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A Year in the Life of a Traveling SLP

 6 min read

Julia Kuhn shares an overview of her experiences as a traveling speech-language pathologist. Travelers take short-term contracts in various facilities around the country, moving as they go.

January: Northeast in New England

Snow is falling and the roads are slippery while driving to work in rural western Massachusetts. The weather is gray, but it is nice to be close to my family on the East Coast for the holiday season. As the only SLP covering two skilled nursing facilities, there is a daily caseload of 8-14 patients who need help with speech, language, cognition, and swallowing. It can be stressful and challenging to manage the caseload between two buildings.

One building I cover is a smaller, 80-bed long-term care facility that serves mostly residents with dementia. The other building has a dedicated 30-bed transitional-care unit and gets a lot of rehab patients. These buildings have a constant need for traveling therapists since their rural location makes it hard to attract clinicians to permanent positions.

The facilities do not have a lot of materials available for speech therapy. I’m grateful for my iPad to access all my apps wherever I go. The  Language Therapy 4-in-1 app  for aphasia is extremely useful because it has such a variety of therapy stimuli. The patients love the colorful pictures and interactive component of the app!

February: Vacation Down South

Time to board a plane and fly south! One of the biggest perks of being a traveling therapist is the ability to take extended amounts of time off in-between contracts, if you budget well. My time in western Mass has come to an end and now I’m off for a two-month hiatus! As a traveler, you can choose to work, or not work, at your discretion. The next six weeks will be filled with exploration and learning Spanish in Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico City, and Playa del Carmen.

Early March: Planning Ahead

The phone rings, and it’s my recruiter. He has good news; my California license, which I applied for two months ago, has been approved! SLPs need to have a state license in every state where they work, and licensing applications and requirements vary. It can be challenging and time-consuming to apply for new licenses and keeping up with requirements.  Moving forward, I ask my recruiter to contact me if any acute or inpatient rehab jobs open up in California with a late March or early April start date. Travel therapy jobs can open and close very quickly; if you don’t act quickly, you can easily miss an opportunity.

Mid-March: Taking a New Travel SLP Assignment

A job has opened up at an inpatient rehab facility at a Level I trauma center in Fresno, California. I give verbal approval for my recruiter to submit my application for the job. The next day, he reports that the facility likes my resume and wants to do a phone interview. During the phone interview, I ask about productivity expectations, the speech pathology team, job requirements, patient caseload, and why they need a traveler; along with many other questions.

After a phone interview, the facility generally wants to know within 24 hours if you are accepting a job or not. This job is a good fit, so I tell my recruiter that I’ll accept. The facility feels the same way about me, so it’s a match! My recruiter and I negotiate a pay package and sign a contract to start work the first week of April.

Early April: Central California Rehab

Time to board a plane again! This time it’s to fly from my home on the East Coast to California. I arrive in California, rent a car, and move into my temporary housing. As a traveling therapist, if you meet requirements to maintain a residence at home while you travel, you can qualify to receive tax-free housing stipends or paid housing while on assignment.

I choose to take a tax-free housing stipend and find my own short-term housing. For this assignment, I am living in a house owned by a traveling nurse who is away on her own travel assignment. My roommate, a Fresno native, introduces me to all of the fun spots around town.

Day 1 at work still gives me the jitters. This first day gets off to a great start! There is a wonderful team of four SLPs. The inpatient rehab unit has 30 beds, and most of the patients have suffered brain injuries or strokes. There are several younger patients who sustained trauma that resulted in the need for a tracheostomy tube for breathing or a PEG tube for feeding.

The orientation to the building and speech department was thorough! The lead SLP shadowed me for two days and gave me feedback on my sessions. She also provided training on their computerized documentation system.

It is wonderful to actually get an orientation on a travel assignment. It is more common to walk into a building, be given a list of patients, and told to “go treat”. You have to be prepared to hit the ground running when you are a traveler, so it’s not the best job for new clinicians.

Late April: Making the Most of a Travel SLP Assignment

The weather is crisp and the skies are blue! This is the perfect time of year to pursue one of my passions, hiking! On the weekends I venture into the tall, granite mountains of Yosemite National Park. Yosemite is breathtaking – by far one of the most beautiful places that I have been!

June: On the Move Again

This month is my last on-assignment in Fresno. The hospital hired a permanent SLP for the job vacancy that I was filling.

Meanwhile, my dream has just come true: I accepted a job in Hawaii! Hawaii has been on my bucket list forever, and I’ve applied for multiple jobs in the past, but never got accepted. In a month I will be working at an acute care hospital in Honolulu.

July: Aloha Hawaii!

The “aloha” spirit of the island is everywhere on Oahu. The team at the hospital is very friendly and welcoming. At this hospital, I am primarily working with geriatric patients for dysphagia. I spend most of my day performing clinical bedside swallowing evaluations and some videofluoroscopic swallow studies (VFSS or MBS).

The  Dysphagia Therapy app  can help acute care clinicians quickly decide which treatments are right for their patients after a clinical or instrumental swallowing study.

On my days off, I head to the mountains and beaches. There are a lot of travel therapists in Honolulu, and we are quick to meet over social media and become close friends.

November: Travel SLP Contract Extended

Things are wonderful in Hawaii, and I don’t want to leave! Luckily for me, the traveler position is still available and my contract gets extended for another 13 weeks. Now I will get to spend the holidays in Honolulu!

While reflecting on the year, it is crazy to think how much has changed. From a snowy January on the East Coast, to hiking the mountains on the West Coast, to the holidays in Hawaii, you never know where you will end up as a traveler! Traveling allows you to see the country, to work in different settings, and to have the flexibility to take time off. It can be a crazy but rewarding lifestyle for a confident clinician who can stay organized, plan ahead, and go with the flow.  

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Julia Kuhn , MS, CCC-SLP specializes in adult neurogenic rehab.  She has worked over 20 travel contracts across the United States and has traveled to 15 countries in her time in-between contracts.  She blogs resources and inspiration for healthcare travelers at  www.thetravelingtraveler.com . Join her Facebook group:  Travel Therapy Therapists .

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Welcome to The Travel SLP!

If you are a current, former, or future travel speech language pathologist, you are in the right place!  We are committed to building a travel SLP community where we can learn, share, and grow together. 

Gone are the days of scouring blogs, YouTube videos, and Facebook groups to find information about how to be a therapy traveler. Our goal is to be a one stop shop for all things travel speech therapy. From recruiters to contracts, housing to licensure, we’ve got you covered!

Whether you are wondering if travel therapy is right for you, or you’ve got 10 assignments under your belt the Travel SLP is here to support you in your journey! 

Sign up below for emails with tips, recommendations, checklists, traveler deals and more! 

Handpicked Adventures

Our goal is to create a community of travel speech language pathologists. A place where future travelers can learn the basics and current and former travelers can share their wisdom, resources, and stories. The life of a traveler is a life of ups and downs, there’s adventure and excitement as well as uncertainty and loneliness. We aim to make the traveling lifestyle attainable to everyone by offering tips, resources, support and inspiration.  

What We Offer

Resources  .

Check our Blog and Resources page for tips, tricks, hacks, and checklists to help you get started or continue your travel journey. Subscribe to get occasional emails with tips, tricks, and traveler deals!

Join our Facebook group and follow our Instagram page and Tik Tok (coming soon) to make connections, ask questions, and meet others in all phases of the traveler lifestyle. 

Not sure if travel therapy is right for you? Wondering if you have the skills for a particular setting? Looking for someone to talk to about your next assignment? Sign up for a 1:1 coaching call with the Travel SLP! 

Take the guess work out of travel therapy and learn exactly what you're getting into.

