💡 Why it matters: Many children and adults struggle to speak, understand, swallow or use their voice after illness, injury or because they were born with a difference. Trained therapists are in short supply in many places.
🌍 Around the world
- United States: Jobs are projected to grow 17% from 2025 to 2035, much faster than average (US Bureau of Labor Statistics).
💰 What it can pay
🇳🇬 Nigeria
- Starting out
- ₦1.5M – ₦3M
- Mid-career
- ₦3M – ₦6M
- Senior
- ₦6M – ₦12M
≈ ₦250k – ₦500k a month mid-career. Indicative estimate by Incusim.
🇺🇸 United States
Median pay; low and high are the 10th and 90th percentiles. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025
🇨🇦 Canada
Speech-language pathologist clinician. Hourly wage low/median/high x 2,080 hours. Job Bank (Government of Canada), 2023-2024
Yearly pay before tax. UK, US and Canada figures come from the official sources named on each card. Nigeria has no official salary survey, so those are our indicative estimates. Real pay depends on the employer, the place, your skills and experience.
🛠️ What you actually do
- Test how well people speak, understand and swallow
- Plan games and exercises to build speech and language
- Support children who are late learning to talk
- Help adults recover speech after a stroke or injury
- Teach families, teachers and carers how to help
⚡ Skills you'll need
- Patience
- Communication
- Empathy
- Listening
- Creativity
Get ready at school
🇳🇬 Nigeria
- Few programmes exist in Nigeria, so many people study abroad or start in related fields such as education, psychology or nursing
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- Degree apprenticeship in speech and language therapy
- Start as a speech and language therapy assistant
🇺🇸 United States
- Work as a speech-language pathology assistant (rules vary by state) while you study
🇨🇦 Canada
- Work as a communicative disorders assistant (college programme) to gain experience
🗺️ Your path to this career
- 1Study English, Biology and a language at school
- 2Complete a speech therapy or related degree
- 3Do supervised clinical placements with children and adults
- 4Register or get licensed in your country
- 5Work in schools, hospitals or clinics and choose a specialty
⏰ A day in the life
You welcome a six-year-old who finds it hard to say some sounds. You play a card game that practises the sounds and celebrate every try. After lunch you visit a hospital ward to help a man swallow safely after a stroke, then write up your notes.