Speech therapists work within a broad area and have close contact with patients. Speech therapists examine, diagnose, and address communication skills in patients with various forms of voice, speech, and language disorders.
Model of brain and throat
Speech therapists work with people who have problems with reading and writing, voice disorders, stuttering, and children with delayed speech or cleft palate. They also help people who have developed problems with language, speech, voice, or the ability to swallow following motor vehicle accidents, stroke, or due to neurological disease. Speech therapists also work with feeding and swallowing problems, as well as other oral-motor function problems in neonates, children, adolescents, and adults.
Speech and Language Therapy Program
Six institutions of higher learning offer the program in Sweden. The four-year program includes both theoretical studies and clinical training, leading to both an occupational degree and a master’s degree in speech pathology and therapy. The Speech and Language Therapy Program requires 240 credits and is a combination of the humanities, natural science, and medicine.
The Speech and Language Therapy Program at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm admits 38 students every other year. The program is administered from the Speech Pathology Clinic, Karolinska Huddinge, where most of the theoretical and clinical training also take place following four terms of psychology, linguistics, and basic medical courses. Clinical training including treating patients under supervision gains momentum at the end of term 4 and is mainly carried out at Karolinska University Hospital.
Speech therapists can be found in the following settings at Karolinska University Hospital:
Research is carried out in all areas of speech therapy. Examples include voice disorders, speech disorders associated with dementia, and palate function.