How to Become a Speech Therapist in Massachusetts

Like many other places around the country, you’ll find speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in Massachusetts working in diverse settings — K-12 schools, hospitals, long-term care facilities, and private practice. But what really sets the Bay State’s SLP community apart is its relentless dedication to advancing the field.

When you enter this workforce yourself, you’ll get the chance to work with some of the most groundbreaking organizations and individuals in the field today.

In Boston, the Voice and Speech Laboratory at Massachusetts Eye and Ear serves everyone from professional vocalists to seniors struggling with dysphagia. When staff aren’t directly serving patients, they’re conducting invaluable research in diverse areas ranging from the mechanisms of voice control to botulinum toxin treatment to laryngeal cancer, and so much more. You may very well find an opportunity to work and train there yourself during your fellowship.

All SLPs in the state can join the Massachusetts Speech-Language Hearing Association (MSHA). As one of the most active state-based organizations of its kind in the country, their calendar is full of seminars, workshops, and legislative advocacy events that ensure SLPs and the people they serve have a voice – figuratively and literally.

Your journey to joining this impressively dynamic community starts with becoming a licensed speech-language pathologist through the Massachusetts Board of Registration for Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology. Along the way, you’ll need to follow these steps:

	Each a Speech Therapy Degree: Complete an Accredited Master’s Degree in Speech-Language Pathology
	Log Required Professional Experience (RPE) Hours Through a Clinical Fellowship
	Pass the National Examination in Speech-Language Pathology and Apply for SLP-CCC Certification
	Begin Your Career as a Speech-Language Pathologist
	Maintain Licensure and Complete Continuing Education Hours

Step 1. Earn a Speech Therapy Degree: Complete an Accredited Master’s Degree in Speech-Language Pathology

One of the best things about becoming an SLP in Massachusetts is that it’s a pretty straightforward process. The Massachusetts Board of Registration for Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology follows all requirements set forth by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) — the nation’s leading SLP certification agency.

This means that by following this process, you’ll become a licensed speech-language pathologist in Massachusetts and earn ASHA’s Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology (CCC-SLP). Holding this universally recognized certification can help with interstate mobility, allowing you to become licensed in many other states.

Your first step will be to earn a master’s degree in the field, whether a Master of Speech-Language Pathology or a Master of Science in Communicative Sciences and Disorders. The program must hold accreditation from the Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (CAA). The CAA is itself a sub-organization of ASHA. You’ll find plenty of CAA-accredited online and on-campus programs around the state.

Graduate Program Admissions and Foundational Course Requirements

To enroll in a CAA-accredited program, you’ll need a bachelor’s degree, a few academic references, and a competitive GPA (around 3.0 or higher). You might also have to take the GRE, but many graduate programs have made this optional.

Before beginning your speech-language pathology coursework, ASHA requires prerequisite courses in four areas designed to serve as a foundation for future SLP studies:

• Biology
• Chemistry or physics
• Social/behavioral sciences
• Statistics

Even if you didn’t study speech-language pathology at the bachelor’s level, you likely took classes in most if not all of these areas. If you missed anything, you’re able to take them through the school you’re attending for your graduate program. Many master’s programs in speech-language pathology offer prerequisite courses online. AP classes that appear on your college transcript count, too.

Clinical Practicum and Master’s Core Courses

Whether you enroll in an on-campus or online speech-language pathology program, it will involve completing a minimum of 36 semester credit hours of classes and at least 400 clinical practicum hours.

The practicum is a supervised, hands-on experience at a clinic where you’ll learn to assess, diagnose and treat patients. 25 hours can be spent in guided clinical observation, but the remaining 375 hours should be devoted to direct contact with patients. 125 of your practicum hours can be earned in telepractice, but ASHA requires the rest to be in-person.

As far as your courses go, ASHA doesn’t require you to take any specific classes. However, they do say your studies should be focused entirely on their Scope of Practice in Speech-Language Pathology standards:

• Domains of Speech-Language Pathology Service Delivery
  • Collaboration
  • Counseling
  • Prevention and Wellness
  • Screening
  • Assessment
  • Treatment
  • Modalities, Technology, and Instrumentation
  • Populations and Systems
• Speech-Language Pathology Service Delivery Areas
  • Fluency
  • Speech Production
  • Spoken and Written Language
  • Cognition
  • Voice
  • Resonance
  • Feeding and Swallowing
  • Auditory Habilitation and Rehabilitation
  • Etiologies of Communication of Swallowing Disorders (oral anomalies, developmental disabilities, etc.)
  • Elective Services (dialect modification, preventative vocal hygiene, etc.)
• Domains of Professional Practice
  • Advocacy and Outreach
  • Supervision
  • Education
  • Research
  • Administration and Leadership

You’ll of course learn the basics of these topics, but beyond that, the curriculum will depend on what program you choose and whether you choose a specialty. For example, if you choose to specialize in serving patients with autism, you’ll learn about the unique communication problems associated with ASD. If you specialize in aphasia, you’ll learn more about Response Elaboration Training and other techniques that can help people who’ve suffered strokes and traumatic brain injuries.