Our courses are designed to take current and future healthcare workers from non travelers to travelers! 

wan·der·lust

/wɑndərˌlʌst/

:strong desire to travel :strong longing for or impulse toward wandering

Helping therapists find adventure and freedom through travel jobs

Travel Speech Therapy (Travel SLP): The Step-by-Step Guide

Travel speech-language pathologists take short-term contracts across the United States to fill temporary staffing needs. As a travel SLP, one month you might be working in a skilled nursing facility in Virginia, and the next month doing home health in California. If this sounds like your dream job, then you might be wondering how to become a travel SLP. 

I’m Julia, a travel SLP, and I’m here to guide you through this journey. Being a travel SLP has broadened my personal, clinical, and professional horizons. I have worked in six states and over 50 different healthcare facilities across the country. As a travel SLP, I learned about the diverse subcultures in the United States and have learned to become an advocate for myself and my patients.

To say that being a travel SLP changed my life is an understatement. Yet, travel is something I didn’t even know existed until I was a couple of months into my clinical practice. Here are the basic steps you need to follow to become a travel SLP.

Steps to become a travel SLP

• Determine if travel is for you
• Obtain state licensure
• Research the industry
• Connect with recruiters
• Get credentialed 
• Job search and submission
• Phone interview
• Accept or decline position
• Onboard with agency
• Move to your assignment
• Start your job!
• Extend your assignment or travel to a new location 

We will break those steps down further in this piece. 

Determine If Being a Travel SLP is for You

A travel SLP is not just a job, it’s a lifestyle and it’s not for everybody. The SLPs who seem to enjoy travel the most are the ones who are up for an adventure and are flexible in new situations. Every assignment is a new adventure and you are constantly walking into the unknown.

Traveling can be a wonderful way to not only see the country but also to expand your clinical skills and learn from new clinicians across the country.

As a traveler, you will work short-term, temporary assignments that may last anywhere from 13 weeks to a year. Due to the temporary nature of the contracts, you are an at-will employee who can be canceled or replaced anytime. There is not guaranteed work, so you may find yourself without a job. 

Employers will also expect you to be clinically independent in your work. While there isn’t a standard minimum experience requirement to be a travel SLP, you will be expected to see your caseload independently with little to no orientation or supervision. 

If you are considering being a travel SLP, I would take this time to pause and think about the lifestyle, pros, and cons of travel life. Take a moment to write down goals, both professional and personal, that you have for yourself. Envision where you see yourself in five years. Then, decide if being a traveler fits into those goals and visions for yourself.

If you can see yourself as a traveling SLP and want to learn more, keep reading!

Exploring Joshua Tree National Park while on assignment in Indio, CA

Obtain State Licensure

In a dream world, having an ASHA certification would allow you to work in every state across the country. However, that is not how it works. Even the much-anticipated SLP compact is not slated to cover licensing for all 50 states. Thus, for each state you work in, you need state licensure for that specific state.

States require that you complete their state application. However, you may also need to complete verification letters from every other state in which you have carried a license. The state to state license verification process can take weeks and is completed via snail mail.

Applying for state licensure can be a long process

While some states may turn over an application in as little as a couple of weeks, others can take months. Meanwhile, when a travel job is posted, it may be filled in as little as a day. Thus, you need to have your licenses active if you are planning to apply to travel jobs.

If you are serious about travel and serious about getting a travel position, I would start your journey by getting licensed in multiple states. To determine which states are hot for SLP jobs, I recommend this resource by Nomadicare which provides an average number of open jobs for each state over the month.

I personally recommend that SLPs consider licensure in California. California is a vast state with continual needs for SLP coverage in multiple settings including schools, SNFs, outpatient clinics, and acute care facilities. California is a great license to have and opens the door to many contracts. If there is one state to get licensed in, this is it!

Research the Travel SLP Industry

If you landed on this blog, you may already be researching the travel SLP industry. This website is full of fantastic resources for travelers of all experience levels. I also encourage you to follow my content on Instagram @thetravelingtraveler_ and TikTok @juliakuhnslp to stay up to date on all things travel SLP.

For a more in depth journey into how to become a traveling therapist, I recommend taking my premier course, The Guide to Travel Therapy.

Good reads for all travelers:

• How to become a travel therapist
• How to Find Short-Term Housing 
• Understanding travel therapy pay rates 

I also highly recommend attending The Traveler Conference: TravCon . TravCon is held annually in Las Vegas and provides education, networking, and community for traveling healthcare professionals. This event has speakers from leaders in the industry and boasts over 1700+ attendees. It is kind of a one-stop shop for all things travel, including meeting other travelers and recruiters/agencies.

Travelers connected at TravCon

Connect with Recruiters and Agencies

There are hundreds of agencies that staff travel therapy jobs. Most travelers work with somewhere between 2 to 5 agencies to find the right assignments for them. Each agency you work with, you will primarily communicate with one individual, your recruiter. Your recruiter is going to be your main point of contact for that agency and will present you with jobs and assist you to submit jobs, get interviews, and land assignments. 

When finding an agency to work with, it is important to consider not only the agency itself, but also your relationship with the recruiter you’re working with. 

When looking for a travel SLP agency/recruiter, here are some things to consider:

• Benefits (e.g. day 1 health insurance versus insurance after 30 days, etc.)
• Communication with a recruiter. The recruiter you work with is your professional tie to the company. Make sure you have a good working relationship and mutual respect with them. Be clear on your communication preferences up front and make sure that you can both work mutually.
•  Jobs in a particular location/setting. Some agencies have exclusive contracts with certain facilities and you have a greater selection of jobs working with certain companies. When you are interviewing companies, you can ask them upfront if they have any exclusive contracts in the location or setting that you are interested in. 

What travel SLP agency do I recommend?

To be honest, I’ve worked extensively with so many agencies and have seen a lot of good and bad out there. I cannot broadly recommend an agency because of the bullet points I mentioned above. What works for me may not work for you, and every agency is different. Some travel SLP agencies cater more towards school SLPs, while others are more medical. Bigger agencies might be a better fit for certain individuals while smaller ones work better for others. 

I am happy to share the recruiters that I work with! I love the recruiters that are a part of my team and will send your information their way if you fill out this contact form.

Get Credentialed With Agencies

Once you find an agency or agencies that you want to work with, the next step is to complete the credentialing process. This process tends to be a bit time consuming, so you only want to do it if you know you are serious about working with an agency. 

The credentialing process involves getting all of the required materials together for job submission. This can include sending in copies of state licenses, ASHA cards, BLS certification, vaccination history, a criminal background check, two or three professional references, and a detailed resume of your work history.

By completing the credentialing process, you will be ready for your agency to submit you to assignments.

On assignment in Hawaii

Travel Speech Therapy Job Browsing and Submission

When you are credentialed and ready to go, your agency can submit you to jobs. Jobs in the travel world can be very hot. Some jobs may open and close in one day, because they have so many candidates submitted. Others may be kinda stale and linger open for weeks and months. You can browse jobs and connect with recruiters r ight here on my website .

Because jobs may fill so fast, it is important to have good communication with your recruiter during this time. Your recruiter will be your go-to person to tell you about open job listings. Act quickly by communicating regularly with your recruiter.

When presenting a job, your recruiter should tell you all of the identifying information about that job, such as pay rate, anticipated schedule, location of the facility, name of the facility, and any other important details.

If you are interested in a job, based on a recruiter’s description, then you can agree to submit your application for the position. The recruiter will be the one to submit your file, based on the information you provided during the credentialing process. However, more information may be needed for your job application at this time, so make sure you are in contact with your recruiter.

Travel Speech Therapy Phone Interview

If the facility is interested in your application, you may receive a phone interview with the manager or director of the job. Make the most of your phone interview, this is your only chance to make a good impression to be considered for the position. 

