 2009-2010
ASHA Conference
November 19th –21st New Orleans, Louisiana
2010 International Conference on Parent Education and Parenting
February 2010 Denton, Texas
Autism Conference 2010
March 1–15, 2010
Communication in Children With Autism
An online conference for speech-language pathologists
TSHA 54th Annual Convention
March 25-27, 2010
Fort Worth Convention Center - Fort Worth, Texas
ASHA Health Care/Business Institute 2010
Sat/-Sun, April 24–25, 2010
The Westin Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Concerned Bilingual Parent
November 9, 2009
Here is a response that was given to a parent who was concerned about the languages that her child was being exposed to.
Children are just as capable of becoming bi-literate as they are of
becoming bilingual. Dual language learning does not confuse
children. Will your child make mistakes in the process of learning to
read in two languages? Yes. Just as monolingual, mono-literate
children make mistakes when learning to read, bilinguals will as
well. Many of the mistakes bilinguals make in development may be the
result of influence from the other language but this is part of the
learning process. Some people call that “confused” but with feedback,
bilingual children learn to correct those errors, just as monolingual
children learn to correct their errors with feedback. Children
quickly learn to to use both systems. Recent research also suggests
that the earlier a child learns two languages, the better off he will
be for dual language reading development (Kovelman, Baker & Petitto,
2008).
If your son is already reading in English, he should have a relatively
easy time learning to read in Spanish. Spanish is considered a
“transparent” language because of its mostly one-to-one letter-to-
sound correspondence, while English is considered an “opaque” language
because there is often more than one sound associated with a letter.
Transparent languages are generally easier to learn because their
rules are more consistent than opaque languages. Additionally, the
orthographies of English and Spanish are very similar, making it
easier for children to transfer knowledge from one language to the
other.
For a lot of detail on the differences in the orthographies and sound
systems of English and Spanish, please see Gorman & Kester (2004) at
the following link.
http://bilinguistics.com/education/abad_0701/abad_0701.pdf
Happy reading!
Ellen Kester, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Austin Speech Association Presentations
November 2, 2009
The Austin Speech Group put together a great line-up of presentations this year. It’s $25 to join and then all the presentations can be attended for free. It’s a pretty great deal.
11/12
An Introduction to Using ABA: Strengthening Communication Skills
Rose Griffen, SLP, Ed.
1/14
Success with Speech Sound Disorders: Finding the Best Fit for English and Spanish Speakers
Mary Bauman SLP
2/11
Working with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Populations
Anna Fox, SLP
4/8
Role of the SLP in Treating Neurodegenerative Diseases: A Case Study
5/13
Swap Shop: Exchange Materials/Techniques Gail Totten, SLP