Step 2. Log Required Professional Experience (RPE) Hours Through a Clinical Fellowship

After completing your graduate program and your practicum hours, you’ll enter into a clinical fellowship. The clinical fellowship is meant to transition you smoothly from your studies to a career as an SLP. Like the practicum, you’ll complete supervised activities and have a chance to work with a diverse array of patients.

You may choose either a full-time (36 weeks of 35 hours per week) or part-time option, but the clinical fellowship must be at least 1,260 hours and a minimum of 36 weeks. Up to a quarter of your hours can be completed remotely in telepractice sessions.

You’ll be mentored by a licensed SLP in Massachusetts during your clinical fellowship. 80% of the clinical fellowship must involve:

• Assessment
• Diagnosis
• Evaluation
• Screening
• Treatment
• Family and client consultation
• Counseling of patients

The other 20% of the time is often spent in administrative duties. At the end, you’ll need to complete a Clinical Fellowship Skills Inventory form, get it signed by your supervisor, and submit it through ASHA’s application webpage.

Step 3. Pass the National Examination in Speech-Language Pathology and Apply for CCC-SLP Certification

Now that you’ve completed your clinical fellowship, it’s time to prepare for the National Praxis Examination in Speech-Language Pathology, hosted through the ETS testing services.

You can easily register online, but you’ll also need to send an official graduate transcript and proof of completion of a clinical fellowship to Praxis before you’ll be eligible to test.

You can take the exam at home with a live remote proctor or in one of these Massachusetts cities:

• Boston
• Bridgewater
• Brockton
• Burlington
• Lowell
• North Andover
• Springfield
• West Springfield
• Worcester

The exam covers topics you’ll have covered in your core coursework during your master’s program, such as speech and production, voice and resonance, receptive and expressive language, and social and cognitive aspects of communication. Questions are split into three broad categories:

• Foundation and professional practice
• Screen, assessment, evaluation and diagnosis
• Planning, implementation, and evaluation

You must score at least a 162 on the exam in order to be eligible for CCC-SLP certification. If you need some extra time to prepare, feel free to check out the resources linked on ASHA’s exam preparation page.

It usually takes several weeks to hear back from Praxis about the results of the examination. Once you’ve received your score, you’ll need to apply for the CCC-SLP credential through ASHA. You’ll be asked to submit:

• The application, proving you have completed a graduate program and a practicum
• A certification fee of $490 ($446 for ASHA members)
• Exam scores
• The Clinical Fellowship Skills Inventory form, signed by your supervisor

The certification is generally awarded after six weeks.

Step 4. Begin Your Career as a Speech-Language Pathologist

With CCC-SLP certification in hand, you’re now eligible to apply for licensing through the Massachusetts Board of Registration for Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology. You can do this by signing up on the Massachusetts Health Professions Licensing Portal and submitting:

• A $68 fee
• Verification of your CCC-SLP credential
• Evidence of a minimum of 400 clock hours earned during a practicum
• A master’s degree transcript
• Official Praxis score

There are several ways to begin practicing as an SLP once you’ve earned your license:

Join the Clinic that Provided RPE

You might want to consider pursuing a full-time opportunity at the clinic that provided your clinical fellowship hours. Building on the relationships you started with patients, families, and staff members during training is a great way to start your career. As an added bonus, your former supervisor may serve as a reference for you.

Start an Independent Practice or Partnership

In Massachusetts, licensed SLPs can open independent practices or band together to offer a full range of speech-language pathology services. If you take this route, you’ll be able to set your own hours. More importantly, you’ll be able to work with the populations you’re most passionate about serving and bring speech-language pathology to communities that need it most.

Pursue Job Openings

There are many, many other options in Massachusetts for licensed SLPs to pursue employment. Just a few of them include:

• Melmark
• Easter Seals Massachusetts
• Saint Francis Rehabilitation and Nursing Center
• Massachusetts General Hospital
• Spaulding Hospital
• Health South
• University of Massachusetts Medical Schools
• Chelsea Jewish Foundation
• Barrett Family Wellness Center
• Life Care Centers
• Thom Child and Family Services

These are only some of the biggest players, but you can find a home wherever there’s a therapy center, school district, or other type of social or healthcare service provider.

Step 5. Maintain Licensure and Complete Continuing Education Hours

You’ll need to renew your SLP license every two years through the Massachusetts Health Professions Licensing Portal. In that time, you’ll need to complete 20 continuing education hours. According to state regulations, 10 of those hours need to be within your area of licensure.

However, you must keep track of your hours, including:

• The title of the program
• The number of hours spent in the program
• The name of the organization which sponsored the program
• The date you completed the program.

You can also earn hours by contributing to academic publications and teaching continuing education classes yourself. The Board will randomly audit SLP licensees every two years and require you to produce documentation of your continuing education credits.

