If youre preparing for an interview, its often helpful to review common interview questions. This can help you plan thoughtful responses, anticipate frequently asked questions and improve your chances of moving forward in the hiring process. When interviewing for a position as a speech-language pathologist (SLP), your interviewer may ask you a variety of questions about your education, experience and career goals. In this article, we provide a list of 35 common SLP interview questions and offer sample answers for five of them.
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Explain how you would assess a child who is a non-native English speaker.
What They Want to Know: School hiring committees may ask this question if they serve a large population of non-native English speakers, so be prepared to explain how you would handle language differences with your students and their parents.
I am bilingual in English and Spanish, so I’m able to work directly with students and their families who are native Spanish speakers. For other populations, I have experience sourcing and working with translators to communicate effectively.
Understanding Speech Language Pathology Career Opportunities
First, before you start hunting for a job as a Speech Language Pathologist, it’s important that you understand what paths are open to you.
The good news is that it’s one of the five allied health careers in demand for the foreseeable future, so it’s an excellent career choice.
In addition, SLPs are highly-educated professionals who, typically, have a minimum of a master’s degree in their field. This qualifies them to work in a variety of healthcare professions and with a variety of issues.
Job requirements for a Speech Language Pathologists includes evaluating and diagnosing communication and swallowing disorders in patients as well as devising treatment plans.
For example, as a Speech Language Pathologist, you can help with:
- Speech delays and disorders: These include issues such as articulation, phonology and motor speech disorders.
- Language delays and disorders: These include helping with expression and comprehension in oral and non-verbal contexts.
- Fluency disorders: Typically related to stuttering.
- Voice and resonance disorders: These include issues such as vocal cord nodules and polyps, vocal cord paralysis, and spasmodic dysphonia.
- Swallowing and feeding disorders: These include difficulties feeding for both children and adults.
- Cognitive-communicative disorders: These include social communication skills, reasoning, problem solving, and executive functions.
- Pre-literacy and literacy skills: These include phonological awareness, decoding, reading comprehension, and writing.
- Other disorders: These include hearing impairments, traumatic brain injury, dementia, developmental, intellectual or genetic disorders, and neurological impairments.
It’s critical to know as much as possible about the position that interests you before applying for the job. This way you can determine what the expectations will be, and how to answer any and all speech language pathology interview questions.
But before we get to the interview questions, let’s talk where to apply.
Where to Apply for Speech Language Pathology Jobs
Speech Language Pathologists can work in a wide range of settings:
- Schools
- Nursing facilities
- Federal government
- Regulatory agencies
- Hospitals
- Clinics
- Private practices
- In-home health care
The good news is no matter where you work, as a Speech Language Pathologist you’ll generally enjoy a job with a flexibility and upward mobility, according to the U.S. News.
What’s more, you can expect a median salary of $73,410.
As for where to apply, there are typically two main career settings: schools and hospitals/clinics.
According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), approximately eight percent of children between the ages of three and 17 have a disorder related to speech, voice, language, or swallowing.
In educational settings, Speech Therapists follow the same schedule as the school, with summers and holidays off. They collaborate with teachers to optimize student success and may meet with other educators or parents as well.
Speech Language Pathologists working in schools should expect high caseloads, as school systems do not always have enough therapists to meet the demands of their student population.
SLPs in schools should also expect a wide range of disorders from cleft palates—one in 600 children in the U.S. is born with a cleft palate—to stuttering, conversational speech, and social skills.
Clinicians who enjoy working with adults rather than children might consider a hospital or nursing facility setting.
Speech Language Therapists in hospitals and clinics help patients to progress and meet goals after suffering from a medical condition, such as a stroke. This presents some unique challenges.
The hospital setting lends itself to technological advances. Therefore, hospital-based Speech Language Pathologists must be trained and knowledgeable in a range of areas including:
- Videofluoroscopy
- Fiberoptic endoscopy examination of swallowing
- Trach/vent care
- And more
In a 2007 SLP Health Care Survey, SLPs working in both general medical and rehab hospitals were asked about the challenges they faced. Here’s what they had to say about the top five challenges:
- 36% paperwork
- 45% high productivity requirements
- 43% insufficient reimbursement
- 36% keeping current with advances in clinical information
- 32% unsatisfactory salary/benefits
However, for individuals working in these and private practice settings, they often feel rewarded by the impact they have on the client and his/her family.
