A day in the life of a Speech Pathologist

If you haven’t crossed paths with a speech pathologist before, you would be forgiven for thinking by the job title alone it’s a role that deals strictly with verbal speech.  

Dive a little deeper and you’ll find that verbal speech is just one small part of an important role that covers anything from chewing and swallowing, enjoying mealtimes, communication with sign language, picture cards, a communication device, literacy, to social interactions and much more.  

There’s also no age limit, speech pathologists can become a part of someone’s support team from birth into their 90s and support not only the individual, but the people around them to develop their skills as communications partners.  

We caught up with Kimberley Robson, Speech Pathologist from Aruma’s team in Windsor, Queensland to find out a little more about her day to day.  

Tell us a little about your role?  

As a speech pathologist, my role is to support people to develop not only their voice but their personal agency. This can look like a focus on developing speech, language and literacy as well as expanding people’s current communications skills and abilities. 

The key to my role is getting to know the individual to understand what’s important to them, develop a therapy plan and work together to achieve their goals, while celebrating their individual strengths along the way.  

In our team, we have a range of allied health professionals working together and sharing information to deliver the best outcomes for our customers. I work with the best team in the world and that’s something that brings me joy.   

What does a day in the life look like for you?  

Each day is different and that’s something I really enjoy about my job. Some days we start with a team meeting, discussing ongoing cases and sharing knowledge across the team.  

From there, I jump into my 4-5 customer sessions for the day. To me, it’s important that I’m with customers, working together in an environment that feels natural to them and is a part of their everyday lives.  

This means that my day might start with a therapy session at a customer’s home, where we talk about augmentative and alternative communication such as key word sign or a communication device.  

My next appointment might take me to a session at a bus station,  where they are using language in community places that are meaningful to them, our therapy here supports them to meet and connect with new people.  

Sometimes sessions might take place on the City Cat (the Brisbane Ferry) because that’s the most important communication environment for a customer.   

Throughout my day I am also writing therapy notes and reports, and preparing resources and therapy plans.  

What made you want to study Speech pathology?  

I knew I wanted to go into an allied health role, when I came across speech pathology, it felt like a good combination of my interests. I didn’t realise how broad the field was until I started my studies. As I learnt more, I found myself more and more interested by the variety and diversity.  I joined Aruma in November 2023 from another organisation and have been a speech pathologist for almost six years now.  

What are the highlights of your role?  

The biggest highlight is supporting a customer to achieve a goal they have been working towards. For example, I have a few young adults who have been working toward moving out of home into a supported independent living home,  and I’m lucky to work alongside them to support their communication during this transition. 

What would you like the community to know about speech pathologists and how they can support people?  

There’s so much diversity in the field – communication is so broad and can encompass so many different areas of a person’s development, such as eating, verbal and social communication, speech and social interactions. I feel there’s a growing understanding in the community in the value of the support, and I would love to see that continue.  

Speech pathology can also be flexible and creative to engage and support each individual in their own environment in a way that makes sense to them and their goals.  

If you think you or someone you know could benefit from a session with one of our speech pathologists, like Kim, give us a call on 1300 538 746 or contact us online.