The phone interview is also your only time to directly ask questions about the job. You should use the time on the phone interview to ask all of your questions and find out as much about the facility as possible. 

About 90% of the time, a job offer will be presented to you on the phone interview. You don’t have to commit to the job over the phone, although it can happen. If you don’t receive an offer over the phone, you can ask the interviewer why they didn’t present an offer and when you should expect to hear back from them. 

Accept or Decline an Offer

If you get a job offer on the phone interview, you want to let your recruiter know ASAP, especially if you are accepting the job. If you are unsure about the offer, you can anticipate having 24 hours to consider an offer. After 24 hours, the position may be offered to somebody else if you haven’t accepted yet. Although, there can always be room for more time, just communicate with your recruiter. 

Accepting an offer verbally or written over email is considered the beginning of your contract. So if you say “yes” make sure that you mean it. Then, you will get a written copy of your contract to review and sign. Review your contract carefully to ensure that the information is correct, including start date/end date, any guaranteed hours per week, pay rate, cancellation policy, and requested time off during the contract.

Onboard with the Agency and Facility

When you accept a travel SLP position, you have to complete onboarding requirements for both your agency and the facility you are working for. This can include drug screens, TB tests, vaccinations, a physical, respirator fit test, online competency modules, and more background checks.

Onboarding can take a LOT of time!

If you accept a position, be prepared to act quickly to complete your onboarding tasks. It really feels like a whirlwind to get everything done. 

Start Your Job as a Travel SLP!

While it has taken a lot of work to get to this point, now your real work is just beginning. You get to move to your new location and begin work at your new job. For the next 13 weeks you can explore a new area, live like a local, and work in a new building.

Here are some blogs that you may want to read at this step:

• How To Find Short-Term Housing
• Preparing For Your First Day

Extend or Travel

Time flies while you are on contract. Before you know it, it may be time to start looking for your next assignment (usually about three to six weeks from your end date). Your facility may ask you to extend your time with them and you could extend your contract. Or, you could move on to a new job.

Life as a travel SLP can open up a lot of new opportunities.

Please join my email list to stay up-to-date on my new posts and to receive a free PDF copy of my Crash Course to Travel Therapy Guide. This has lots of tips on how to become a travel SLP. Best of luck on your journey!

Related posts:

• Can I Take a Local Travel Contract
• Travel Therapy Tax Home Basics
• Travel Therapy Recruiter: The Basics
• Why Traveling Healthcare Professionals Should Have An Emergency Fund

10 thoughts on “Travel Speech Therapy (Travel SLP): The Step-by-Step Guide”

I love your website! I’d like to subscribe to your email list and get the PDF for beginners!

Thank you so much for the compliment! You can subscribe to the email list on the bottom of each blog post and on the home page. Hope you enjoy it and the ebook helps out 🙂

Nontraditional grad student here. This is a career choice I would love to consider in a few years when my children are all out of the house. Please add me to your email list so I can keep getting updates on new posts. Thanks for all the great information!

Sounds exciting! You can sign up for the email list on the bottom of the blog pages and on the main homepage. Hope you enjoy the information!

Hi! I am currently in my final year as an undergraduate student in the Speech Language Pathology Program at The University of Akron. I have been looking at grad schools, and was wondering where you went, and if you have any recommendations of where to go to become a travel SLP? Thanks!

Hi, thanks for the questions! I went to Emerson College in Boston. I would recommend going somewhere where you are not going to accumulate a large amount of debt and has plenty of strong externship opportunities. As a traveler, you’ll need to be clinically independent and it helps a lot not to have huge student debt payments to make because your pay is variable.

Hi, I am third speech-language pathology student at a university of fort hare. In south africa, I would like to know whether it possible for me to be a travel speech therapy and do I have to have a masters degree? What advice could you give me for I am interested in working around the worlld and providing my services after my community services year. Thank you very much

I’m not sure but it will likely depend on where you work and the agreement that your national organization has with that country for license reciprocation

Travelling therapy is really very exciting but I’m not much familiar with this concept. As it’s not very popular here.

Hello! I wanted to ask whether SLP-A’s can work internationally. I am trying to figure out where I can find more information about this. Thank you so much! 🙂

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Traveling SLP Questions: Part 1

July 13th, 2019 8 minute read

I've officially become a traveling SLP!

And now that I've packed up my entire life, moved across 6 states, and started a brand new job, I   finally  have time to answer some of the many questions I've received!

Let me give you a quick overview of my process with acquiring a travel SLP job:

-I began researching about this career avenue in February/March when I started thinking about how much I just couldn't stand winter up north any longer (sorry, mom!)

-Throughout my research, I learned there were MANY opportunities for school based therapy as a traveling therapist (I LOVE working with the kiddos, and really didn't want to be in a hospital or SNF setting. Just not my personal preference right now!)

-I started searching around Facebook for groups for traveling SLPs and therapists. I found an awesome community and started posting some questions! I also did lots of research within the group on various companies, pros and cons, companies who have multiple school placements, etc. This helped me A TON. Probably more than any Google search I could've done! 

-I began chatting with some school based travel SLPs, and was really open about how I was interested in this career choice but really wanted to learn more. Every single person I interacted with was SO NICE and so eager to help me!!! I encourage you to reach out and ask... what's the worst that could happen?!

-I found an AWESOME recruiter! But not on the first try... it took me about 3 recruiters before I found one that I felt was REALLY responsive and helpful. I wanted someone who texted or emailed me back immediately, who didn't make me feel dumb for asking a million questions, who viewed me as someone that she wanted to create a relationship with (not just a paycheck!). Once I found her, I stuck with her! I still talk to her often, and she still answers all my annoying questions lol. Having an extremely responsive recruiter is HUGE!

-After a super informative phone call with my recruiter, where she asked lots of questions and really got to know me and learn my preferences, I explained to her which areas of the United State we were interested in. She ran through all the logistics with me, and said she'd send me job listings that night for the states I preferred (I'll preface this with the fact that we wanted to stay on the east coast to easily fly home!). I couldn't believe how fast the process was! All of a sudden, two hours later, I had over 2 dozen jobs at my fingertips that I could apply for! I picked a few, chatted with my recruiter some more, and we decided which to submit my application to. 

-24 hours later: I got a request for my first interview! I'm not kidding when I say this process moves FAST. That's why I encourage you to do AMPLE research before finding a recruiter. Learn as much as you can about travel jobs. Everything will make so much more sense to you if you've already got your background knowledge built! 

-I interviewed two days later, and was offered the job (gasp!!). I had about 4-5 days to decide to take the job. It was honestly really stressful! I had to decide if I wanted to quit my permanent job, pick up my entire life, and move to a brand new city that I've never even visited! But.... it was also   SO THRILLING!  I made a lot of pro and con lists with my fiance, and the cons list remained so much smaller than the pros list.

-I decided to take the leap! I accepted the job!! It was the scariest and most exciting thing I've ever done in my life. I was very secure and happy at my previous perm job, and I adored my school and coworkers. However, I also knew I was meant to do more. I knew I would regret never moving out of my small town, and I knew I wanted traveling to be a bigger part of my life. I also knew that my longggg hour commute (one way!) was taking a huge toll on my life. Everything pointed to GO and I jumped in. I haven't regretted it ONCE! (Despite the many tears as I said goodbye to all my family members)

Common Questions about Traveling Therapy:

1. How long are you in one place?

This answer will vary based on the type of traveling SLP that you are! I personally chose a school year contract, meaning I'm at school for the full school years length of time (August to May). I could do various contracts, such as a leave of absence, maternity leave, etc if I find one that I liked. For this one, we wanted to be in Atlanta for a bit longer so we took the ten month contract! If you're interested in SNF, acute care, hospital settings etc, those are often shorter lengths of time, as short as 16 weeks!

