OPT Speech Pathologist Jobs
Speech Pathologist OPT jobs are available across hospitals, school districts, rehabilitation centers, and private practices, but most require or are actively pursuing ASHA CCC-SLP certification. Your 12-month OPT window starts the clock, so targeting employers already familiar with visa sponsorship for clinical roles is critical from day one.
See All OPT Speech Pathologist JobsOverview
Showing 5 of 887+ Speech Pathologist jobs
Have you applied for this role?
Have you applied for this role?
Have you applied for this role?
Have you applied for this role?
Have you applied for this role?
See all 887+ Speech Pathologist Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new Speech Pathologist roles.
Get Access To All JobsINTRODUCTION
Excellence, Teamwork, Leadership, and Innovation. These values define UConn Health. We are looking for team members that share these same values. Our top-rated organization is looking to add a Speech Pathologist to our growing Inpatient/Outpatient Rehab Services team. If you have a background in this field, as well as a passion for customer and patient experience, we want to hear from you.
At UConn Health, this class is accountable for providing diagnostic and therapeutic intervention to patients with cognitive, communication or swallowing impairments. This position will work in Rehabilitation Services - Inpatient and Outpatient located in Farmington, CT.
SUPERVISION RECEIVED:
Works under the general supervision of an employee of higher grade.
SUPERVISION EXERCISED:
May lead/supervise lower-level employees.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
KNOWLEDGE, SKILL, AND ABILITY:
- Considerable knowledge of anatomic, physiologic, linguistic, and psycholinguistic variables and their relation to develop and use of speech, voice, and language
- Considerable knowledge of understanding speech and language disorders and management procedures used in habilitation/rehabilitation
- Knowledge of speech and language programs associated with hearing impairment
- Knowledge of diagnostic methods and their applicability to the difficult to test population
- Basic knowledge of pathology of auditory system and assessment of those disorders
- Considerable interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills
- Skill in individual and group instruction
- Evaluation skills of speech and language status and basis of disorders
- Ability to interpret medical and psychological data bearing on speech pathology
- Ability to prepare reports, records, and instructional material
- Ability to lead and instruct others
EXPERIENCE AND TRAINING:
General Experience:
- Must possess and maintain a license as a Speech Pathologist in the State of CT
- Master's or doctorate degree in speech pathology or audiology from a program accredited by the American Speech Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) or such successor organization, or an integrated educational program which has satisfied the educational requirements for the award of a certificate of clinical competence (CCC), or has had a minimum of thirty-six weeks and one thousand eighty hours or equivalent of professional employment in speech pathology or audiology under the supervision of a licensed or certified speech pathologist or audiologist.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENT:
- Incumbents in this class must possess and maintain American Heart Association (AHA) Basic Life Support (BLS) certification for healthcare providers. This is the only accepted credential.
- Other CPR/AED credentials may be accepted at hire, but incumbents will be required to obtain American Heart Association (AHA) Basic Life Support (BLS) certification within six (6) months of hire and maintain throughout employment.
PREFERRED EXPERIENCE:
- ASHA membership with Certificate of Clinical Competency.
- Experience with neuro diagnoses, head and neck cancer diagnoses and laryngectomy.
- Training and experience performing FEES (Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing) and MBS (Modified Barium Swallow)
- LSVT - LOUD Certification
WORKING CONDITIONS:
Incumbents in this class may be exposed to some risk of injury or physical harm, and to moderately disagreeable conditions while providing treatment to patients.
EXAMPLES OF DUTIES:
- Develop speech-language therapy treatment programs to meet the rehabilitation needs of patients referred to for care
- Complying with physicians orders, makes appropriate requests for physician's orders or changes as reflected by patient status
- Provides patient/family education and training to ensure effective carryover of treatment plan
- Maintains equipment
- Assists in the interpretation of speech therapy programs to the treatment team
- Participates in clinics, rounds and patient conferences
- Assists in volunteer orientation
- Develops and implements clinical learning experiences and assumes responsibility for the supervision of students
- Provides consultation services and educational presentation to staff, health care personnel and other persons
- Related duties as required
SCHEDULE:
Full time, 40 hours per week, Tuesday - Saturday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, holiday rotations as scheduled, 30-minute unpaid meal break.
