Speech and language therapist

Speech and language therapists help people to deal with and overcome communication and eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties. They spend a lot of their time working with children but they can work with people of any age. They also work with parents, carers, teachers and other healthcare professionals.

Work activities

Speech and language therapists work with a wide range of clients, including children and adults who have:

• Difficulty in making and using the sounds needed for speech.
• Problems with understanding and using language.
• Voice problems.
• A stammer.
• Swallowing difficulties.
• Stroke.
• Physical and learning disabilities.
• Problems they are born with.
• Hearing loss or deafness.
• Degenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.
• Head injury.
• Cancer of the mouth or throat.
• Some mental health problems.

When the therapist first meets a client, they have to build a friendly, trusting relationship with them, so they can diagnose the problem. To diagnose problems, therapists use a range of information, including medical notes, and the results of observing the patient and discussing the problem with them. Therapists will often also base their assessment on talks they have had with other health professionals, including doctors, nurses and psychologists. They also talk to people such as teachers, family members and carers. Next, the therapist plans the treatment. This could happen in a number of places, including hospitals, clinics and local health centres, GP surgeries, schools and day centres, and the client’s own home. Therapists might travel throughout their local area to work in different places.

Apart from being a good treatment in itself, the therapy must also be interesting, to keep the client’s attention. This increases the chances of success. Working with children, in particular, means there is a need to create imaginative and varied exercises. Speech and language therapists see patients individually and in group sessions. Sometimes, a speech and language therapy assistant supports the therapist. A large part of the therapist’s work is with children, dealing with problems such as stammering that can lead young people to withdraw from social situations. Therapists work with pre-school children, for example, if their language skills are not developing as they should, or they have not begun to speak at all. Therapists also train people who have contact with or responsibility for the patient, such as teachers, care staff in residential homes, parents and hospital staff. This educational and preventative role is becoming increasingly important.

Personal qualities and skills

To be a speech and language therapist, you’ll need:

• To enjoy working with people.
• Communication skills.
• The ability to encourage and inspire people.
• Patience, tact and sensitivity.
• Problem-solving skills.
• The ability to plan and organise treatment.
• Some creativity, to plan exercises that are imaginative and varied.
• Teamwork and interpersonal skills, for example, to work with doctors, teachers, families and carers, psychologists and social workers.
• Clinical and scientific knowledge.
• Willingness to keep up to date with changes in practice and treatments.

Progress can often be slow and painstaking, so you need the ability to help and support clients through periods of frustration and disappointment, and to cope with these feelings in yourself.

Pay and opportunities

NHS employees are paid on a rising scale within defined pay bands, according to their skills and responsibilities. Speech and language therapists (SLTs) typically start on band 5, earning £28,407 in 2023.

SLTs in the NHS usually work 37.5 hours a week, Monday to Friday. There are opportunities for part-time work.

Most SLTs work in the NHS (in hospitals and in the community), local authorities, schools and voluntary organisations. Opportunities for SLTs occur in towns and cities throughout the UK.

There are opportunities for SLTs to become self-employed in independent practice. Pay and conditions in the private sector may be different.

Where are vacancies advertised?

Vacancies are advertised in the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists’ Bulletin Supplement and on its website, on the NHS Jobs website, in local/national newspapers and job boards. You may also come across roles on the government’s Find a Job and Find an Apprenticeship services.

Entry routes and training

Entry is usually through a three- or four-year degree course. The course must allow you to register with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as a speech and language therapist. Course titles vary, including speech and language therapy, speech sciences, and speech pathology and therapy. Subjects covered during training usually include speech and language sciences, behavioural sciences and psychology, language disorders, as well as biomedical sciences such as anatomy and physiology. Practical work takes you into places such as schools, hospitals and community health clinics. Almost all undergraduate degrees in speech and language therapy require full time attendance.

A level 6 (degree) apprenticeship in the role is also available, as an alternative pathway to the traditional university route. On your apprenticeship, you will spend significant time studying in class as well as undertaking on-the-job training. You will work towards a degree as a part of the programme, with tuition fees paid by your employer.

If you’re a graduate, you could train through a number of recognised two-year postgraduate courses. To enter, you’ll usually need a 2:1 in a relevant first degree, for example, psychology, social sciences, linguistics, biology, medical sciences or education. Some universities accept graduates in any subject, sometimes only when they also have some relevant work experience. For postgraduate courses, universities might prefer applicants to have observed a speech and language therapist. Some ask you to have developed skills and knowledge through relevant work experience, including voluntary work. Please check prospectuses carefully.

You can gain relevant work experience as a speech and language therapy assistant or through other work that involves contact with client groups such as children, older adults and disabled people. A full list of courses at different levels is available on the HCPC website. Having a speech, language or hearing difficulty yourself doesn’t mean that you cannot become a speech and language therapist. For example, some applicants have stammers. Applicants are assessed on an individual basis. The Allied Health Professions Support Service (AHPSS) supports people with disabilities on recognised courses. This support includes careers advice and help with selecting and using assistive technology. For more information, please contact the AHPSS.

Newly qualified speech and language therapists usually work on a general caseload for about a year. They can then specialise in a particular client group or area of the work. Progression could also be into a teaching, research or management post.

Rehabilitation of Offenders Act: This career is an exception to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. This means that you must supply information to an employer about any spent or unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands or warnings, if they ask you to. This is different from other careers, where you only have to reveal information on unspent convictions if you are asked to.

Qualifications

For entry to a recognised degree course, the usual minimum requirement is:

• Three A-levels. Some universities specify at least one science subject (biology might be preferred). Otherwise, sciences, social sciences, psychology and languages (including English language) are preferred subjects.
• GCSEs at grades 9-4 in your A-level subjects.
• A further two to three GCSEs. Specified subjects might include English, biology, maths and a modern foreign language.
• Science and additional science or science and additional applied science.

Equivalent qualifications, such as Edexcel (BTEC) level 3 Nationals and the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma), may be acceptable for entry - please check prospectuses carefully.

For a degree apprenticeship, you will need two relevant A-levels plus GCSEs in maths and English. NHS Trusts may specify particular subjects to get onto their programmes.

Adult opportunities

Age limits; it is illegal for any organisation to set age limits for entry to employment, education or training, unless they can show there is a real need to have these limits.

Some entrants have relevant experience, for example, of working with:

• Children.
• Older adults.
• People with voice impairment or hearing loss.
• People with disabilities.

Courses: If you don’t have the qualifications needed to enter an accredited degree, you might be able to start one after completing a college or university Access course, such as Access to Science. You don’t usually need any qualifications to start an Access course, although you should check this with the course provider.

Related careers

• Audiologist
• British sign language (BSL)/English interpreter
• Occupational therapist
• Rehabilitation worker - visual impairment
• Special educational needs teacher
• Speech and language therapy assistant