2. How often will your placement change?

This is another one that is kind of just up to my preference! I could take another contract right way in May when I finish in Atlanta, but I will likely take the summer "off" to focus on some other things. I will interview in April/May to determine my next placement! The flexibility is great-- I could decide to take off longer than just the summer and start later in the school year! If I'm really set on a certain area, I can jump on it and interview. I LOVE how in control I am during the hiring process.

3. How do you set up your next position/location?

Starting next spring-ish, I'll begin researching locations with my fiance. I have no idea where we'd want to go next, so I think we'll wait and talk in March and see how things are going! Once we pick some areas/states, I'll contact my recruiter (or she'll remind me when it's time to start applying!) and we'll go from there. We like to research the area FULLY once she sends us listings. We have some "must have" items on our list for locations (i.e. within hour to major airport) so we make sure the area fits us before I submit applications.

4. Does each state require a license?

YES!!! But... your travel company takes care of all this! All I had to do was submit documents to my company, and they paid for and took care of sending everything. It was so easy (**ease of this varies state by state, but make sure your recruiting company does the busywork and payment on their end regardless of the state you choose/accept!)

5. How does pay compare to permanent positions? Does it outweigh costs of travel?

I'm going to dive more into the money benefits of travel in question 6, but I'll answer the first part here. I'll be an open book with this one: I'm paid three times more per month in this travel job as compared to my perm position back home in the school setting. There's a lot of variance with this because I'm coming from a super small rural district. Cost of living is much much lower. Etc etc etc... I'll say it again: do your research! 

6. Are you given some type of living stipend since you uproot so often?

Yes! This took some lengthy research and discussion with travel therapists for me to figure out. You have two options: you can either take a living stipend from your company, OR have them pay your rent which comes right out of your paycheck. After researching, I learned it's usually better for them to give you the living stipend IN your paycheck, especially if you can find housing for less than what they predict (it's usually based on cost of living in that area). This stipend is non-taxed, and I receive a stipend for housing and a stipend for food. This accounts for the fact that I still am paying rent at my home-base location (for me, that means I'm paying rent in NY). This is required in order to receive a non-taxed stipend. If I'm ever audited by the state, I have to prove that I was paying rent in both locations. This sounds crazy, but for my fiance and I, it works out great because despite each paying rent, we're still saving tons of money and paying off student loans with the extra funds. I could see this being a little trickier for those traveling solo. I advise you to really research this area of the job, talk with a tax person from your state if you need more in depth information. Just a tip!

Okay, I'll stop there before this becomes the longest blog post in the speechie world lol. I think I've covered most of the logistic type questions for you! I'll be back with personal/specific questions I've been asked regarding the type of school, caseload, relationships, etc.

I'm so glad you're here for this journey!

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4 Reasons to Become a Traveling SLP

Making the shift to travel therapy is a career and lifestyle unlike any other, especially for speech language pathologists looking for a life adventure or career change. Here are four reasons why you should consider becoming a traveling speech language pathologist:  

1. You Want To Gain Experience or Change Settings

One of the key benefits of working as a traveling SLP is the opportunity to gain experience in a wide variety of settings as a new grad. Whether you want to specialize in pediatrics, or are open to helping clients of all ages, you have the choice of working in schools, outpatient clinics, home health, rehab facilities, or hospital networks across the country. In fact, since the pandemic began the demand for virtual speech therapy has greatly increased, providing you a “travel free” experience as a traveling SLP.  

Maybe you’ve been working with a specific patient population for most of your career, or maybe you’ve been in a single setting. If you’re ready to start traveling, we’ll find you the assignment you want most – in whatever setting you choose. In fact, the more flexible you are with your patient population preferences, the greater the likelihood of placing you in positions in your favorite locations, or even virtually.  

2.You Want an Adventure and a Paycheck

3. Hit the Ground Running in Your CFY

Travel Speech Language Pathologists have the ability to complete their Clinical Fellowship Year while on a travel assignment with an agency! SLPs working on their CFY can enjoy the benefits of a travel assignment while also enjoying the support of their clinical fellow and on-the-job supervision. At Jackson, we have a mentorship program and a support team that’s dedicated to ensuring the success of our traveling therapists. Being a travel SLP as a new grad means you have help at every step of the way as you transition from school to a full-time job. It also means you get to skip the search for clients as a new grad, you’re guaranteed to have work when you’re a traveler!  

4. Make Lifelong Positive Impacts With a Short-Term Contract

Traveling across the country for work means you’re faced with a new set of diverse clientele everywhere you go. You get the unique chance to not only grow your skills by seeing a wide range of cases, but also by working with patients of all ages. The challenges faced by patients can change depending on their location, affluence, age, and so much more. As a traveler, you have a chance to impact lives in a meaningful way, especially in regions of the country where access to Speech Language Pathologists is rare or limited! Whether you want to work 3 months, 10 months, or 2 years, travel contracts for Speech Language Pathologists are on the rise. Are you ready for a change?  

Read More Articles Like This

• Can You Complete Your Clinical Fellowship Year on the Road?
• What is a Traveling Therapist: The Ultimate Guide for Beginners
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8 Things to know if you aspire to be a traveling SLP

New Year’s means new resolutions and that could mean checking new places and adventures off your bucket list. What do you aspire to accomplish? Learning to surf in Hawaii, skiing the Rockies or hiking that mountain in California? For the SLP with a sense of adventure you may want to consider becoming a traveling therapist. Being a traveling therapist allows you to travel and explore the United States while maintaining a job as an SLP and getting paid for work.

The term “travel therapy” can be vague; it generally refers to the industry that staff’s therapists in short term contracts across the United States. Travel therapists are used to fill short-term, immediate staffing needs secondary to staffing shortages or temporary leaves.  Jobs can be in any setting and are typically between 3 to 9 months in duration.

Here are some things to know if you are considering a career as a traveler…

1. be prepared to “hit the ground running”.

As a traveling SLP you will be working in places that have immediate staffing needs, some more dire than others.  From the start of your assignment, you may be expected to perform your job and assume a full caseload with little to no orientation.   Having strong clinical skills and caseload management abilities can help make the transitions easier.

2. You will learn A LOT

The idea of taking over a new caseload with little orientation may sound challenging and scary.  However, you do not need to be a veteran clinician to be a traveler. Being a traveler will introduce you to new settings, buildings, new patients and new co-workers.  It is a great way to enhance your clinical skills and expand your practice.

3.  Nothing is Ever Free

As a traveling SLP you will be subcontracted to a facility through a staffing agency.  There are hundreds of staffing agencies competing for your business and their marketing tactics can be misleading.  Agencies advertise free housing, CEU’s, relocation, etc, but of course there is a catch.

Everything you need to know about being a traveling therapist is in the “Guide to Travel Therapy” !

What is important to know about reimbursements is that nothing is truly ever free.  A staffing agency essentially gets paid a sum of money for each 13-week contract that you complete. Think of that money as one big pie that can be cut in many different pieces.  First, the staffing agency is going to take their share of the pie to cover expenses to run the agency and make a profit.  After that the rest of the pie is yours and can be split different ways.  You may choose to split the pie into 13 equal paychecks every week. You may also choose to have money allotted for housing expenses, moving expenses, ASHA dues, etc. and then make less money per week.  Make your money and contract work for you and divide it as needed.

4. You May Qualify for Tax-Free Stipends

As a traveling SLP you may qualify for tax free living and housing stipends if you maintain both a residence at home and duplicate expenses by traveling to a temporary location for work.  If you qualify for a tax-free stipend, it is again coming out of the big pie, as mentioned above.  Staffing agencies follow government guidelines to determine the amount of stipend that they can allocate based on geographic area.  Thus, your stipend may be different if you are working in San Francisco vs Omaha.

