Filed in Category Pediatric Therapy
I am in my Sophomore year of college as of right now. I just declared my major with a BA in Psychology. I’m not too sure about what I want to do as of yet. I know that with whatever I choose I will be in school for awhile. If I do decide to go into Pediatric Speech Therapy or Pediatric Physical Therapy what would I change my major too? or would I be able to take undergrad work in it after I get my BA in psychology? Also, which job is better? I think I may want to become a child psychologist but lately I’ve been changing my mind about things. Should I still pursue Child Psychology?
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I graduated last year with my BA in psychology, and I am now working toward my master’s in speech pathology (therapy). I don’t know the requirements for switching into physical therapy, but for speech you generally need to take at least one year of undergraduate “pre-requisite” courses before you can start a master’s program if your undergraduate major is not in communication disorders. So, if you decide to do speech, your options are to either switch to communication disorders now, or do an extra year of coursework after your bachelor’s.
Only you can decide what you want to do! I began to think about SLP when I was a sophomore in college, but my university didn’t offer communication disorders as a major and I really didn’t want to transfer. I finished up my BA and I am now completing the pre-reqs, and loving speech pathology. Everyone is different, though. If you are interested in Child Psychology, you may also want to look at school psychology. I had considered that before deciding on speech, because it only requires a three year degree after your BA.
I volunteered at a hospital in the speech department for a few months and it gave me a great idea of what life is like as an SLP. Research the professions, talk to people in those professions, and see if you can get some firsthand experience through volunteer work or by observing a professional at work. Good luck with your decision!
(As a side note: the first person who answered to say that speech pathologists make less money in a rural setting is wrong. SLPs can make a decent salary working anywhere.)
Psychology is nice, I don’t know much about the job field. Pediatric speech only in major metropolitin areas you can make alot of money, small towns no, BUT Pediatric PT you can work just about anywhere makeing good money, and work with kids.
you will be changing your mind every year based on all the different psych classes you will be taking. And to be a pediatric speech therapist or physical therapy specialist you need to do extra school after your undergrad degree but staying in psychology will be most beneficial as you are learning how the brain works, how it affects different human skills etc so stay in psychology as it is a broad subject. I am specializing in psychology (B.Sc)and right now am leaning toward neurology/neuropsychology. Also, you should do some research on whatever it is youre interested in and see what you need in order to become a certain type of psychologist. You will definitely need a masters and might even need a PhD or MD. So don’t worry about deciding what you want to be as of yet.