I found an informational interview with a Speech Pathologist named Jacklyn. Jacklyn works with elderly patients, and has contracts with different nursing homes. When asked to describe what she does she stated that she mainly worked within the generic population. She helps people who have had strokes, swallowing issues, or who have cognition impairments. In a regular week Jacklyn would work from 7 to 3, and would see anywhere from 7 to 10 patients per day. She goes on saying that she “sees most of her patients in the morning and some at meals”. She also mentions that there is tons of paperwork involved and notes, and she does this for 36 to 40 hours per week.

Jacklyn was asked what she liked and disliked about her job. She states that she enjoys talking with the patients and she loves the elderly (which helps out). “The best part,” she mentions is, “hearing and laughing at their stories”. On the other hand, she doesn’t like the monotony of the job. It’s pretty much the same thing every day, and since some patients have cognitive impairments it’s pretty much Groundhog Day every day. Jacklyn has a yearly salary of 60 to 70 thousand dollars. We asked her what kind of education is required for this specific career and she says that you need four years of undergrad plus an extra two for your masters. However the skills you pretty much develop them while in college.

The most challenging aspect of Speech Pathology is the diversity itself. There are a lot of areas within that field to treat that it’s hard to specialized in one direct area (and that’s why she chose the adult population). Jacklyn almost feels like they should limit the field more. On the bright side, she says the most rewarding for her is working with the stroke patients and watching them recover (those who couldn’t swallow and were on feeding tubes, and those who couldn’t speak at all because of the stroke). It’s rewarding when they are able to get some of their abilities back. One piece of advice she gives to students is to choose to specialize either with children or adults. That way you’re more able to concentrate in which studies to focus on and make it easier for you in the long run, and yes there will still be some monotony.

Her contract allows some freedom in her schedule. Jacklyn gets 6 paid holidays, and if she wanted to work during the weekend she could swap out a day during the week (example: if she wanted to work Saturday she could take off during the week). A common misconception for Speech Pathologist is that they work only with people who stutter or have articulation problems, but in reality it goes way deeper than that. That pretty much sums up the interview.