The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a growing demand for speech-language pathologists in the coming years. The federal agency estimates that there are about 171,000 people in the profession and that demand for their services will grow 19% by 2032.
A rebranded St. Louis University program that launches this fall seeks to meet that demand. The program will allow students to graduate with a B.S. and M.S. in speech-language pathology in five years instead of a customary six-year track.
In this episode of St. Louis on the Air, we dive into why there’s a growing demand for speech-language pathologists and how SLU seeks to meet that demand. We also explore some of the latest research involving the profession and discuss the need for pathologists from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.
Guests:
- Dr. Travis Threats, professor and chair of St. Louis University’s Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences. He is a licensed speech-language pathologist who also holds a certificate of clinical competence.
- Lucy Heller, graduate student in St. Louis University’s Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences. She served as the inspiration for the rebranded program.
Listen to the discussion on Apple Podcast, Spotify or Google Podcast, or by clicking the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