Why UConn Health
UConn Health is a vibrant, integrated academic medical center that is entering an era of unprecedented growth in all three areas of its mission: academics, research, and clinical care. A commitment to human health and well-being has been of utmost importance to UConn Health since the founding of the University of Connecticut schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine in 1961. Based on a strong foundation of groundbreaking research, first-rate education, and quality clinical care, we have expanded our medical missions over the decades. In just over 50 years, UConn Health has evolved to encompass more research endeavors, to provide more ways to access our superior care, and to innovate both practical medicine and our methods of educating the practitioners of tomorrow.
Additional Links:
This position is Benefit eligible; click here for an overview of available benefits.
This position is covered by the UHP Bargaining Unit; click here to review the current UHP Contract.
This position is in Salary Group UHP-10; click here to review the current UHP Pay Plan.
INTRODUCTION
Excellence, Teamwork, Leadership, and Innovation. These values define UConn Health. We are looking for team members that share these same values. Our top-rated organization is looking to add a Speech Pathologist to our growing Inpatient/Outpatient Rehab Services team. If you have a background in this field, as well as a passion for customer and patient experience, we want to hear from you.
At UConn Health, this class is accountable for providing diagnostic and therapeutic intervention to patients with cognitive, communication or swallowing impairments. This position will work in Rehabilitation Services - Inpatient and Outpatient located in Farmington, CT.
SUPERVISION RECEIVED:
Works under the general supervision of an employee of higher grade.
SUPERVISION EXERCISED:
May lead/supervise lower-level employees.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
KNOWLEDGE, SKILL, AND ABILITY:
- Considerable knowledge of anatomic, physiologic, linguistic, and psycholinguistic variables and their relation to develop and use of speech, voice, and language
- Considerable knowledge of understanding speech and language disorders and management procedures used in habilitation/rehabilitation
- Knowledge of speech and language programs associated with hearing impairment
- Knowledge of diagnostic methods and their applicability to the difficult to test population
- Basic knowledge of pathology of auditory system and assessment of those disorders
- Considerable interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills
- Skill in individual and group instruction
- Evaluation skills of speech and language status and basis of disorders
- Ability to interpret medical and psychological data bearing on speech pathology
- Ability to prepare reports, records, and instructional material
- Ability to lead and instruct others
EXPERIENCE AND TRAINING:
General Experience:
- Must possess and maintain a license as a Speech Pathologist in the State of CT
- Master's or doctorate degree in speech pathology or audiology from a program accredited by the American Speech Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) or such successor organization, or an integrated educational program which has satisfied the educational requirements for the award of a certificate of clinical competence (CCC), or has had a minimum of thirty-six weeks and one thousand eighty hours or equivalent of professional employment in speech pathology or audiology under the supervision of a licensed or certified speech pathologist or audiologist.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENT:
- Incumbents in this class must possess and maintain American Heart Association (AHA) Basic Life Support (BLS) certification for healthcare providers. This is the only accepted credential.
- Other CPR/AED credentials may be accepted at hire, but incumbents will be required to obtain American Heart Association (AHA) Basic Life Support (BLS) certification within six (6) months of hire and maintain throughout employment.
PREFERRED EXPERIENCE:
- ASHA membership with Certificate of Clinical Competency.
- Experience with neuro diagnoses, head and neck cancer diagnoses and laryngectomy.
- Training and experience performing FEES (Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing) and MBS (Modified Barium Swallow)
- LSVT - LOUD Certification
WORKING CONDITIONS:
Incumbents in this class may be exposed to some risk of injury or physical harm, and to moderately disagreeable conditions while providing treatment to patients.
EXAMPLES OF DUTIES:
- Develop speech-language therapy treatment programs to meet the rehabilitation needs of patients referred to for care
- Complying with physicians orders, makes appropriate requests for physician's orders or changes as reflected by patient status
- Provides patient/family education and training to ensure effective carryover of treatment plan
- Maintains equipment
- Assists in the interpretation of speech therapy programs to the treatment team
- Participates in clinics, rounds and patient conferences
- Assists in volunteer orientation
- Develops and implements clinical learning experiences and assumes responsibility for the supervision of students
- Provides consultation services and educational presentation to staff, health care personnel and other persons
- Related duties as required
SCHEDULE:
Full time, 40 hours per week, Tuesday - Saturday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, holiday rotations as scheduled, 30-minute unpaid meal break.