The Board doesn’t maintain a list of approved providers, but you can find continuing education courses through ASHA, the Massachusetts Speech-Language Hearing Association, colleges and universities, and a wide range of online course providers.

Speech-Language Pathology Salary in Massachusetts

When it comes to speech-language pathology, Massachusetts stands out for many reasons, and salary is one of them. Massachusetts offers the 12th-highest average SLP salary in the nation at $96,910 annually or $46.59 hourly.

SLPs towards the higher end of the salary spectrum earn a salary that starts at an impressive $125,890 annually, or $60.52 hourly.

Barnstable Town offers the highest average SLP salary, while Pittsfield offers the lowest. The highest earners in Leominster-Gardner make the most in the state, followed by Barnstable Town, Boston, and New Bedford.

You can compare regions across the state listed below, ranked by average salary starting with the highest. Salary details cover the entry-level (10th percentile), average, and high-end (90th percentile):

Barnstable Town:

• Average: $99,290 annually, $47.74 hourly
• Entry-level: $70,900 annually, $34.09 hourly
• High-end: $126,580 annually, $60.86 hourly

Boston:

• Average: $98,520 annually, $47.36 hourly
• Entry-level: $62,850 annually, $30.22 hourly
• High-end: $126,380 annually, $60.76 hourly

Leominster-Gardner:

• Average: $96,450 annually, $46.37 hourly
• Entry-level: $59,820 annually, $28.76 hourly
• High-end: $137,320 annually, $66.02 hourly

Rural Massachusetts:

• Average: $95,060 annually, $45.70 hourly
• Entry-level: $59,920 annually, $28.81 hourly
• High-end: $123,880 annually, $59.56 hourly

New Bedford:

• Average: $93,080 annually, $44.75 hourly
• Entry-level: $60,200 annually, $28.94 hourly
• High-end: $124,810 annually, $60.01 hourly

Worcester:

• Average: $91,900 annually, $44.18 hourly
• Entry-level: $61,070 annually, $29.36 hourly
• High-end: $120,680 annually, $58.02 hourly

Metro Providence:

• Average: $90,900 annually, $43.70 hourly
• Entry-level: $65,260 annually, $31.37 hourly
• High-end: $111,000 annually, $53.37 hourly

Springfield:

• Average: $86,250 annually, $41.47 hourly
• Entry-level: $60,150 annually, $28.92 hourly
• High-end: $117,460 annually, $56.47 hourly

Pittsfield:

• Average: $82,990 annually, $39.90 hourly
• Entry-level: $52,420 annually, $25.20 hourly
• High-end: $115,490 annually, $55.52 hourly

A Growing Field With Opportunities in a Number of Industries

The number of jobs for speech-language pathologists is exceptionally high in metro Boston, which has the 7th highest number of positions for SLPs of any metropolitan area in the country.

4,440 SLPs practice in Massachusetts. More than 40% of the state’s speech-language pathologists practice in educational services with the remainder working in other industries:

• Hospitals—16%
• Ambulatory Health Care Services (such as clinics)—13%
• Social Assistance—10%
• Nursing and Residential Care Facilities—8%

The number of these specialists is growing, too. By 2030, the number of SLP jobs in Massachusetts is projected to grow by 28%, well above the national average of 19%. During that time frame, this works out to an average of 400 SLP job openings every year.

Massachusetts is home to a number of ambulatory care centers that focus on speech pathology:

• Andover: The Speech and Language Corner
• Burlington: Children’s Speech and Hearing Specialists
• Foxborough: Sharon D. Frank, MA
• Foxborough: Speech and Voice Therapy Center, LLC
• Framingham: Bright Side Speech Therapy, LLC
• Hingham: Hingham Speech & Language Therapy
• Ipswich: The School Speech Therapist
• Leominster: Lisa Phillips, MS
• Lexington: Adriana DiGrande
• Lexington: Chatterboxes Speech Language & Feeding
• Mansfield: Blue Dragonfly Children’s Therapy
• Medfield: Speech-Language and Hearing Associates of Greater Boston, PC
• Needham Heights: Children’s Speech and Feeding Therapy, Inc.
• Newton Center: Chatterboxes
• Norwell: Speech Language Pathology Center
• Peabody: North Shore Children’s Therapies
• Plainville: Speech-Language & Hearing Associates of Greater Boston
• Plymouth: Golden Speech Therapy
• Shrewsbury: Speech & Language Specialties
• South Easton: Let’s Talk Speech & Language Therapy Services, LLC
• Tewksbury: akspeech, LLC
• Waltham: Massachusetts Speech Language
• Wayland: Burnett Speech Therapy
• Wellesley: Wellesley Pediatric Speech Therapy
• Weymouth: South Shore Therapies, Inc.
• Woburn: Speech Therapy | Baldwin Park I

2023 US Bureau of Labor Statistics salary figures shown here for Speech-Language Pathologists. Job growth projections are from the US Department of Labor-sponsored resource, CareerOneStop. Figures are based on state data, not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed March 2025.

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