How to Become a Speech Therapist in Nevada

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) often work within schools, hospitals and clinics to assist patients with communicative disorders. In Nevada, you may follow in the footsteps of SLP professionals who are working to make a difference in the lives of people throughout the state suffering from communicative disorders.

Some notable SLPs working in Nevada include:

• Gina Egaard, president of the Nevada Speech Language Hearing Association (NSLHA), who has been providing speech therapy services to special needs children in schools for years.
• Lisa Powell, who has focused her clinical expertise on stroke rehabilitation and memory impairments through speech therapy.
• Caron Plowman, who has done important SLP work in the school systems in Nevada.

You might connect with other SLPs through the Nevada Speech Language Hearing Association (NSLHA), Nevada’s Collation to Address Personnel Shortages in Special Education and Related Services (NV Collation), or the Nevada Health Care Association (NVHCA). Both the NSLHA and the NVHCA work to advocate for progressive legislation that would help ensure speech therapy services are covered by insurance. The NV Collation provides an important networking opportunity for SLPs who wish to work with special needs populations in schools.

Through conferences and seminars held by the NSLHA, you might learn about treatment of articulation, assessing children with autism, language intervention in the school environment, a multi-sensory approach to childhood apraxia of speech, and the evaluation and treatment of swallowing disorders.

You’ll need a master’s degree in speech-language pathology or communicative sciences and disorders through an institution accredited by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) to become licensed through the State of Nevada Board of Examiners for Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology. Follow the step-by-step guide below to learn how to become a speech therapist in Nevada:

	Earn a Master’s Degree in Speech-Language Pathology
	Pass the National SLP Exam and Complete a Clinical Fellowship
	Apply for Licensing and Begin Practicing as a Speech-Language Pathologist
	Keep your License Current and Complete Continuing Education Requirements

Step 1. Earn a Master’s Degree in Speech-Language Pathology

The Nevada Board of Examiners for Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology requires all applicants for SLP licensure to have earned a graduate degree (master’s or higher) through an accredited program.

By partnering with speech-pathology service providers throughout the nation, accredited online programs make it easy to complete a practicum that would allow you to  gain face to face experience working with patients in local clinics and hospitals close to home.

Graduate Program Admissions and Foundational Undergraduate Coursework

Whether online or traditional, SLP graduate programs set selective admissions requirements. You’ll need to be prepared with:

• A bachelor’s degree (usually in communicative sciences and disorders)
• An undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher
• GRE scores (verbal score of 144 or above is usually preferred)
• Letters of academic reference

If you have a bachelor’s degree in communicative sciences and disorders, you’ll be able to start directly with core coursework. However, if your bachelor’s degree is unrelated, you’ll first complete prerequisites online through the university before beginning master’s-level coursework.

Foundational coursework usually requires about 14-18 credits in such topics as:

• Aspects of Speech Pathology & Audiology
• Assessment of Language
• Language Science
• Common Disorders of Speech
• Audiology Fundamentals

Core Courses and Clinical Practicum Requirements 

Core courses include:

• Advanced Speech Pathology
• Language Intervention
• Research Design
• Language Theory
• Fluency Disorders
• Dysphasia
• Motor Speech & Swallowing
• Laryngeal Speech
• Medical Speech in Language Pathology

Electives include:

• Craniofacial Disorders
• Special Topics in SLP
• Seminar in Clinical Procedures
• Disorders of Voice

Your practicum, which would be completed in a clinic or hospital approved by your university, must be at least 300 clock hours in order to meet licensing requirements.

Step 2. Pass the National SLP Exam and Complete a Clinical Fellowship

In Nevada, you may register for the national SLP Praxis exam directly after completing your master’s degree and before beginning your post-graduate clinical fellowship.

You may register for the national examination online. You may also complete test preparation materials online.

You’ll need to score at least a 162 on a 100-200 scale.

The test will cover foundations of professional practice, screening, assessment, evaluation and diagnosis, and the planning, implementation and evaluation of treatment.

The questions will cover:

• Generating a prognosis
• Communicating recommendations
• General treatment principles and procedures
• Speech sound production
• Fluency
• Voice, resonance, and motor speech
• Receptive and expressive language
• Social aspects of communication

There are three Praxis test centers throughout Nevada, located in:

• Elko
• Las Vegas
• Reno

After passing the exam, you’ll be able to begin the nine-month long clinical fellowship required for licensure. A clinical fellowship is your first foray into the world of professional practice outside of your graduate program. As a paid experience that will give you an opportunity to gain exposure to the kind of patients and practice environment that align with your career goals, you are advised to thoroughly explore your options when selecting a fellowship sponsor. You may browse opportunities available in Nevada here.

Optional Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology Certification (CCC-SLP)

Once you’ve received passing scores on the national exam and completed a nine-month long clinical fellowship, you can apply for the CCC-SLP credential through ASHA. The CCC-SLP is optional and is not a requirement for licensure in Nevada.

Along with your application you would submit:

• Official graduate transcript
• Clinical Fellowship Report and Rating Form, signed by your supervisor

Mail these documents directly to ASHA at:

ASHA National Office
2200 Research Boulevard
Rockville, MD 20850-3289 

Step 3. Apply for Licensing and Begin Practicing as a Speech-Language Pathologist

After passing the national exam, you may apply for licensing through the Nevada board.

