Why I Want to Be a Speech Pathologist Essay


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There are countless professions that people can choose to pursue in their lives. These professions bring money and inner satisfaction to people’s lives that they are doing something worth doing. Then there are a handful of “noble” professions!

People who belong to these professions command the respect and trust of society in addition to money, peace of mind, and even fame. Medicine is one of the noblest professions and so are its hundreds of sub-branches.

When it comes to speech-language pathology, people often have personal reasons or experiences to pursue the role of the SLP. The whole rationale to become a speech-language pathologist is to diagnose and treat communication disorders in people that could occur either in childhood or after an accident or traumatic incident.

That’s one of the reasons this profession constantly needs young and energetic professionals with ample experience and expertise in helping people express themselves.

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Why Do You Want To Be A Speech Pathologist

The Beginning

I was born, like the rest of us all, with many disabilities at the time of my birth. As time went by, I developed and recovered many of my faculties for which much of the work was done since my birth. But I was attacked by a viral disease called poliomyelitis. Everyone knows its name yet many don’t know what it does to a person it clings to.

When it first happened, I was shocked as I was in elementary school. Everything changed in seconds. Yesterday, I was running, jumping, and skipping in the yard with my siblings and then I couldn’t put up my feet without somebody’s help.

The Revelations

That was my first brush with any form of disability – a very personal kind. I cried for many days and nights about who I wanted to be and who I would have to become.

Days later, I started going to school, on crutches. Every step was agony and every milestone was a light-year away.

Our school had workshops on disability, with professionals with psychology degrees and training in SLP. They helped kids with disabilities in articulation and coping with challenges. I avoided it at first. I avoided it for weeks. But then I was cornered and I knew I had to join.

The Belonging

It is easy to ignore something or even mock that thing when you are looking at it from a distance. I used to mock kids with any disability like missing language development. If someone had a hard time completing a sentence because of palsy or someone could not run because of degenerative bones.

Now I was a member of the group and I came to know how hard it was. Going through each day felt like a continuous challenge. Many times, I thought about quitting school and social life and spending all of my time in my room. I would be away from the grounds and yards and people who would keep reminding me who I was and what I had become.

The First Step

But I kept on going to school and workshops for special kids. The instructor was genuinely nice and was not pitying anyone. He was not looking at us as who we were but as who we could become. For him, we were normal as much as someone could be.

In the succeeding weeks, I found out about speech disorders and the plight of kids who were suffering from them.

Polio was very much visible and attention-grabbing but it was hard to connect with these kids. They were shy to open their mouth and talk and without talking, no one would know about them. In the words of Hemingway: “you are so brave and quiet I forget you are suffering”.

Everyone often used to forget they were suffering.

The First Jump

With the help of my instructor and the will I had somewhere deep inside me, I started walking. Still slow and pained but it was a start to something. I was happy to have a small stick in my hand hanging and swinging beside me for much of the time.

But I could not forget about the suffering of my fellows who were still having a hard time talking – even smiling. I asked the master in speech-language pathology what I could do for them. He smiled and told me that I could become a speech pathology professional like himself to help people with difficulties.

I asked him what it takes to be a speech pathologist in my future career. He smiled deeper and pointed his finger at my heart. I knew I was going to be a speech-language pathologist.

The First Leap

After that conversation, I devoted myself to improving myself, from the body to the mind. I took the workshops with more earnestness and plunged deeper into my books. In high school, I was at the top of my class throughout. Academic success and understanding of who I was and who I wanted to become cleared my vision, straightened my gait and held my head high.

What made me want to be a speech pathologist and ace communication sciences in my undergraduate career was my disability. But it was empowering to think about being able to help people express themselves. That’s what I will do for my graduate program.

Reaching the Summit

After completing high school with distinction, I am now applying to colleges because I want to be a speech pathology professional. I thought the urge to help people with speech disabilities go away when I would become “whole” again.

It didn’t. I want to be a speech pathologist because this is the only way I can remain whole and happy again.

Why Become A Speech Pathologist, A Short Essay Example

Without expressing ourselves to our fellow humans, we are not complete. As many people come with the ability without spending much time and thought in honing their speaking skills, many struggles with even uttering a single syllable perfectly at the right time.

Speech pathologists are experts in speech-language pathology as they help diagnose and treat those people with communication problems. I want to be one of them because it is a higher calling for me.

I had a brush with a disability when I was in school. My mother met a car accident and she lost her ability to speak properly. We hired a professional SLP with a psychology degree and extensive experience in speech and language development. He helped in regaining her speech.

After school, he and I would give all our time to mama as she tried to learn how to move her mouth and how to roll her tongue to speak again.

For me, like mama, the whole of humanity is my family. I want to help them in speaking and expressing their thoughts and feelings to their loved ones and the whole world by talking as freely as they could breathe.

That’s why I want to become a speech pathologist and that’s why I will be a great one!

FAQs on Why I Want To Be A Speech Pathologist Essay

Qualities Of A Good Speech Pathologist

Apart from proper training and schooling in treating communication disorders, the following are some of the traits that make not only a good speech pathologist, but a great one.

A good speech pathology professional must be:

  • 🔸 Passionate
  • 🔸 Compassionate
  • 🔸 Sensitive toward the plight of others
  • 🔸 Good with verbal and non-verbal communication
  • 🔸 A considerate teacher
  • 🔸 Adaptable
  • 🔸 Persistent and resourceful in his/ her job

If a professional in speech and language development finds out that he is lacking somehow one or multiple qualities, he/ she can adopt them by consciously incorporating them into practice gradually.

What Are The Roles Of A Speech Pathologist

Work speech pathology is not a limited job by any means. Speech pathologists work with a wide range of problems in both kids and adults.

Here is a rundown of the role that professionals in speech-language pathology perform typically:

  • 🔸 Run tests and interviews to diagnose speech, language, and swallowing disorders
  • 🔸 Treat these or one of these disorders by planning a workable communication skills program
  • 🔸 Become mentors and provide necessary training to parents and other caretakers of the people with these issues
  • 🔸 Collaborate with professionals from a wide range of fields to promote an interdisciplinary understanding of problems

In addition to this, SLPs can take up roles like;

  • 🔸 Teaching language services as instructors in a public school system or a graduate school
  • 🔸 Practitioners in both private and state clinics
  • 🔸 Devise public awareness programs through state agencies or non-profits
  • 🔸 Conduct research and studies to further the repository of current expertise in SLP disciplines
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