How to Become a Speech Therapist in Louisiana
If you live in the state of Louisiana and are interested in becoming a speech therapist, then it is important that you realize that this will not happen overnight. Instead, being a speech therapist and having success in the field is something that will take years of hard work and dedication. If you are willing to put in this hard work, however, and fully commit yourself to the career of your choice, you can enjoy a long and lucrative job as a speech therapist, and you will help many people along the way, as well as helping yourself.
Before you even think about taking that first step toward becoming a speech therapist, it is important that you research the field thoroughly. Find out more about what, exactly, speech therapists do and the different capacities in which they can work. While it is not imperative that you settle on a particular career or method of work before you start your education, you should have a few ideas in mind of what you would like to do. Don't make the mistake of thinking that later on down the road you'll find a job in the field that appeals to you. If nothing jumps out at you from the beginning, this might be a good indication that speech therapy is not the correct industry for you.
If, however, after doing some research, you feel more strongly that you would make a good speech therapist, then you should start pursuing an education right away. In order to become a licensed and working speech therapist in the state of Louisiana, you will require a master's degree, something that takes an average of six years of schooling, so it's best to get started right away. Your first step is to obtain a bachelor's degree, which you may do by receiving an associate's degree first and then transferring your credits to a traditional program, or by pushing straight through in a traditional program. Once you have your bachelor's degree, the world opens wide and you are ready for an even higher level of education: the master's degree.
A master's degree can take anywhere from one to three years to complete, with two years being the average amount of time used by professionals currently working in the field. A master's degree is designed to take all of the education you earned as an undergraduate, expand upon it, and, most importantly, to prepare you for a career in the field. Do be aware that, for even the best of students, getting accepted into a master's degree program can be difficult. So, plan accordingly for the application process and make sure that you choose several ideal schools as well as several safety schools to apply to if time is of the essence to you. Make sure as well that your program is fully accredited and that it offers you ample opportunities for internships, licensure help, and, if desired, even further education.
It is important to note that if you come to the field later in life, after you've obtained a bachelor's degree in an unrelated or only loosely related field, there is no need to start over from scratch. There are many master's degree programs that are willing and even excited to accept students from diverse, unrelated educational backgrounds, because this adds a unique perspective to the program. As such, make sure that you look at a variety of different programs and fill out many applications before scrapping it all and going back to pursue a second undergraduate degree. When your education is complete, licensure is all that is left before you can work in the field.