5. You Can Extend Your Time

You may be asked to extend your contract for more than the initial time.  Taking an extension is your decision and has pros and cons. Extensions can ease the burden of moving so frequently, but they can hinder our wanderlust souls.

Thank you to Julia Kuhn, blogger, over at The Traveling Traveler Blog. For those times you wish you could be an SLP in Hawaii, check out her “Guide to Travel Therapy” .

If you continue to extend at a location for a whole year, you would no longer be considered a temporary employee; per IRS guidelines.  You would still be eligible to work in the same location after a year, but would no longer be considered a temporary employee and would no longer qualify for tax-free stipends.

6. Research the Industry

As you can tell from the last three bullet points, there is a lot to learn and know about working in the travel industry.   Do your research before becoming a traveler. This could include:

• Find a mentor who has travel experience
• Join groups on social media to connect with other travelers i.e. “Travel Therapists” and “Travel Therapy”
• Read websites and blogs about the industry
• Attend “The Traveler’s Conference” which is an annual 3-day conference in Las Vegas every September.  TravCon has seminars on travel and connects more than 1000 travelers and agency representatives in one location.
• Speak to an accountant or tax professional knowledgeable in traveling professionals and filing multi state income taxes

7. Explore Your New Surroundings

While three months may sound like a long time to be at a place, it goes by very quickly. Take advantage of your time at your new location to explore and engage in your surroundings. Think about your bucket list and New Year’s resolutions; remember what it is you want to accomplish this year and go for it!  Make a list of things you want to do or places to see at every contract and stay proactive in checking items off that list. Join community groups, take classes and engage in your new environment! Before you know it three months will be over.

8. Attitude is everything

Your attitude is a big part of what will determine your success and happiness as a traveling therapist.  Traveling can be a challenge, but it can also be an extremely rewarding and enriching experience.  If you go into an assignment with a negative attitude you will likely have a negative assignment. Going into a building with a positive attitude is key for success.

Best of luck and happy travels to everybody beginning new adventures!

Links of Interest

Check out Julia’s E-course “The Guide to Travel Therapy”

Check out Julia’s blog at The Traveling Traveler

Join her Traveling Therapist Facebook Forum

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Working Internationally as a Speech Language Pathologist

Since we have personally spent a lot of time traveling abroad , we often get questions about working internationally as travel therapists. We have actually never worked abroad and don’t have plans to; we choose to only work in the US as travel therapists. However, we do know that there are American therapists who do work abroad in different capacities. We want to share with you Noel’s story: a speech language pathologist (SLP) who has had a unique career working internationally. Noel highlights his variety of work experiences, some of which have been unconventional, and he provides insights to other American therapists who are considering trying to find work abroad. Get ready to be inspired!

Noel’s Story

My name is Noel Erik Simon and I’ve been an ASHA (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association) certified SLP since 2006. During my time as an SLP I’ve worked internationally in several different countries. If I had to point to the reason why I’ve chosen my current lifestyle, it would probably go back to my time as an ESL teacher in the Peace Corps. I was stationed about 3.5 hours south of Moscow at an experimental school in Ryazan. After repatriating and finishing grad school, I always had the dream of living abroad again.

The opportunity came as I was completing my clinical fellowship year (CFY). I saw a posting on the ASHA website for an SLP position at an international school in Jakarta, Indonesia. Serendipitously, I had taken a linguistics course in the past couple of years and remembered my professor saying that he had grown up in Indonesia. I reached out to him and he was very excited about this possible opportunity for me. That was the first step that led me to an SLP career abroad. Ironically, I didn’t end up moving to Indonesia. I ended up moving to Cairo, Egypt in August 2007 instead. Since that time, I’ve lived in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Beijing, China; Warsaw, Poland; and I’m currently in Hong Kong.

Even after moving abroad, I haven’t always worked in an international school setting. In Vietnam, a friend introduced me to a group of related professionals made up of special education teachers, pediatricians, a school psychologist, a play therapist, and an occupational therapist. I quickly found that I was the only practicing SLP in the country at that time. My new colleagues started sending me referrals; I made some business cards; and I built a reputation for myself in the expat and international school parent community providing private SLP services. I took my fee schedule from my OT colleague. This allowed me to make a good amount of money and make my own schedule.

Because of this flexibility and increased income, I was able to gain a lot of great experience with some side pro bono work as well. I traveled with Operation Smile on surgical missions to Cambodia, China, Uzbekistan, and Rwanda. I was able to partner with local NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and special education schools in the city to provide workshops and training for teachers and parents. One of my proudest achievements was partnering with an NGO that rescues women from human trafficking. I worked with the survivors to help them modify their accents so that they could tell their stories to a wider audience in their own voices.

The variety of work that I had done by this time convinced me that I wasn’t as pigeonholed as I thought with my profession. Typically an SLP is seen as either educational (pediatric) or medical (adult). Of course, there are many other sub-categories, but these seem to be the biggest areas. With a little bit of creativity, I was able to branch out of my mindset of what I could do with my skill set and really extend myself.

Advice for Others Job Searching Abroad

I would say that there are several routes you could take if you’re looking for a job abroad as an SLP:

First: You could go the route of taking advantage of the mutual recognition if you want to work in five of the other primary English-speaking countries. This route requires a lot of research and finding a job first. After that, the job should help you with licensing and a working visa.

Second: If you’re an education-based SLP, I would suggest some search sites for international schools. Most of these have a fee (some cheap, others pretty expensive). A few examples are:

• tieonline.com
• searchassocitates.com
• its-schrole.com
• db.grcfair.org
• linkedin.com

Working for an international school means you get to take advantage of school holidays: 6-10 weeks off during the summer, 2-3 weeks off around Christmas/New Year’s, a week off in the fall and spring, and depending on which part of the world you’re in, another 1-2 weeks some time in winter for Chinese New Year. All of these are what I like to call “Travel Holidays”. These are great because one of the things that can make travel prohibitive from the US is the cost of getting out of the US (unless you’re a proficient credit card hacker ). Once you’re abroad, travel becomes significantly less expensive from one place to another. There are usually multiple discount airlines to choose from around the world.

Third: For pediatric and medical-based SLPs, I think there is a misconception about a large part of the world. People assume some kind of language barrier if you’re not looking at just the Anglophone countries. This is not entirely true. There are many countries that are officially another language but they use English as the lingua franca, or English is somewhat of a co-official language and it may not immediately occur to people. I would recommend checking job postings in the Middle East (specifically the Gulf States) or SE Asia (Singapore especially, but also Malaysia and Thailand). 

Fourth: I’ve talked to many people who’ve also recommended government jobs like the DOD, Veteran Affairs, Department of the Army, etc. All of these jobs have been centralized on USASjobs.com. Of course, these are more like a traditional job on a U.S. Army base (or Army base adjacent), but the people who I’ve talked to have highly recommended this lifestyle.

If you’re searching for travel therapy jobs in the US instead of abroad, check out our Hot Jobs List and Recruiter Recommendations page for help getting started as a US-based travel therapist.

Almost every country has a sizable expat population. Even countries that you wouldn’t consider probably have a great need for “allied health” professionals. If there is a specific country that you have in mind, I would say to just do some research. Better yet, take a vacation and backpack around there and do some recognizance. You’d be surprised what you might find. I had no idea what the situation would be like in Vietnam. I got a job as a whole-school SLP and elementary school learning support teacher. I wouldn’t have known until I got there that there was enough of a need that I could start my own private practice.

