10 skills you need to have to become a speech and language therapist

Career

As a speech and language therapist (SALT), you have the opportunity to work with a range of clients, from children showing developmental delays to adults who may be recovering from a neurological condition, all the while offering support that can change their lives. 

But in order to become qualified and make a real impact on your clients, there are certain skills and qualities you need to succeed. 

So, if you’re thinking about getting a job as a speech and language therapist in the future, here are the 10 most important skills you need to possess. 

1) Excellent communication skills

Let’s start with the most obvious skills. In order to be an effective speech and language therapist, you need to be able to communicate effectively with everyone involved in the process.

For example, as well as being able to communicate clearly with your clients, you need to be able to speak with their families, carers and other relevant professionals.

Not only this, but excellent communication is required to hold speech therapy sessions and teach clients new skills and ways to overcome speech difficulties. This includes both verbal and non-verbal communication.

Without clear communication, there could be confusion and frustration. Not to mention that as a therapist, you must lead by example, and therefore, clear speech is required during all sessions. 

2) Active listening 

Therapy sessions aren’t just about teaching and talking, but they’re also about understanding your patient’s difficulties. Therefore, active listening is also a critical skill that will enable you to pick up on subtle speech and language issues. 

In addition to this, empathetic listening is the key to understanding how your patients are feeling and how their lives are affected by their difficulties or delays. This enables you to give them more tailored and genuine support. 

3) Patience and empathy

Following on from this, empathy is important to help you build trust with your clients. This can be especially important if you are working with children or those who have learning difficulties or disabilities. 

Speech and language therapists also need to be very patient. Clients, particularly those with more severe conditions, may take time to learn new skills and show slow progress. As a therapist,  it is critical that you do not rush them or become frustrated with their slow progress, as this can knock their confidence and create more challenges. 

4) Problem-solving and strategic thinking 

Every client is unique and will require tailored speech therapy strategies and techniques. What’s more, these techniques and activities may need to be adapted over time as the client develops. 

For this reason, part of being a speech and language therapist is assessing the different challenges and adapting solutions and therapy sessions accordingly.  This requires you to think strategically on a regular basis.

Another part of this is problem-solving. After all, you might set out activities or strategies for a client that do not work. 

Alternatively, you may come up against new problems when you start working with them, and as a result, you have to be able to think strategically and overcome these challenges as they arise. 

5) Teamwork and collaboration

Although you might not see speech and language therapy sessions as a team exercise, there is no denying that therapists don’t work alone. You will need to work closely with clients, their families, and other professionals, such as doctors, teachers, psychologists, and carers. 

Because of that, teamwork and collaboration are crucial for offering holistic patient care. 

6) Adaptability and creativity

As we’ve said, your therapy sessions must be tailored to suit every client’s needs and abilities. They also need to be engaging and effective. 

With that in mind, creative thinking can be hugely beneficial for designing effective treatment plans and coming up with engaging activities that will keep their attention and help them develop their language skills. 

Again, you may need to adapt or change these activities and put a creative spin on them if your client is not engaging as much as you would like or if they are struggling with the exercises you have set out.

7) Attention to detail

From carefully listening to the way your client speaks and communicates to noticing small changes in their swallowing or comprehension, speech and language therapy requires a great deal of attention to the smallest details.

You also need to be able to track their progress meticulously by making notes that will again require your full focus right down to the smallest details. 

8) Scientific and analytical thinking

We’ve focused a lot on the soft skills required to be a speech and language therapist, but you also need to bring scientific and analytical thinking to the table. 

As well as having an in-depth understanding of the different types of speech difficulties and the causes behind them, you’ll also need to understand anatomy, phonetics, psychology, and linguistics. 

You’ll need to be able to use data and research to inform your therapy techniques and continue to develop your own knowledge of the profession, no matter how many years you’ve been in service. 

9) Organisation and time management

As speech therapists, you won’t just be working with one client. You’ll have to manage multiple clients at any one time, including keeping their records and planning their individual therapy sessions. This requires very strong organisational skills. 

This also requires you to have good time management skills. You must be able to juggle your actual sessions with updating your records, reviewing cases and planning future sessions. 

10) Resilience and emotional strength

Last but not least, therapists need resilience and emotional strength to succeed. After all, when you’re dealing with people who have speech difficulties, there are often other complications and possible health issues that come along with it, and some of your cases can be emotionally challenging, especially those with more severe conditions.

So, in order to be as effective as possible for your clients, you must be able to manage stress and emotional tolls and always stay professional.