Why UConn Health
UConn Health is a vibrant, integrated academic medical center that is entering an era of unprecedented growth in all three areas of its mission: academics, research, and clinical care. A commitment to human health and well-being has been of utmost importance to UConn Health since the founding of the University of Connecticut schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine in 1961. Based on a strong foundation of groundbreaking research, first-rate education, and quality clinical care, we have expanded our medical missions over the decades. In just over 50 years, UConn Health has evolved to encompass more research endeavors, to provide more ways to access our superior care, and to innovate both practical medicine and our methods of educating the practitioners of tomorrow.
Additional Links:
This position is Benefit eligible; click here for an overview of available benefits.
This position is covered by the UHP Bargaining Unit; click here to review the current UHP Contract.
This position is in Salary Group UHP-10; click here to review the current UHP Pay Plan.
See all 887+ OPT Speech Pathologist Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new OPT Speech Pathologist Jobs.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding OPT Sponsorship in Speech Pathologist
Target employers with existing H-1B sponsorship history
Hospital systems, large rehabilitation networks, and school districts with dedicated HR teams are most likely to sponsor after OPT. They have established immigration counsel and have navigated clinical visa sponsorship before, which significantly reduces friction during the transition.
Get your ASHA CCC-SLP certification timeline in order
Most employers willing to sponsor H-1B visas for speech pathologists require CCC-SLP certification or active candidacy. Completing your Clinical Fellowship Year during OPT and tracking your CFY hours precisely positions you for sponsorship before your OPT authorization expires.
Pursue STEM OPT extension if your program qualifies
Speech-Language Pathology programs classified under CIP code 51.0201 qualify for the 24-month STEM OPT extension, giving you up to 36 months of work authorization. Confirm your program's CIP code with your DSO early so you can plan your sponsorship timeline accordingly.
Address licensure requirements state by state
State licensure for speech pathologists varies considerably. Some states grant provisional licenses to CFY candidates, while others require full CCC-SLP before issuing any license. Research your target states licensure rules upfront so employer sponsorship conversations are not derailed by unexpected credentialing delays.
Leverage school district and university settings
Public school districts and university speech clinics are cap-exempt H-1B employers, meaning they are not subject to the annual lottery. This makes them strategically valuable OPT employers because sponsorship can happen outside the April filing window without lottery risk.
Communicate your OPT timeline clearly during interviews
Employers unfamiliar with OPT often underestimate how quickly decisions must be made. Come prepared with a one-page summary of your authorization dates, STEM extension eligibility, and H-1B filing deadlines so hiring managers can loop in HR and immigration counsel without delay.
Speech Pathologist OPT: Frequently Asked Questions
Can I work as a Speech Pathologist on OPT without full CCC-SLP certification?
Yes, but with important caveats. Many employers will hire CFY candidates on OPT under provisional or temporary state licenses, provided you are actively completing your Clinical Fellowship Year. However, some states and employers require full certification before they will initiate H-1B sponsorship. Confirm your state's provisional licensure rules and the employer's sponsorship policy before accepting any offer.
Do Speech Pathologist jobs qualify for the STEM OPT extension?
They can, but only if your specific degree program is classified under a qualifying STEM CIP code. Speech-Language Pathology programs coded under CIP 51.0201 are on the STEM OPT eligible list. Confirm this directly with your Designated School Official because not every SLP program is classified identically. A successful STEM OPT extension gives you 36 months of total work authorization.
Which types of employers are most likely to sponsor H-1B visas for Speech Pathologists after OPT?
Hospital systems, pediatric therapy networks, and school districts with dedicated HR and legal teams are the most consistent sponsors. Critically, public school districts and universities operate as cap-exempt H-1B employers, meaning they can sponsor outside the annual lottery. Browse Speech Pathologist roles on Migrate Mate to identify employers with a track record of sponsoring clinical professionals.
What happens to my OPT authorization if I finish my Clinical Fellowship Year and change employers?
OPT authorization is tied to your visa status, not your specific employer, so you can change jobs during OPT as long as the new role is directly related to your degree field. You must report the employer change to your DSO within 10 days. Gaps in employment longer than 90 cumulative days can jeopardize your status, so plan transitions carefully.
Is a Master's degree required to work as a Speech Pathologist on OPT in the United States?
Yes. The Master's degree is the standard entry-level requirement for clinical practice in speech-language pathology in the United States, and ASHA certification requires it. Your OPT authorization is issued based on your completed Master's program, and that same degree forms the foundation for any subsequent H-1B specialty occupation petition your employer would file.