I know that, in addition to the Anglophone countries, Europe is always big on people’s wish list. I would say these are all possible, but if you’re trying to do this for the money, then put these places out of your head (except possibly some places in Eastern Europe). If you want to make much more than you could in the US, then Asia and the Middle East are much better options. If you get a teaching job at an international school, even if your salary looks smaller than what you might be making in the states, keep in mind that housing is usually provided separately from this, and your salary will probably be tax-free. What you’re are being quoted is often (depending on the country) your net salary, without housing, flights, visa, etc. (these are provided separately). Plus, often these countries are much less expensive to live in than the US. For example, my first teaching job abroad was in Egypt. My salary was a little more than half of what I was making in the US. However, because Egypt is an extremely inexpensive country to live in (much more so than to travel through as a tourist), I found a cheaper place to live (pocketing the difference in the housing stipend), and I picked up some clients on the side, I was able to save significantly more than I was able to in the US. In fact, my two side clients paid all of my day-to-day expenses, so I was able to save all of my salary (except for what I used to travel on). I also had a 3-bedroom house, a driver, a house cleaner, a gardener, and a cook.

Another thing about working abroad is that many ‘developing’ countries don’t have the same standards as far as licensing goes. Some of our professions don’t have an equivalent in these countries, so there is no license. I was the only SLP in Vietnam when I was there. There was no need to seek out a licensing body. If you’re working at an international school, you’re often seen as a “foreign expert”. It’s more important to have a teaching certification than a license. I think that, with some major exceptions, a lot of the strategies are the same for occupational therapy and physical therapy professionals. I’ve only heard of a handful of international schools around the world that have employed occupational therapists. So, physical therapy might be the only profession out of the three that may already exist as a local profession in most countries. You would need a bit more research, but if I were trying to find a job in those fields, I would still check with clinics in the same areas (Asia and the Middle East). I would also just do a Google search on “working as a (insert job) in (insert country).” Checking LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and Indeed have also given me a lot of ideas.

In my experience, most contracts for international schools are initially two years (with school holidays) and then the option to renew yearly after that. Clinics may be just one year. I have been traveling with my wife since 2007. At least one of us has always had a job offer before we’ve moved to a country, sometimes both of us. Obviously, we both try to find jobs, but we have the added challenge that we’re both specialists (SLP and librarian), and basically, we’re both non-teachers. Out of the five countries that we’ve moved to together, we were both offered jobs at the same school for three of them. We’re not naïve going into jobs, but most of the time, when we’ve been offered jobs, it’s because we usually go by our motto “Leap and the net will appear”. Even bad job decisions aren’t permanent, and you can learn from them.

Cultural Considerations

The countries where I’ve lived have been very easy to go about your daily life with little to no knowledge of the local language except niceties and “taxi language”. But, one of the reasons that I’ve chosen to live abroad is for a chance to learn a new language. I really don’t think there’s any better way to immerse yourself into the culture of another country than trying to learn as much of the language as you can. In most of the jobs abroad, you’re going to be with a mix of locals and expats, probably mostly speaking English. It can be challenging to force yourself out of your “easy” group of English-speaking friends and try to make more local friends, but the payoff is huge.

Most of the places I’ve worked have a very diverse staff. There are many international schools that are only international in that the curriculum is taught in English and most of the staff are native speakers. The student body could be 90% host country nationals. However, the average international school might look like a public school in Brooklyn or Queens, with students from 50-60 different countries. There are definitely cultural differences between colleagues and families. Sometimes it’s misunderstandings with host country people, but I’ve found most of my cultural misunderstandings have been with other “westerners”. I would say for anyone working abroad, it might be helpful to keep in mind that just because you might look like someone doesn’t mean you share the same cultural assumptions. I also think that in many ways it’s easier to live in a country in which you might not look like the majority of the people there. People look at you and assume that you’re a “foreigner”. You’re often treated as a guest. But I’ve also worked in countries in which I more or less look like I could be indigenous to that country. People assume that I must understand the language and the cultural nuances. They might have a little less understanding of my mistakes as I get acclimated to how things are done there.

For me, settling into a new country and discovering how to live, pay bills, find the best deals on groceries, learn to cook local food, etc. are the biggest pluses to living there instead of just traveling there. Most countries don’t have a Home Depot or a Costco. Most shopping is done at little shops or open-air markets. It sounds so mundane, but one of the best feelings I get is when I need to buy something that I wouldn’t think twice about in the states (e.g. a lightbulb). Finding the specific local shop that sells the lightbulb that I need and being able to conduct the entire transaction in the local language is incredible. Having a tourist stop and ask you directions is a cool feeling too. In some places I’ve lived, I’ve even had locals ask me how to get to an address because they weren’t familiar with the neighborhood. 

If it’s your dream to work abroad, there are a lot of different possibilities out there. First, suspend all of your preconceptions about licensing and language ability. Secondly, don’t be held back by your job title. There are more opportunities than you think in related fields. Do some research on a desired location to get started, and then plan a trip to get a feel for what it’s actually like on the ground. Reach out to schools, clinics, etc. Be willing to move on if things end up not fitting. Decide what’s important to you and keep at it!

Noel Erik Simon is an American-trained Speech Language Pathologist. He has worked in a variety of settings including international schools, group homes, early intervention programs, clinics, and NGOs. He has presented workshops and training to parents and other professionals on a range of topics related to speech and language. Over the past 15 years, he has lived and worked in the US, Russia, Egypt, Vietnam, China, and Poland assisting children and adults with a wide range of needs. You can find him via the following social media platforms: Instagram: @vaguely_vagrant Linkedin:   www.linkedin.com/in/nesimon1

We’d like to thank Noel for his insights in this educational guest post! If you’re an SLP, PT, or OT who’s interested in working abroad, feel free to contact Noel for further insights. If you’re interested in travel therapy opportunities in the US, feel free to contact us here at Travel Therapy Mentor with any questions, or get connected with our recommended travel therapy recruiters by filling out this form .

~Whitney and Jared, Travel Therapy Mentor

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Published by Travel Therapy Mentor

Travel Therapy Mentor is brought to you by two traveling physical therapists, Jared and Whitney Casazza who have been working as travel healthcare professionals since 2015. We are here to help mentor others who are considering starting a travel career, as well as provide information to current travelers to grow and expand their knowledge. View all posts by Travel Therapy Mentor

3 thoughts on “ Working Internationally as a Speech Language Pathologist ”

Hi Noel, my name is Elizabeth at Parkinson Voice Project. I came across your page and LOVE the work you are doing! We are a nonprofit that helps people with Parkinson’s regain and retain their speech and swallowing. Currently, we are trying to get SLPs trained in our program worldwide. A woman reached out to us from Bali saying her voice is almost all the way gone. We don’t have any SLPs that are licensed there, and are desperately wanting to help her, and others in Eastern Asia. Please check out our program, if you, or any other international SLPs you know are interested please let us know.

What are your recommendations for working in Poland as an American SLP? I am currently an SLP grad student who is highly interested in doing my externship or CFY in Poland! 🙂

Hi Maria, Noel wrote this as a guest post for your site. Here is his contact info:

You can find him via the following social media platforms: Instagram: @vaguely_vagrant Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/nesimon1

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How to Launch Your Career as a Travel Speech-Language Pathologist

May 2, 2022

Megan Bebout

How to Launch Your Career as a Travel SLP

…No, it’s not Robert Pattinson as Batman. They are speech-language pathologists ( SLPs ), obviously!

Also called speech therapists, SLPs are specialized medical workers who “prevent, assess, diagnose, and treat speech, language, social communication, cognitive-communication, and swallowing disorders in children and adults,” per the ASHA . So basically, they’re wizards.

Communication connoisseurs

SLPs wear many hats. Clearly, wizard hats. Okay, okay, not actually those kinds of hats. Rather, professional and metaphorical hats that help them best treat their patients in personalized ways.

