Jobs / Healthcare / 31-9099.01

Speech-Language Pathology Assistants

Assist speech-language pathologists in the assessment and treatment of speech, language, voice, and fluency disorders. Implement speech and language programs or activities as planned and directed by speech-language pathologists. Monitor the use of alternative communication devices and systems.

US jobs
109,740 (SOC 31-9099 group, "Healthcare Support Workers, All Other")
Median wage
$48,430 a year
Job family
Healthcare

Can agents do the work of speech-language pathology assistants?

We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Healthcare:

  • Task levelPartialOne benchmark, from early 2025. On Stanford's MedAgentBench, where agents do clinical tasks in a simulated electronic health record, the best recorded model completes 69.7% of tasks (Claude 3.5 Sonnet v2). It has no maintained leaderboard, so newer models are not measured. No benchmark in our collection tests work with patients.
  • Project levelPartialOnly adjacent evidence. GDPval includes nurses among its 44 occupations. OpenAI reports that GPT-5.5's deliverables won or tied against professionals' work in 84.9% of comparisons across all occupations. No benchmark in our collection tests clinical work over days, such as managing a patient's care.

Benchmarks for the job family

These cover work in healthcare, not always this occupation's tasks.

  • GDPvalby OpenAIProject level · Wins plus ties against experts
    84.9%GPT-5.5 · Apr 2026
    Strong
  • GDPval-AAby Artificial AnalysisProject level · GDPval-AA Elo
    1846 EloClaude Opus 5.5 (Adaptive Reasoning, Max Effort, Default Fallback) · 23 Sep 2026
    Unrated
  • MedAgentBenchby Stanford UniversityTask level · Task success rate
    69.7%Claude 3.5 Sonnet v2 · 24 Jan 2025
    Strong

Typical tasks

From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.

  • Document clients' progress toward meeting established treatment objectives.
  • Implement treatment plans or protocols as directed by speech-language pathologists.
  • Collect and compile data to document clients' performance or assess program quality.
  • Perform support duties, such as preparing materials, keeping records, maintaining supplies, and scheduling activities.
  • Assist speech-language pathologists in the remediation or development of speech and language skills.
  • Select or prepare speech-language instructional materials.
  • Assist speech-language pathologists in the conduct of client screenings or assessments of language, voice, fluency, articulation, or hearing.
  • Prepare charts, graphs, or other visual displays to communicate clients' performance information.
  • Test or maintain equipment to ensure correct performance.
  • Conduct in-service training sessions, or family and community education programs.
  • Assist speech-language pathologists in the conduct of speech-language research projects.
Other job titles for this occupation (24)

Communication Assistant · Speech Assistant · Speech Paraeducator · Speech Pathologist Assistant · Speech Therapy Assistant · Speech-Language Assistant · Speech-Language Pathologist Assistant (SLPA) · Speech-Language Pathologists Assistant (SLPA) · Speech-Language Pathology Assistant (SLPA) · Speech-Language Technician · Anatomic Pathology Assistant · Certified Pathology Assistant · Hearing and Speech Assistant · Language Assistant · Pathology Assistant · School SLPA (School Speech Language Pathologist Assistant) · School SLPA (School Speech-Language Pathologist Assistant) · SLPA (Speech and Language Pathology Assistant) · SLPA (Speech Language Pathologist Assistant) · Speech and Language Assistant · Speech Correction Assistant · Speech Language Assistant · Speech Pathology Assistant · Speech Pathology Intern