Education Station Speech Therapy Locating Speech-Language Pathologists, Developmental Pediatricians, Pediatric Neuropsychologists and other professionals

How do we go about finding a speech therapist and/or other professional?

To find speech-language pathologists:

In your research for a speech-language pathologist, aim to find someone in expertise in the area in which your child is having difficulty. First seek someone with experience with children. Next seek someone with experience with children that are similar in age to yours. Working with toddlers is different from working with teens. If you already have a diagnosis or have a feeling about what the diagnosis will be, look for someone with experience in that particular disorder. When you hear the same name several times from different sources, you're on the right track!

Some resources to check:

Your local yellow pages: This will give you some familiarity with the local rehabilitation centers and pediatric hospitals.

American Speech-Language Hearing Association, the organization that licenses speech pathologists, provides an online database of therapists. See ProServ: Online Directory of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Programs

Canadian Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists provides a list of provincial associations. Check your provincial association for information about practicioners in your area.

Local school districts' special education department diagnostician: Call your local school district's special education department and ask to speak to the diagnostician. See if the diagnostician will share with you the names of the speech-language pathologists with whom the district works when needing an outside evaluation.

Public school speech therapist

Local universities' speech language pathology departments: Local universities' speech-language departments have a lot of experience with assessment of children with speech-language disorders. Evaluations and therapy are often provided by students and charged on a sliding-scale based on family income.

Internet Listing of Speech-Language Pathologists' E-Mail Addresses

Stuttering Foundation of America's Referral Lists Includes countries outside of the United States, as well