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Speech-language pathologist / speech and language therapist
Assesses and treats problems with speech, language, voice and swallowing in children and adults, runs therapy sessions and home practice, and coaches families and teachers. Software has taken on part of the practice: in the largest trial, self-managed computer therapy improved word finding after stroke 16.2% more than usual care but did not improve conversation, with therapists setting it up; England's guideline says to consider such programmes alongside face-to-face therapy rather than instead of it. AI that judges each practice attempt and flags patients at risk of swallowing problems is being tested. The US projects 17% growth to 2035 as the population ages.
List which of your clients could use structured practice software between sessions, and who would support them.
This is not a probability of losing your job. It combines how much of the role's task load is exposed to automation with how far adoption has actually gone — useful for comparing occupations on one consistent basis, and for nothing else.
Written for speech-language pathologists and speech and language therapists working with communication and swallowing; audiologists, who share the ISCO code, are not covered, and physical therapists and psychologists have their own pages. The evidence is a US labour projection, a large UK trial and England's stroke guideline on computer therapy, a small study of AI-automated speech practice and one hospital's live swallowing-risk model; it establishes what software does to practice and screening, not how therapists' numbers or caseloads have changed.
What is actually changing#
The unit of analysis is the task, not the job title. A role is not replaced — its task mix shifts.
Each tile is one task. Its size is how much of the job it is; its colour is where the task is heading. Click a tile to see what the judgement does not establish.
One small study and the absence of a record; it does not show how assessments are done in clinics.
Trials of practice for word finding and one speech sound; they do not show software leading therapy, and the guideline says the NHS does not routinely use it.
One hospital's screening model; it does not show AI assessing swallowing or changing therapists' work.
Inferred from one trial's design; no record measures documentation time or how coaching is done.
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Recent changes#
United States. The statistics bureau projects employment of speech-language pathologists to grow 17 percent from 2025 to 2035, from 193,400, with about 12,500 openings a year. It gives an ageing population with more strokes and dementia, more awareness of speech and language disorders in young children, and more children with autism spectrum disorder as reasons. It does not mention technology.
A named person with standing publicly predicted something, on a date, in an attributable statement. It is recorded so that who said what, and when, stays checkable — and it never moves a task's assessment, because a prediction is not an observation. Its value arrives later: the record sits on the same page as the evidence about that occupation, so anyone reading the forecast reads the record of what happened next beside it. That is the reckoning; this site publishes no verdict on whether a forecast came true.
United States, five children with residual speech sound disorder. Pre-practice activities were led by a human clinician and drill-based practice was automated by ChainingAI; listeners heard more accurate /ɹ/ after 30 minutes of practice without a clinician, and the AI's agreement with clinician ratings was largely within the range of human-human agreement for four of five children. The authors evaluated their own tool.
A demo, benchmark or paper shows the task can be done. Updates what the technology can do — not what employers will do.
England. The guideline recommends considering a computer-based programme or apps for word finding alongside face-to-face speech and language therapy; the committee says it could be given in addition to face-to-face therapy rather than instead of it, did not recommend computer tools for other goals, and notes that computer-based therapy is not routinely used by speech and language therapists in the NHS. A recommendation to consider, not a requirement.
Failure, rollback, regulation or cost is suppressing adoption. Can lower an assessment or widen its uncertainty.
Austria, a secondary care hospital. A machine-learning tool integrated in the hospital information system predicted dysphagia risk from diagnoses, laboratory values and medication and sorted patients into three risk groups; sensitivity was 74.2 percent for internal medicine patients and 44.4 percent for geriatric patients. It flags patients for referral; it does not assess swallowing.
Small-scale trial in a real setting. Tells us the deployment conditions are being tested, not that they hold — so one pilot is never enough on its own; two independent ones are.
United Kingdom, 21 NHS speech and language therapy departments, people with long-term aphasia after stroke. Word finding improved 16.2 percent more with computer therapy plus usual care than with usual care alone, but conversation did not improve. Speech and language therapists provided the software, and volunteers or therapy assistants supported practice and fed back progress. The software is computerised practice, not AI.
A demo, benchmark or paper shows the task can be done. Updates what the technology can do — not what employers will do.
What this means for you#
If you are starting out, expect software and apps to carry more of the repetitive practice between sessions. Build what they do not do: assessment, choosing goals, therapy for conversation and swallowing, and setting up practice that fits each person.
Expect to supervise more home practice delivered by software, assistants and volunteers. Deciding what to treat and how stays with you.
Your options#
Four directions, each with its real constraints and one thing you can test this week. Continuing as you are is a legitimate choice — it just has to be a chosen one.
Learn to prescribe and supervise computer practice
England's stroke guideline now says to consider computer programmes for word finding alongside face-to-face therapy, and the largest trial shows they work when a therapist sets them up.
Evidence covers word finding after stroke and a few child speech sounds; other goals are not yet supported.
List which of your clients could use structured practice software between sessions, and who would support them.
Stay in assessment, swallowing and complex cases
No record shows AI assessing communication or swallowing in practice, and the US projects strong growth for the job.
Swallowing work often needs hospital training in instrumental assessment.
Check which swallowing assessments you are trained to do and what training the next one would need.
Move into supervising assistants and running practice programmes
Where practice moves to software and assistants, services need therapists who train and supervise them and track progress.
What assistants may do is set by each country's rules and employer.
Find out whether your service uses therapy assistants or volunteers, and who supervises them.
Common questions#
Not on present evidence. Software can carry repetitive practice and improved word finding in a large trial, but not conversation, and England's guideline says to use it alongside face-to-face therapy rather than instead of it. The US projects 17% growth for the job.
We do not answer that with a number of years. Watch whether guidelines extend computer therapy beyond word finding, and whether AI judging practice attempts moves from small studies into services. Those tell you more than any date.
For finding words, yes, in the largest trial: self-managed computer practice improved word finding 16.2% more than usual care. It did not improve conversation, and therapists set up the software while volunteers or assistants supported the practice.
The US labour statistics agency projects 17% growth from 2025 to 2035, driven by an ageing population and more awareness of children's speech disorders, and does not mention technology. Software changes how practice is delivered more than who is needed.
What these judgements rest on#
1 of 4 task judgements on this page are backed by a verified event and 3 are platform inference, each labelled where it appears. Behind them sit 1 technology dimensions, a reconstructed trajectory since language models reached the public, and 5 verified events.
See which technologies, how it got here, and the method →
Where it sits in the official classification: skills, knowledge, related jobs →
Other roles in the same function#
A company divides its work into functions before it divides it into jobs. These sit in Core delivery (industry-specific) alongside this one — a fact about org charts, not a judgement that they are similar or that they are changing in the same direction.
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