Becoming a speech therapist is a rewarding and lucrative career. However, the road to becoming one can be quite lengthy. You need to be patient and motivated enough to pull it through.
The First Step
Of course, the first step towards enjoying a career in speech therapy is through education. Like any other job post, you need to acquire the required educational attainment to become eligible for it.
If you want to cut short your trip towards the long and winding road to become a speech therapist, you may want to consider online courses for speech therapy. You may earn your bachelor’s degree from an accredited online school in the most convenient manner. Through distance education, you will be able to fulfill the course requirements without having to go out of your comfort zone. Given that you are a self-motivated, determined individual, it would be easy for you to manage homeschooling.
It is required that the student acquires a degree in a related field to speech therapy. Mostly, such courses are about Psychology, Sociology, Social Work, Special Education, and other liberal arts courses. A speech therapist needs to be well-rounded and he/she must take up a course that will develop such trait in him/her.
After earning the bachelor’s degree, you must take up a master’s degree in speech therapy. Completion of this program will make you qualify for the licensure exam. While you are into your master’s degree, you may want to be employed so you have an income that will support your continuing education. This would not be a problem if you are enrolled in an online course. You have the power to develop your own study schedule so it would not be difficult to blend in even a full workload.
Licensure will make you eligible as a speech therapist. But if you want further advancement in your field, you can easily take a doctorate program, also in online schooling fashion.
There are many job opportunities for speech therapists in special schools for children with special needs and institutions that foster good speaking skills among others. For an individual to become effective as a speech therapist, he/she must also have certain personality traits including patience, determination, compassion, a strong ability to communicate, and discernment among others.
It is highly important that you seek a job post that matches your personality. That is one of the key factors in ensuring your success in your field. If you love your job, it wouldn’t feel like a job at all.
