European day of Speech and Language Therapy

Yesterday, March 6th, was the European day of Speech and Language Therapy. This day is supposed to bring more attention to the work of speech and language therapists, and the people who need their care. I was talking to some SLP colleagues the other day, and we agreed that still many people don’t know what we do. Common misconceptions:

• A “logoped” (SLP in Swedish) works with for example feet and knees. - Hmm, no, you’re thinking of an “ortoped” (orthopedic surgeon)
• SLP:s are “speech ladies” who teach children to pronounce /s/ or /r/. - Well, we’re not all female. And treating pronunciation difficulties is a very small part of what we do.
• An SLP is a teacher who specialises in speech and language. - No, teacher and SLP are two different professions.
  

CPLOL has a very good definition of an SLP on their web page:

The speech and language therapist / logopedist is concerned with communication and with language, and treats all disorders of speech, voice and spoken and written language, regardless of aetiology, in children, adolescents, adults and the elderly.
The speech and language therapist is the professional responsible for the prevention, assessment, treatment and scientific study of human communication and associated disorders. In this context, communication encompasses all those processes associated with the comprehension and production of spoken and written language, as well as appropriate forms of non-verbal communication.

CPLOL is short for Comité Permanent de Liason des Orthophonistes/Logopèdes de l’Union Européenne, or, in English, the Standing Liasion Committee of E.U. Speech and Language Therapists and Logopedists.

Unfortunately, I don’t think yesterday brought much attention to SLP:s in Sweden: when I googled “logopeddagen” (SLP day) I got 12 hits…