You’ll need to fill out the application, get it notarized, and submit it with a $150.00 fee.

You’ll also need to submit:

• An official graduate transcript
• Praxis score report
• Proof of 300 hours of practicum
• Proof of CCC-SLP credential

You can mail these to:

State of Nevada
Speech-Language Pathology, Audiology & Hearing Aid Dispensing Board
P.O. Box 34540
Reno, NV 89533-4540

You may start your career in one of several ways:

Consider Joining the Clinic That Provided Your Clinical Fellowship

In many cases, SLPs start their career at the clinic that provided required professional experience. Clinics often prefer to hire SLPs who have completed hours at their clinic, and you may already be comfortable with the clinic’s staff and have built relationships with patients.

Start an Independent Practice

With your CCC-SLP credential and your Nevada SLP license, you’ll be able to start an independent practice or partnership if you so choose.

Pursue Job Opportunities

From the school system to clinics to hospitals, you may pursue opportunities throughout the state of Nevada. A few SLP employers in Nevada include:

• Affirma Rehabilitation
• Cumberland Therapy
• Speech Rehab Services
• Centennial Hills Hospital Medical Center
• Beyond Boundaries: Neurorehabilitation Specialists
• Nevada Early Intervention Services
• Imagine Schools at Mountain View
• Therapy Management Group
• Life Care Centers
• Home Health Care of Northern Nevada

Step 4. Keep your License Current and Complete Continuing Education Requirements

You’ll need to renew your license annually with proof of 15 credit hours of continuing education.

The Nevada board approves continuing education provided through the ASHA, the American Academy of Audiology (AAA), and the International Hearing Society (IHS).

You can browse continuing education credits from ASHA, the IHS, or the AAA.

You’ll need to record the names of the courses you’ve completed, the date of the courses, and the time that you spent in the course.

Speech-Language Pathology Salary in Nevada

Nevada is one of only a handful of states whose average annual SLP salary breaks six digits. At $100,620 per year ($48.37 an hour), Nevada’s average SLP salary is the sixth-best of all states in the nation.

Nevada’s high-end SLP salary is even more eye watering, starting at $135,180 annually, or $64.99 hourly.

Salaries for Speech-Language Pathologists in Urban and Rural Nevada

Las Vegas leads Reno and rural Nevada for offering the highest average and high-end SLP salaries. But while that’s true, SLP salary growth in these latter two areas eclipses that of Las Vegas (from 2019 to 2023):

• Rural Nevada salary growth rate: 44%
• Reno salary growth rate: 42%
• Las Vegas salary growth rate: 25%

You can compare the following average, low-end (10^th percentile), and high-end (90^th percentile) salaries throughout Nevada:

Las Vegas:

• Average: $100,800 annual, $48.46 hourly
• Entry-level: $53,490 annual, $25.72 hourly
• High-end: $135,200 annual, $65.00 hourly

Reno:

• Average: $98,640 annual, $47.42 hourly
• Entry-level: $64,090 annual, $31.20 hourly
• High-end: $125,530 annual, $60.35 hourly

Rural Nevada

• Average: $96,170 annual, $46.24 hourly
• Entry-level: $65,190 annual, $31.34 hourly
• High-end: $127,300 annual, $61.20 hourly

Expanding Job Opportunities for Nevada’s SLPs

Between 2020 and 2030 SLP jobs in Nevada are forecast to increase by 38%!

That’s double the national average, and means Nevada should see an average of 110 SLP job openings every year over that time frame.

Right now a total of 1,340 SLPs work throughout the state. Of those:

• 75% (1,010 professionals) work in Las Vegas
• 19% (250 professionals) work in Reno
• 4% (60 professionals) work in rural Nevada

Between 2019 and 2023 rural Nevada has seen an SLP job growth rate of 50%, followed by Las Vegas at 36%. The number of SLP jobs in Reno declined slightly by 4% over that period.

A Profession that Combines High Pay with Job Satisfaction

Several recent analyses demonstrated the high quality and pay that comes with practicing as a speech-language pathologist. US News & World Report ranked SLP as the 3rd best health care job to have and noted the “spike” in pay that took place recently. The average salary for speech-language pathologists in Nevada increased by 30% between 2019 and 2023.

Another promising study was a survey of more than 2 million workers by the salary compensation company PayScale.com. The firm asked these employees whether they thought that their work made the world a better place. Forbes reported how PayScale.com placed SLPs among the 15 most meaningful jobs that pay well based on the results of this survey.

While many speech-language pathologists find employment in public and private schools, outpatient clinics are a significant source of jobs in this field. Nevada boasts a number of clinics that feature SLPs:

Las Vegas:

• A Plus Speech Therapy Services
• Hope Communication & Feeding Specialists
• My Left Foot Children’s Therapy
• SFS Therapies
• Speech Therapy Associates
• Speech Therapy Center—Excellence: Gertz Jil M.
• Talk to Me Therapy, LLC
• Tandem Therapy Services
• The Therapy Place—Speech & Language Therapy

Reno-Sparks:

• Advance Speech & Language
• Leslie L. Goldberg, MS
• Nevada Speech and Therapy Group
• SCOPE Clinical
• Sierra Speech and Language Group
• Sierra Therapy Group

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 September 2024.

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