But who exactly would need help from SLPs? Anyone of any age who may struggle with:

• Speech sounds: How we say sounds and put sounds together to make words
• Language: The extent to how well we understand what we hear, read, and how we use words to express our thoughts to others
• Literacy: How well we read and write
• Social communication: How we talk with different people or how well we understand social cues
• Voice: How we sound
• Fluency: Aka stuttering, one of the most common speech disorders , or how our speech flows
• Cognitive communication: How our minds work
• Feeding and swallowing: Our ability to suck, chew, and swallow food and liquid

How do they do that? Are they actually wizards? I mean, sort of, in a way that they don’t have magical powers. But they do have insane medical knowledge and skills that are, in fact, super powerful and help them get the job done. As an SLP , you’ll put your talent to use to:

• Perform patient screenings
• Diagnose and treat speech, language, and swallowing disorders
• Provide aural rehab for patients who are deaf or hard of hearing
• Design individualized care plans tailored to individual patient needs
• Help patients strengthen speech and communication skills
• Educate families and caregivers on how to best care for patient at home
• Do research to learn more about human communication processes to improve treatment methods

That’s right, and you can do all that cool stuff in multiple different work settings . You can find speech therapists in private practices, physician’s offices, hospitals, schools, universities, rehabilitation centers, long-term care facilities, and residential healthcare facilities.

“Being an SLP is my dream job and always will be,” said Nicole Allison. “I love that we get to work with such diverse age groups and skills. I’m always learning so it never gets boring!”

Steps to start your SLP career

Saying a career as an SLP is rewarding would be like saying cake is delicious—some things just don’t need to be said. So, it’s no surprise that SLPs ranked no. 3 in Best Healthcare Jobs by U.S. News . Plus, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ( BLS ), the future job outlook for SLPs is shining brighter than the sun itself with a 29 percent projected growth rate between 2020 and 2030. During that decade, it’s estimated 15,200 speech therapy jobs will be available each year.

Really, what we’re trying to say is being an SLP is rewarding work that leaves you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. I mean, think about it: You get to watch as patients build their strength and overcome adversity right before your eyes! You can see their progress in real time and feel good knowing you played a part.

“Communication exists in every plane of human existence, and it’s most taxed during these key life questions,” said Katie Gore. “Most of our clients come to us during a period of transition: A job promotion, an upcoming marriage, change in family role. They come with questions about communication, but the answers are closely tied to the life situation answer itself—and I never know what that is! But we figure it out together and that’s why I love this job. Our clients write their own paths, and we are fortunate enough to be a sideline coach for some specific skills. Being invited to experiencing the process of figuring life out, with my clients, has changed who I am as a person.”

The anticipation is killing us. Wait no longer! If you’ve found yourself enthusiastically nodding along while reading, as if you were in the crowd of a baseball game chanting the lyrics to “Sweet Caroline,” then might we suggest you start your SLP career ? Now’s your time to shine! And we’re going to spill the deets on how you can become an SLP.

No. 1: Complete your bachelor’s degree

To become an SLP, you must first complete your bachelor’s degree, and if you haven’t done so already, you may want to think about majoring in communication sciences and disorders (CSD). Don’t sweat it if you’ve already graduated or if you’re mid-school because it’s not a requirement! Just be prepared to complete additional prerequisites before you apply to graduate school, which is, spoiler alert, step no. 2.

No. 2: Earn a graduate degree in speech-language pathology

Now that you’ve got your bachelor’s under your belt, it’s time to take school up a notch and earn a graduate degree in SLP from an accredited institution . This could be a Master of Science in Communication Disorders, Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology, Master of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders. I mean, your options here are endless.

No. 3: Get to work (work, work, work, work)

Hey Alexa. Play “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton. Because it’s hustlin’ time!

You have your undergrad degree You have your graduate degree The next thing to check off is a clinical fellowship year ( CFY ).

Your CFY is like if careers had preschool. The goal with this fellowship is to help you transition from SLP student life into SLP real life. It’s a professional mentored experience that starts when you complete your graduate program. The ASHA requires a minimum of 1,260 hours and a minimum of 36 weeks of full-time experience (or its part-time equivalent). To help break it up, the fellowship is broken into three equal segments, which add up to be about 420 hours per segment.

No. 4: Time to get certified

Some states require aspiring SLPs, like yourself, to complete the Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology ( CCC-SLP ). Administered through the ASHA, the CCC-SLP is considered the gold star credential in the field.

No. 5: Pass the Praxis exam

You’re almost there! Keep it up just a little bit longer.

The Praxis exams in Audiology and SLP are meant to test recent grads on the essential content and current practices of the medical field. Oh, and did we mention this is also how you earn state licensure, among other requirements, depending on the state.

No. 6: Live your best adventure

Congratulations, you SLP, you! As Elle Woods said, “You did it!” Cue the flying graduation caps.

Now it’s time to start living your best life as an SLP. And what better way to do that than by getting paid to travel the U.S.? While also improving lives, obviously. Since you’ve graduated, earned your degrees, gained experience , been certified, and licensed, you can grow your SLP career into med travel . So, start traveling with Fusion Medical Staffing !

With Fusion, you know all sides of you are covered, not just your back. Here you’ll receive premium travel pay, retirement investment, certification reimbursement, health, dental, and vision insurance, and then some . Want to know more? There’s only one way to find out.

Q&A with A Fusion Medical Staffing SLP traveler, Kendra

We wanted to know more about what an SLP does, so we sat with traveler, Kendra Jones, to hear about what it means to her!

Megan Bebout: Hey Kendra! Tell us a little bit about what SLPs do .  

Kendra: Hello! So, I tell patients that I work "from the neck on up," and that seems to do the job when explaining what an SLP does! As efficient as I can get without saying, "We work on voice, motor speech, language, AAC, cognitive-communication, dysphagia, speaking valve use" and so on.

MB: Right on. “From the neck up” is a great way to describe SLP! Can you tell us how you chose to be a SLP?  

K: I decided to pursue being an SLP after my grandfather's stroke, and just generally becoming more aware of the impact my dad's deafness had on his daily living. Growing up, I thought he was just "one of those cranky old dads" who didn't like to go out much, and who thought it was fun to yell in the grocery/restaurant/general public areas. Nah, it turns out, he just couldn't hear anything. I was kind of late to the game on that realization!

But to become an SLP, I had to get my undergrad, then Master's with clinical rotations, and then a clinical fellowship of 1,260 hours before I had my national license (CCC). I don't want to remember how long all of that took. 

MB: Oh man. I feel like we all think we have that kind of dad, but your dad had a reason to be cranky! What is the most rewarding part about being a SLP? 

K: The most rewarding thing for me is getting a patient back home in some capacity. Even more so when I can work with physical therapists ( PTs ), occupational therapists ( OTs ), or respiratory therapists ( RTs ) extensively! 

MB: Love that! Okay, lastly, what makes SLPs superheroes? Because they really are!

K: Superheroes?? What?! But probably...bringing life and personality back into a person after so many communication obstacles. Oh, and  safely  helping someone swallow that apple martini or beer. 

SLPs work with patients from all backgrounds and ability levels and help them communicate to the fullest. Whether you’re working with a patient with dyslexia, autism, or someone recovering from a stroke, SLPs make a positive impact to give individuals more control and freedom in their lives. Travel SLPs do just that but everywhere! Take your SLP career to the next level and start traveling with Fusion Medical Staffing . We promise you won’t regret it.

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Breaking news, plane passenger slammed for refusing to switch seats mid-flight — is he in the wrong.

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A plane passenger was called “incredibly rude” after refusing to move seats for a woman who was desperate to get away from a crying baby.

According to a viral Reddit thread posted this week, the anonymous 34-year-old man was traveling with his wife, 36, from Dublin to Washington, D.C., and were initially assigned a window and a middle seats in economy class.

However, when no one showed up to claim the aisle aisle seat in the same row, the man moved over for more space.

