Communication and Persuasion in Speech Pathology

At the end of this BYU road, I hope to be a speech pathologist, or one who studies communicative disorders. My entire field of study is rooted in how individuals communicate, discovering why their methods of communication may be ineffective, and designing and implementing therapies to improve their ability to communicate with others. If it isn't already obvious from my use of the word communicate four times in two sentences, my major deals pretty heavily with communication and persuasion, in fact that is the major!The attractive aspects of this major are that it is a blend of social science and the medical field, there are various settings for employment (hospitals, schools, nursing homes, and private practice to name a few), and we deal with a wide range of individuals. We work with babies, the elderly, and everything in between. Because we deal with such a large populous, this includes a variety of disorders such as: stroke recovery, physical malformations, swallowing problems, emotional problems, learning disabilities, etc. These are some of the things that really excite me about the Communication Disorders major.

Because this is the science of communicating effectively, all types of communication are utilized. It my understanding from the discussions I have had with professors that as a speech pathologist, I will be utilizing various methods to communicate with insurance companies/ doctors, clients, and their families. Professionally, I will utilize paperwork and documenting to reach persuasive ends with third parties. Recording observations and also improvements will allow me to use logos to properly advocate services for my clients and their families. It is part of my job to prove that action is necessary. With the clients, paperwork and documentation will not be persuasive in the slightest. With this audience, my goal is to establish independence, a sense of capability, and motivation within the individual. Since this job will include helping those on the autistic spectrum, those recovering from strokes, those with physical malformations, and so forth, no single intervention program will be exactly like the program used for another person (even for another person with a similar primary problem). Finally, to communicate persuasively with the family members of clients will also require a different approach. The goal in communicating with the family is to aid with the grieving process and convince them that intervention is necessary and can only be beneficial. The grieving process requires a very sensitive, understanding form of communication. It is extremely hard to learn that someone you love has a disorder, and a speech pathologist needs to be sympathetic to that and need to be able to evaluate when it will be appropriate to suggest an intervention program.