For a speech therapist?

Question

I'm going to be a freshman in college this year, and I already know that I want to be a speech-language pathologist (aka/bka speech therapist).

Though we aren't required to declare majors until our junior years, my major as of now is Communication Studies with a concentration in Speech and Hearing Sciences.

Is this the ideal major? Or should I major in Psychology or Linguistics?

Answer 1

Some interesting choices.  In part, you could consider what you are  interested in, and the quality of classes being offered.  you could possibly double major, do a major+minor, or take a few classes in the other fields for background. If you are going to be working in a school system, you may want to take some linguistic classes.   The speech therapists in our district  have all gotten training in phonemics , Lindamood Bell , visualizing verbalizing, autism ( and Asberger's syndrome)  etc. A few psychology classes could be helpful, but you should have something specific in mind before minoring or getting a second major in that area.   I once took a class called " Psychology of speech/ language  disabilities"  which was right  on target, but when that teacher retired, no one stepped up to continue teaching the class.

Talk to your mentor or adviser in the speech department and see what is going on in the field.  Maybe you can find something cutting edge that would combine some unusual fields.