Career Opportunities for Communicative Disorder PhDs
There is a huge demand for graduates who can fill the many communicative disorder PhD jobs that are currently available across the country. And this demand for communicative disorder careers far outweighs the supply of PhD graduates—making communicative disorder jobs abundant for our applied language and speech science graduates.
Most communicative disorder PhD jobs focus on two main areas: teaching and conducting research, most often at a university, but also in clinics and hospitals. These research areas may at first seem limiting, but they actually offer graduates a plethora of exciting career opportunities. 
First, as a communicative disorder professor, you have the highly rewarding job of training the next generation of speech language pathologists and communicative disorder professionals. You’ll be in the classroom, facilitating discussion and teaching about the theories behind communicative disorder therapies. You’ll also guide them in clinical settings, teaching them how to put those theories into practice.
Through your research, you will help determine the best methods for speech language pathology and how the impact of certain therapy techniques can positively improve people’s lives. There are many people in communicative disorder careers who spend time in both clinical settings and research settings, like those who work at hospitals where research is emphasized.
Many communicative disorder jobs, like those at universities, present opportunities where teaching and research go hand-in-hand. Indeed, at UL Lafayette, many of our professors spend their time teaching, supervising students in our on-site clinic, and conducting their own researching.
Beyond teaching and researching, most communicative disorder PhD jobs include opportunities to share your thoughts, research, and experiences. You’ll have the chance to write and contribute to books, journal articles, and textbooks. You’ll be instrumental in contributing to current and future research by peer reviewing journal submissions and by presenting your own research at conferences. Many leaders in communicative disorder jobs also give back through community engagement, offering continuing education seminars, and working with local schools and hospitals.
Still looking for more information? Feel free to reach out to our faculty to learn more about your options with a PhD in Applied Language and Speech Sciences from UL Lafayette.