Glossary
Speech-Language Pathologist Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential speech-language pathologist terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key speech-language pathologist vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in speech-language pathologist training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- AAC
- Augmentative and alternative communication.
- Aphasia
- Language loss after brain injury.
- Apraxia
- Difficulty planning speech movements.
- Articulation
- Producing speech sounds.
- Clinical fellowship
- Supervised first year.
- Dysphagia
- Swallowing disorder.
- Expressive language
- Using words to communicate.
- Fluency
- Smoothness of speech.
- IEP
- Individualized Education Program.
- Modified barium swallow
- X-ray study of swallowing.
- Phonology
- Sound patterns in language.
- Pragmatics
- Social use of language.
- Receptive language
- Understanding language.
- Stuttering
- Interruptions in speech flow.
- Voice disorder
- Problems with pitch or quality.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Speech-Language Pathologist practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Speech-Language Pathologist training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.