Talk:Speech therapy

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[edit] Multimerge Discussion

I suggest we merge this with the other SLP and SP pages that are already thinking about merging. A redirect from speech therapy would be very important, though. --Slp1 22:51, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Agree. Looks like there's quite a bit of overlap/redundancy between all three articles. The only question is which one is the most appropriate title to which the others should redirect? Would appreciate input from those in the field.
-Rj101 00:06, 26 August 2006 (UTC)


Well I am in the field, but this "appropriate title" thing may be a minefield. In countries of the English speaking world the profession is called by many different variations of a theme:

Australia: Speech pathology

Canada: speech-language pathology

Ireland: Speech and Language Therapy

New Zealand: Speech-Language Therapy

South Africa: Speech Language Therapy

United Kingdom: Speech and Language Therapy

United States: speech-language pathology


My suggestion (as someone who has worked in various countries under various titles) would be to go with something like Speech and Language Pathology, so that no country "wins" hands down! --Slp1 12:20, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

Sounds good. Perhaps a week or so for consensus/suggestions/objections (see below) and then time for the change? I'm hoping you (or one of your colleagues) are willing to make the major content merges/edits as this is your area of expertise. I'm happy to offer whatever services you need that I can.
-RJ1001 22:58, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Merging Proposal

PROPOSED:

  1. Merge Speech therapy, Speech-Language Pathology, Speech pathology, and Phoniatrics into one article.
  2. The new article be entitled "Speech and Language Pathology" as a "nation-neutral" solution (see above discussion). All national variations would then be redirects to this new article.

[edit] Discussion

I support the merging since all of the articles mentioned are not much more than stubs. Later, when there is (hopefully) more material the finer details might again be split, but for now, merging is the best alternative. As for the naming of the new article I don't have any strong opinions. I believe the term phoniatrics is used at least in the scandinavian countries in respective form of each of their own languages. Personally, I like the term, but Wikipedia is hardly the place to promote such a change in terminology. So, all in all, I support the proposal of merging. --Tbackstr 15:20, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

I'm an SLP working in the US, and this merger proposal makes the most sense to me. I've never heard the term "phoniatrics" (even though I read widely in Speech Pathology and Speech Science), so I don't think it is familiar to many people. -- RToes 20:21, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

I agree that we should merge the pages under the title "speech and language pathology."

I agree that it should be merged too. It;s confusing as it stands.

I am an SP working in Australia. I have never hear of the term 'phoniatrics' either, however from the content of this page it appears as though it is another area in which SPs work. If they are merged, then the SP page should be extended to give an outline of the various areas in which we work (eg. voice disorders, head and neck cancer, articulation, aphasia, paediatric language etc.). Thanks :)

The term phoniatrics is a European one mainly, but it is in the title of the International Society of Logopedics and Phoniatrics, which is the worldwide associate for SLPs, SLTs, SPs (and Logopedists and Phoniatrists, I guess!) [[1]] - It looks like this merge has plenty of consensus so that we should go ahead. I will try and get to it once my current project is finished but I would be glad to hear of others who would be willing to help. Please be in touch! . --Slp1 22:52, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

I agree. One section will give us a better launching point to talk about areas that a Speech Language Pathologist works. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by user 169.204.238.218 (talk • contribs) 11 January 2007.

I personally don't agree to merging at all, although they look the same but they are different.

Phoniatricians are medical doctors and not SLPs, they pay much attention to Voice and Phonosurgery ( Microlaryngeal Surgery ), and the speciality is recognized - as far as i know - in Egypt, Scandinavian countries, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Japan Norway. It is obvious that there two system worldwide, the common one which is to have SLPs and the other one which is Phoniatricians and Logopaedics and although SLPs system is the dominant one , but i guess the terms and the description of them shouldn't be merged.

Phoniatricians differ from SLPs in the medical background that they have especially in Laryngology and the fact that voice surgery ( Phonosurgery ) is part of their speciality.
May be the page should be edited , but not merged. If you would like to get any more information ,please contact me on


geneid@hotmail.com


Ahmed Geneid, Phoniatrician from Egypt —The preceding unsigned comment was added by user Geneid (talk • contribs) 22 January 2007.

Thanks Ahmed, for your clarification. I guess you should know!! So we should merge all the articles but the phoniatrics one. But some research will need to be done to expand the phoniatrics article with the sort of information you provide above. --Slp1 22:35, 22 January 2007 (UTC)


I agree, and i already contacted Tom who wrote the article on the possibility of editing it. Thanks —The preceding unsigned comment was added by user Geneid (talk • contribs) 08:28, 23 January 2007.