For the first 4.5 hours of the flight, the man claimed “nothing eventful happene.”

Then, a random woman across the aisle approached the couple alongside her friend from the back of the plane. According to the disgruntled Redditor, the woman “announces that her friend would now be taking the middle seat [in between the couple] to get away from a crying baby.”

“She did not ask — she told us this was happening,” he wrote.

The man called over the flight attendant for assistance, who informed both parties that the woman who wanted to move seats needed to take an available aisle spot, “but could not disrupt anyone’s seating arrangements.”

“The woman then starts b—-ing about how I was assigned the middle but then moved to the aisle before takeoff, so I shouldn’t even have that aisle seat,” he continued.

After disappearing to talk to the flight attendant for a few minutes alone, the woman from across the aisle returns to her seat, calls the man a “f—ing a–hole” and informs him that “her friend would not be sitting there – not because she was not allowed to, but because I was so incredibly rude.”

“The only thing I did this entire time was ask to talk to the flight attendant. I did not say anything else to this woman, though I would have liked to,” he continued, asking readers to weigh on whether he was rude for “not volunteering the middle seat mid-flight.”

Debate ensued in the comments on Reddit, with users divided over whether he really was “an a–hole” for refusing to give up the empty seat in his row. While some people dubbed him “entitled,” others said the combative passenger was in the wrong for not politely asking.

Nicole Campoy Jackson, a travel expert, writer and advisor for Fora Travel, told People that asking the flight attendant for help “was the right move.”

“I am always in the camp of getting a flight attendant involved for sticky in-flight situations,” she said.

“Tensions run high when we’re traveling plus they would know, for example, if there was another aisle seat or another solution to this problem. They have more context than we, the passengers, do.”

While Jackson said the man isn’t “entitled to the unoccupied aisle next to him,” since his assigned seat was in the middle,” “the other passenger isn’t entitled to move because of an inconvenience at her seat.” 

“Unlike moving to accommodate someone while you’re still on the ground, when you’re more than halfway through the flight and then asked to move? That is disruptive,” Jackson continued. “I understand why he would have been resistant to the idea.” 

Like many of the Reddit commenters, Jackson believes a polite inquiry and reasoning would have resulted in a different ending for both parties involved.

“The best way to approach this situation would have been to walk over to the man and explain, ‘I’ve been having a difficult flight because of the baby next to me. I know this aisle seat was open before we took off, would it be okay for me to sit here for the rest of the flight?’” she said. 

At the end of the day, “switching seats does always boil down to flexibility, understanding, and kindness of our fellow passengers,” she added.

“That starts with the ask, by the way,” she said. “It also, of course, boils down to what’s possible within the rules of the airline, the safety of where everyone needs to be at a given time, and what’s been paid for.” 

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9 Habits of Frugal People To Apply Every Time You Travel

A recent survey from Nationwide Travel Insurance found that travel is on the rise, with 91% of survey respondents saying they have domestic travel plans in 2024 and 50% planning to travel internationally. Forty percent of those polled said they plan to travel more this year than they did in 2023.

See Also: 7 Cheap, Beautiful Places for a Winter Vacation

Learn More: One Smart Way To Grow Your Retirement Savings in 2024

Yet, with inflation still high and fears of a recession on people’s minds, you may want to save money while planning your dream vacation. Fortunately, the Reddit forum r/Frugal has plenty of tips for low-cost travel.

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Bring Snacks and Beverages

If you’re driving to your vacation spot, pack snacks and beverages so you won’t be tempted to splurge on pricey hotel water or snacks. If you’re flying, stop at a local grocery store before you check into your hotel or Airbnb.

Redditor JStyles mentioned, “If I’m staying anywhere a few days I usually buy a case of water from a supermarket or drug store when I arrive.”

Think strategically, though. Some tourist areas increase prices. If you’re driving, you have more flexibility to buy snacks and drinks at home or even on the way to your destination in lower-cost locations.

 “I’ve found two places in the US where you’re much better off packing your food from home or from way outside of town if you’re driving there,” wrote Redditor Nopumpkin_here. “That’s Gatlinburg, TN, and Yosemite, CA. I’m sure there are lots of other places like that, where you’d have to shop a few cities or towns away.”

Nearly every frugal traveler on Reddit recommended cooking or preparing meals in your room rather than eating at restaurants daily. If your hotel has a kitchenette or you’ve rented an AirBNB or VRBO for your trip, you can eat just like you do at home.

But if you prefer something simpler, that’s okay too. Sandwiches and microwavable soups make easy meals on the road.  

Shop Locally for Food

Not a fan of cooking, especially while on vacation? Redditor “PurpleHippoB*tches” said they bought local foods including meats, cheese and baked goods at a local grocery store in Paris to enjoy a daily picnic. “I always tried to save on food by only having 1 meal out per day,” they wrote. “A lot of people say to cook your meals, but personally I don’t want to cook on vacation and especially I don’t want to eat like at home. I want to try local food instead so this is my no-cook compromise.”

Redditor KnuteViking, who also said they were a fan of local food in Europe, advised, “To get a better price while still getting great food, the key is usually [to] find the local shops, not the tourist shops.”

Choose Restaurant Meals Carefully

“If you plan on getting breakfast and lunch grocer[ies] but want to eat out for dinner you are better off eating out at lunch and having a sandwich for dinner,” Redditor Interesting_Gene_780 wrote. “Lunch menus are cheaper than dinner.”

Redditor LauraSaurus5 advised frugal Redditors to try a Southern breakfast if they have an opportunity in the U.S.

Also, don’t forget the free continental breakfast at the hotel. Many frugal Redditors try to snag extra muffins, fruit or hard-boiled eggs for a light lunch.

Pack a Thermos or Water Bottle (or Both)

Redditor Hjlelpdinven said they always bring a Thermos on trips. You can fill it with water after you go through airport security, make tea with free hot water and tea bags from home, and even fill the thermos with free coffee from the continental breakfast.

Visit Free Attractions

Saving money on vacation isn’t just about reducing food costs, though scaling back on restaurant meals can make a big difference in costs without impacting enjoyment.

You can also save money by visiting local attractions with “pay-as-you-wish” entry fees or free entry. Well-known examples include free admission to The Bronx Zoo every Wednesday and free entry to government landmarks like the White House. All Smithsonian museums, art galleries and zoos (except the Cooper Hewitt in New York City) are free to visit, according to the Smithsonian Institute website.

Book the Cheaper Hotel Room

If you’re torn between booking a luxury suite or a smaller hotel room, Maximum-Excitement58 advised fellow Redditors, “If you’re not going somewhere to just sit in your hotel room, get the cheapest room at whatever hotel/resort you’re staying at.”

However, if you’re planning to eat meals in the room, call ahead and ask if the room has a mini-fridge and microwave.

Use Public Transportation

Whether you’re getting to and from the airport or around town, price out buses and shuttles rather than Uber or a taxi service. Once you learn the public transportation for the city you’re visiting, you can save a bundle, experience life as a local, and avoid traffic.

Redditor Such-Shape-7111 said he and his wife rent electric scooters in cities across the U.S. to get around for short distances. Such-Shape-7111 makes sure to stay safe on the road, though. “We bring our bike helmets clipped to our backpacks,” he said.

Pack Your Necessities in Your Carry-On

If you’re flying, always pack an extra outfit, underwear, and travel-sized toiletries (under 3.4 oz. each, packed in a clear, one-quart plastic bag) in case the airline loses your luggage. “Might save you some cash if you have to replace some things,” Redditor Roweira said.

Cutting corners on some aspects of your trip can leave room to splurge on the things that truly matter or even allow you to afford that dream vacation.  

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com : 9 Habits of Frugal People To Apply Every Time You Travel