Occupation

Speech-language pathologist

Speech-language pathologists assess and treat difficulties with speech, language, voice, fluency, and swallowing across the lifespan. Caseloads range from children with language delay to adults recovering from stroke or living with progressive disease. Swallowing assessment is a safety-critical part of the role that many people outside the profession do not associate with it.

Also known as: Speech and language therapist · SLP · Speech therapist · SLT

Saving keeps the career family and this occupation as your private target role on this device.

Occupation content

Part of Healthcare and clinical services

A visual day in the work

What the work involves

  1. Assess speech, language, voice, fluency, or swallowing using standardised and observational methods.

  2. Set therapy goals and design sessions that fit the person's age, setting, and motivation.

  3. Deliver individual or group therapy and adjust targets as skills change.

  4. Assess swallowing safety and recommend diet texture or feeding strategy changes.

  5. Train families, teachers, and care staff to carry the approach into daily life.

  6. Write assessment reports and progress notes for the clinical or education record.

Entry-route stepper

How people commonly enter

  1. A graduate entry-to-practice degree in speech-language pathology or speech and language therapy.

  2. An undergraduate entry-to-practice degree where the jurisdiction recognises that route.

  3. A credential-assessment and examination route for practitioners qualified elsewhere.

Typical training: Postgraduate or professional degree

Licensing: Regulated in most jurisdictions. Confirm the current requirement with the regulator in your province, state, or country.

Work-context map

Typical work context

  • Public facing
  • Team based
  • Quiet focus
  • Varied work
  • Classroom

Public facing · Team based · Quiet focus · Varied work · Classroom

Related interests

  • Social (helping)
  • Investigative (analytical)

Social (helping) · Investigative (analytical)

Related aptitude preparation

These are preparation links only. They do not measure eligibility for this occupation and no score here qualifies or disqualifies anyone.

Skills to practise

Practice suites

Related learning

Family-level learning links for Healthcare and clinical services.

Official sources

Labour-market facts such as pay and employment projections are not reproduced here. Open an official source below for figures, with its own geography and reference period.

Labour-market context (not part of exploration match)

This is broad family-level context for Healthcare and clinical services in Canada, not a figure for Speech-language pathologist. It does not affect matching scores and is not an eligibility determination.

This is a broad Healthcare and clinical services family. Explore the official profile for the chosen occupation; entry education and training can differ within the family.

Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period

Healthcare and clinical services: education pathways

Some roles in Healthcare and clinical services may be regulated. Confirm whether the specific role requires registration, certification, or a jurisdiction-specific licence.

Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period

Healthcare and clinical services: licensing

Explore Canada's official sources

Find jobs

These are live, user-controlled searches on each source's own site for “ Speech-language pathologist”. Novus Learn does not fetch, store, or rank these results, and job availability never changes your exploration match score.

Report a change or missing information

Related occupations

Learn → Practise → Prepare → Apply

Continue from this occupation

Choose a learning action because it supports the work, not because a test score predicts career suitability.

When you get to the application

Novus Learn stops at preparation. These two Novus tools cover the paperwork, and like this site they run entirely in your browser. Nothing you upload to them leaves your device.

Report a change or missing information

Consent version 2026-08-21.1

Cookie preferences