Are SLPs Being Left Behind?

I personally would not want to pursue a doctorate unless it is streamlined to fit the working SLP's life. In the schools, we are bombarded with paperwork and high caseloads, not affording us with much free time for other pursuits. I would hope that there would be a program that could be finished in one to two years strictly online, giving the SLP flexibility to complete courses on their own time. Other fields have these kind of options, why not ours as well?

It took me almost five years (including summers) to finish my graduate degree track. This included almost 80 credits, 2 hospital internships and one school internship. It almost felt like I should have had a doctorate at that point, or at least some credit beyond a normal master's degree. All of this was done while working part-time.

Another issue would be keeping down the cost of tuition or making grants available. Some employers might be willing to pay some of your fees, but not all. I am still paying back my graduate loans after 11 years in the field and teachers in my district have not gotten raises for two years now.

So for me it all boils down to decreased amount of time/ costs and flexibility of the program.

There was a point in my career when I thought about pursuing my PhD in speech to gain more credibility with co-workers as well as to advance in the profession.  Unfortunately, at the time programs were not available in my area and since I had small children, going elsewhere was not an option.  As my children got older and I again began debating continuing my formal education, the financial considerations were significant - the tuition costs far surpassed the financial compensation I would recieve on the job, and college funds seemed better spent for my children.  An alternative I would love to see is a certificate program that would allow further studies into the field to expand my knowledge base.  I do think if your choice for a career path is at the college professor level, or in a hospital/clinic with a medical model, having a PhD would be more beneficial than in the school setting.

I definitely see a need for a clinical doctorate program in our profession.  Both for financial reasons - many employers pay a higher salary to those who hold a PhD - and for professional credibility reasons.  Many of us with Master's degrees would like to continue our professional development with a doctorate, but either are not interested in academia or prefer to further our education with a clinical emphasis.  We risk missing out on professional opportunities as the related rehab professions move to the PhD.

Many of the other disciplines (OT, PT, etc.) we work with have various options for continuing their education.  Programs are custom designed for the returning student with years of practice under their belt, utilizing online methods for convenience.  More SLPs might be willing to obtain a doctorate under these circumstances.  Personally, I would love to work for a higher degree than a Master's, but do not want to be "lumped in" with recent grads with no work experience.  We simply need to learn different things.

I have always had the opinion that speech pathology needs to be a 5-6 year program, with the speech pathologist graduating with a master's degree.  there is such a shortage of speech pathologists, at least in this area of the country, that this would help take care of the need.  it is also unfair to students who complete 4 years of undergraduate school, and then are not accepted to graduate school.  the way the system works now, I would never encourage anyone to enter our field, until a master's degree program becomes automatic with acceptance into a program.