Gravette Public Schools

District Position Description

Position Title:  Speech Pathologist

Department:   Special Education

Reports to:      Director of Special Education, Building Principal

Evaluated by:  Building Principal, with input from Director of Special Education

FLSA Status:     Exempt

We are seeking applicants interested in working in a growing community and district on the outskirts of the fast developing cities of Bella Vista, Bentonville, and Rogers. The speech language pathologist will be part of a diverse team of educators directed toward meeting the needs of students to allow them to reach their potential and close achievement gaps. Our leadership team is solution focused, creative thinkers with the students' needs at the front of our decision-making processes and actions.

JOB SUMMARY:  Remediation of language handicaps, articulation deficits, dysfluencies and voice disorders.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:   Other duties may be assigned.

• Serves as a resource to school staff members in the development of a balanced program for oral communication and speech improvement.
• Assists and guides teachers in observing, describing, and referring suspected and identified speech and language impairments.
• Provides a thorough assessment and diagnosis of speech, voice, and language impairments and interpret results of assessments and evaluations to a variety of audiences, including parents, teachers, administrators, and other service providers.
• Provides screening to identify students with speech impairments.
• Assists in proper referrals of individuals to agencies and specialists in the community.
• Provides appropriate individualized and/or group programs of therapy to meet individual students’ needs in correcting existing speech or language impairments.
• Collaborates with classroom teachers and other school staff members to implement therapy by suggestions for the students’ daily activities.
• Provides information, support, and counseling to parents and families when appropriate.
• Utilizes augmentative communication devices (both low tech and high tech) as appropriate.
• Maintains documentation of hearing aid checks.
• Follows all due process procedures and regulations.
• Chairs referral and evaluation/programming conferences, reviewing assessment results with parents, teachers, and other multidisciplinary team members.
• Maintain all necessary documentation needed for Medicaid billing and submit all billing accurately and timely

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Supervise students

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:   To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

MINIMUM EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE:

Masters’ degree in speech and language pathology.  A minimum of 60 semester hours of academic credit in normal aspects of human communication, development thereof, and clinical techniques for evaluation and management of speech and language disorders.  A minimum of 300 clock hours of supervised practicum experience with persons who present a variety of communication disorders, to be acquired in conjunction with academic training, 150 hours of which shall be obtained on the graduate level.

CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS:

Licensure as Speech Pathologist including licensure in Arkansas and in state of residence if different than Arkansas. Registered with Arkansas Medicaid to be able to bill for evaluations and therapy services. Applications in process are acceptable if eligible to provide Medicaid services in another state. Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology (CCC-SLP) preferred.

LANGUAGE SKILLS:

Ability to read, analyze, and interpret general business periodicals, professional journals, technical procedures, or government regulations. Ability to write reports, business correspondence, and procedure manuals.  Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from groups of students, parents, teachers, administrators, and the general public.

MATHEMATICAL SKILLS:

Ability to work with mathematical concepts such as probability and statistical inference. Ability to apply concepts such as fractions, percentages, ratios, and proportions to practical situations.

REASONING ABILITY:

Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions. Ability to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in verbal, mathematical or diagram form and deal with several abstract and concrete variables.

OTHER SKILLS and ABILITIES:

Ability to apply knowledge of current research and theory to instructional program; ability to plan and implement lessons based on division and school objectives and the needs and abilities of students to whom assigned.  Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with students, peers, parents, and community; ability to speak clearly and concisely in written or oral communication.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:  The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee will regularly sit, and occasionally walk and stand.  Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision.  While performing the duties of this job, the employee will continuously hear conversation in a quiet and/or noisy environment. The employee will continuously need the ability to tell where a sound is coming from and tell the difference among bells, buzzers, beeps, horns, etc.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:   The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

The noise level in the work environment is usually quiet to moderate. The employee is directly responsible for the safety, well-being and work out-put of students.

The information contained in this job description is for compliance with the Americans for Disabilities (A.D.A.) and is not an exhaustive list of the duties performed for this position. Additional duties are performed by the individual currently holding this position and additional duties may be assigned.