Healthcare Articles
Speech Pathologists Build a Profitable Niche in 'Accent Reduction'

Weary of Medicare cutbacks and managed care policies that have dealt a major blow to their profession in recent years, a growing number of speech pathologists have begun catering to clients whose needs are professional rather than medical.

Many speech pathologists across the country are targeting corporate clients and businesspeople these days, charging $70 an hour or more to help workers communicate more effectively by reducing their regional and foreign accents.

"Speech pathologists are reinventing themselves and looking for new areas and market niches. In my opinion, accent reduction is one of the more exciting areas," says John Pennino, M.S., CCC-SLP, a speech pathologist in Plymouth, Massachusetts, who conducts a workshop for his peers called "Turning Accents into Assets." [www.accent-reduction.com] "There is a lot more interest in accent reduction now than in 1985, when I started immersing myself in it," Pennino says. Many speech pathologists are launching full-time careers in accent reduction, and others are supplementing their current work in schools or healthcare facilities with part-time work in accent reduction, he says.

The demand for accent reduction services remains consistently high as businesses increasingly require folks from all corners of the country and the globe to interact regularly, says Maria Swatek, M.A., CCC-SLP, a speech pathologist at the Park Cities Speech, Language & Hearing Center [www.pcspeechandhearing.com] in Dallas, Texas. A strong accent -- whether it be the leisurely drawl of the South, the fast-speaking style of the Northeast, or a Texas twang -- is often an unwanted distraction in the workplace, says Swatek, who works with people who have both foreign and American regional accents. "Many of our clients think they're not taken seriously because of their accent, or that listeners are more focused on their dialect than on what they're saying," Swatek says. "There is no 'right' way to speak or 'right' dialect, but speaking in a particular style may afford our clients certain success," she says. Some individuals seek out and pay for speech therapy on their own. In other cases, employers encourage employees to undergo speech therapy and foot the bill.

Corporations realize that clear, efficient communication translates into a better bottom line, speech pathologists say. "In business, time is money. The more time you spend repeating something to make yourself understood, the less money you'll make for your company," says Nancy Hayer, M.S., CCC-SLP, who launched Hayer-Vuyk Consulting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with her partner, Amy Vuyt, M.S., CCC-SLP, two years ago. Individuals who pay for accent modification themselves do so for a variety of reasons, Vuyt adds. For example, a Peruvian ophthalmologist who came to the U.S. needed to complete a residency in this country before she could practice here. Vuyt says she had difficulty interviewing for residency positions before she reduced her accent, but is having a much easier time now.

Most accent reduction programs last 12 or 13 weeks. A speech pathologist starts by recording and evaluating a client's speech while they are reading words, sentences and paragraphs, and while they're in conversation. The client and therapist compare the client's speech to the style of speaking the client wants to imitate, and then they set goals and formulate a therapy plan. Often, a client spends hours practicing vowel sounds and then building them into conversation. The client also practices rhythm and intonation. In addition, clients train independently using taped programs. "It takes a lot of practice and motivation," Swatek says.

Most people want to attain what may be considered the "standard" middle-American dialect, which is how most television anchors speak, Swatek says. However, even when clients reach their goals, they don't lose their native accents completely. Clients learn to "code-switch," which means they have the ability to turn their accent on and off at will. They may want to revert to their native way of speaking around family or friends, for example. "We emphasize we don't want our clients to lose their dialects entirely. It's who they are and where they're from," Swatek says.

Visit the Institute of Language & Phonology if you're interested in participating in or training to conduct an accent reduction program.