Speech-Language Pathologist Lands Top-Ten Spot in Best Jobs Ranking

Like most speech-language pathologists, UT Dallas senior Kate Christi Sampang found her calling after witnessing its healing possibilities.

Through diverse clinical practicum and observation experiences, Sampang has spent recent semesters building a strong foundation for graduate school and preparing for one of the most in-demand professions in the U.S.

“I had a speech therapist starting from preschool all the way through second grade,” she said. “I had selective mutism, so I grew up in speech therapy and then just always had it in the back of my mind.”

Today, Sampang is on track to graduate from the UTD School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences. This May, she’ll earn her Bachelor of Science in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, getting one step closer to her dream job of helping children and infants overcome communication disorders. The drive to improve lives of patients with communication disorders – along with the demand for specialized skills, competitive wages, and job stability – has placed speech-language pathology among the top 10 most desirable careers.

In Jan., the U.S. News & World Report published its yearly “100 Best Jobs” and ranked speech-language pathologist in ninth place. Last April, the same publication ranked the UT Dallas speech-language pathology program in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS) as the top graduate program in the field within the D-FW metroplex (21st nationwide).

Like Sampang, Hannah Pourchot Neale MS’13 PhD’18 also sought this vocation after witnessing the magic behind the science.

When Dr. Pourchot Neale was in high school, she saw a speech pathologist help her grandmother regain language skills after a stroke. This experience inspired her to pursue a bachelor’s in communication sciences and disorders in her home state of Oklahoma and eventually joined UT Dallas for grad school. 

In Texas, the state’s Department of Licensing and Regulation requires speech-language pathologists to hold a masters degree or higher in communicative sciences or disorders. At UT Dallas, Dr. Pourchot Neale earned her masters and PhD from the BBS Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing (SLH). Today, she works as a clinical supervisor at the UT Dallas Callier Center for Communication Disorders. 

“The field is vast, and luckily there’s no lack of need,” Dr. Pourchot Neale said. “You could work with infants who have swallowing disorder, or with adults who are struggling to communicate after a stroke. Or you could work with elementary school children who struggle to say specific sounds. A day in the life for each speech pathologist is so different, which is what makes the field so exciting.” 

When Dr. Pourchot Neale isn’t doing clinical work, she serves BBS as assistant professor of practice. Every semester, she teaches courses where undergraduate students observe and participate in clinical sessions with individuals who have communication disorders. Through these practicums, undergraduates gain firsthand experience in the vocation while building a strong foundation for their graduate studies. 

This Spring, Sampang is in one of Dr. Pourchot Neale’s practicums where SLH students work with non-native English speakers who seek to improve their spoken American English. Offered by the Callier Center and UT Dallas Intercultural Programs, the Accent Modification Program provides international students with opportunities to improve their spoken English through individual and group activities.  

Every Friday from 9 a.m. to noon, the speech-language pathology students in the practicum work with three different clients in one-hour sessions. These clients, all UT Dallas students, join the free program each semester to refine their English accents based on personalized goals. Each session is tailored to the client’s needs, whether focusing on specific pronunciation challenges or preparing for presentations. Participants engage in exercises that compare speech sounds in their native language to English, practice pronunciation at the word and phrase level, and progress to reading full paragraphs with improved clarity and fluency. 

“For both, the patients and the students, it builds skills, and it builds confidence, which is a big piece of it,” Dr. Pourchot Neale said. “It is so fun for us as speech pathologists to learn. For my students culturally, they get to see the differences between languages, but also for the patients to have these support from their classmates.” 

On Feb. 21, almost a dozen students of Dr. Pourchot Neale gathered at the Callier Center Richardson Addition building to meet with students who enrolled in the Accent Modification Program. Among the clients was Shubham Gautam, a graduate student from Bengaluru, India, earning his masters in information technology and management. He’s lived in Texas for a year and a half and has been attending the program’s meetings since the beginning of the semester. During the Feb. 21 session, Gautam, he worked with Sampang on practicing his pronunciations of the Enlgihs “v” and “w” sounds.

“When you’re working at the corporate level, you give a lot of presentations, and the majority of people should be able to understand you,” he said.

Last semester, Sampang did another practicum where she was also under the supervision of Dr. Pourchot Neale while working on the Callier Center’s Super Speech program. Super Speech helps preschool and kindergarten children with speech sound errors, ranging from mild to severe. For this practicum, Sampang was assigned one client for the entire semester, working one-on-one to improve speech clarity and articulation. Through consistent sessions, she guided her client in practicing speech sounds and reinforcing progress at home. 

“I really like how personal the speech program at UTD is,” Sampang said. “I’ve taken six classes with Dr. Neale so I’ve known her for two or three years. You really get to know the professors and the students, and everyone is super supportive.”