These professionals identify, evaluate and treat people with communication disorders. A speech-language pathologist is licensed and certified by the State Education Department in New York. An audiologist is licensed by the State Education Department in New York. One out of every ten people has a speech, language or hearing problem.
Communicative disorders can affect anyone at any age, from the newborn to the elderly.
Therefore early identification of potential hearing problems is paramount in children. There are often social and emotional effects of undetected communicative disorders making identification and remediation in adults equally important. Most people with communicative handicaps can be helped. 20 million Americans are affected by a communication disorder.