Teaching to audiology/speech therapy?

[cafesandbookshops]

Hello everyone,

I wanted to speak to anyone who does any of the above professions to see if they can help me make a decision as I'm a bit confused! I'll try not to waffle.

I graduated with a BA in Modern Languages and was torn between teaching or speech therapy. I've always wanted to have a job which is quite caring and related to language/linguistics. In the end, I went for teaching as I wasn't confident in my knowledge of science and I wanted to travel plus the TEFL was a lot cheaper and quicker than SLT.

After a few years of travelling, I returned to the UK and did a PGCE. I'm now in my NQT year and things are going pretty well. There are aspects of the job I like (planning interesting lessons, using my languages) but there are also some aspects of the job I don't love (mostly behaviour management). I have a more introverted personality and I find the size of the classes intimidating. Being in 'performance mode' is exhausting and I find dealing with the negativity from pupils tedious and repetitive. I find myself still researching the other careers above every now and again despite being in a very supportive school.

From what I understand, there is financial support for people wishing to retrain in allied health professions so I've been looking at audiology and SLT because the science of language/hearing/communication is really interesting for me.

Is it possible to have dual registration in both of these professions if you do the BSc Audiology + MSc Speech and Language Therapy or do you have to choose one? Which one would you recommend for work/life balance, satisfaction and career opportunities? I like the way audiology is objective and you can see concrete results but SLT also seems a bit more varied and with scope for creativity.

I'm in my early 30s and I feel like if I want to retrain, now is the time to start doing it so I can get back to where I am in my career quickly. I cannot fault the school for how much support they have offered me and I have mentally committed myself to another 2-3 years to get a bit more consistency on my CV as I have done a lot of job-hopping but I can't shake this unsettled feeling like teaching isn't really 'me'. I feel like it might go away or it might not :S

Any helpful advice would be much appreciated.

Is it possible to have dual registration in both of these professions if you do the BSc Audiology + MSc Speech and Language Therapy

As a graduate you can apply for graduate conversion course in either

Qualify in both.Technically yes, but practically no. why would You.
It’s two different careers in similar area. Fundamentally different careers though

SALT treat human communication difficulties and difficulties in eating or swallowing both acquired and from birth. Communication difficulties that arise from a physical or psychological source.

Audiology is treatment and assessment of hearing disorder. Fitting hearing aids, cochlear implants.they assess hearing loss, and use specialist equipment eg audiogram Work with clients who have emotional or psychological issues related to hearing loss

Two very different jobs
I can’t see an advantage to being dual trained

Hi @HeelsHandbagPerfumeCoffee thanks for taking the time to reply.

In that case, I’m definitely leaning toward speech therapy! Maybe as a therapist that works in schools or maybe I’d like to work with adults I’m not sure.

Unfortunately I can’t get any voluntary experience at the moment because everything is closed. I’m having a look for some online courses I can do while I’m in lockdown.

If you wanted to do both I believe you would have to do a separate qualification in each so I would definitely recommend picking the one that interests you most.

Trusts are still doing face to face work but they’ll be prioritising student placements over volunteers at the moment so getting experience is likely to be tricky as you say. I’d contact some schools/colleges to see if you can get some experience there, also look on ASLTIP which is the register for independent SLTs and see if you could perhaps get some experience (or even a chat) with someone from there. Or you could consider volunteering online with places such as Speak with IT. You will be supported and get experience supporting someone with a communication difficulty even though you may not be with an SLT directly.
There are also some good online resources available if you look at things like Tavistock centre and other charities.

Good luck and I hope this helps

Hello and sorry to reply so late but better than starting a new thread on the same topic! Thank you pink dungarees for taking the time to reply.

I have decided I definitely want to go down the route of speech and language therapy and have a plan of action. I’m going to self teach the science and maths IGCSEs over the next two years in preparation for an access to health professions evening course and then apply for the MSc.

The only problem is the only days for the IGCSEs are all mid week and I would have to take a day off school. I haven’t told anyone at school I want to retrain as it will take a while to build up my savings but I don’t think they will want me to take time away from my own GCSE pupils to retake my own GCSEs! So I’m not really sure what to do about that 😕

SLT is a fantastic career. Been doing it since 1984 and semi retired now. Over the years I have worked in paeds in community clinics, special schools (learning disability and physical disabilities), adults with LD, 6th form Colleges, dysphagia, forensic inpatient unit, and sign language teaching.
Its very flexible - you can rise through the grades as a part time worker and in many paces we are so in demand you can more or less name your own job - not salary sadly! There's group work, individual work, staff training, MDT working... Ifs fab, good luck

Thanks MrsPsmalls I’m really excited I think working with small groups and one on one will suit my personality so much more and the variety will be more stimulating as I find teaching the same lesson various times really repetitive.

I’ve heard that the masters is very competitive but based on my degree and experience would you say those are competitive qualifications and will be looked upon favourably?