Speech-Language Pathology Graduate Courses

A total of 36 hours of academic coursework over five semesters (including summers). Clinical practicum requires enrollment for additional credit hours each semester and summer. The typical course load is 12-15 credit hours (including practicum); in the summer students usually engage in practicum full time, along with one academic course.

CSD 180E , 280E, 380E , 480E Conference Course in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Readings in the literature of communication sciences and disorders designed to expand the graduate student's opportunity for individual consultation both in research and in informational aspects of the work.

CSD 181L, 281L, 381L Clinical Practicum. Supervised practicum in speech-language pathology, audiology, or education of the deaf.

CSD 383N Seminar in Human Communication Development. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Consideration of strategies for original research in developmental sequences of communication behaviors and for research in classroom applications. Representative topics include linguistic behaviors, oral language development, and second language instruction.

CSD 386N Research Methods in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Strategies and methodology in the design and analysis of research in communication sciences and disorders.

CSD 293D Evaluation and Remediation in Speech Language Pathology. Core courses for clinical competence in speech-language pathology.

Topic 1: Voice Disorders. Theory and research in the area of voice disorders with particular emphasis on phonatory problems. Strategies for assessment and intervention are explored.

Topic 2: Developmental Speech Disorders. This course centers on understanding of typical speech acquisition and developmental speech disorders from both phonetic and phonological perspectives. Students will learn how to describe phonetic and phonological aspects of speech and how to apply this knowledge to assessment and intervention for children with developmental speech disorders. In addition, students will learn to understand the course of typical speech development from birth to 6 years in order to apply this information to assessment and intervention with delayed or disordered speech patterns in children and young adults. Factors related to understanding the nature of speech disorders will also be covered (e.g. structural deviations in speech mechanisms, etiological categories such as hearing impairment or developmental apraxia).

Topic 3: Fluency Disorders. Theoretical concepts and remedial approaches to disorders in speech fluency, particularly the disorder of stuttering.

Topic 4: Language Intervention with Infants and Toddlers. Family focused assessment and intervention using a transdisciplinary team model are emphasized in this course. Special populations of handicapped infants and toddlers are discussed, and widely-used assessment instruments and intervention programs are introduced.

Topic 5: Developmental Language Disorders. Overview of assessment and intervention for children with language impairments from infancy through early school age. Topics addressed include etiologies of language impairment, manifestation of language impairment in diverse populations, assessment principles and procedures, principles and strategies for intervention, and evaluation of the effectiveness of intervention.

Topic 6: Language Intervention with School Age Children. Design of language intervention for children and adolescents, with an emphasis on school-based intervention. Themes addressed include the nature and principles of intervention, designing intervention programs, and integrating language learning with learning across intelligences.

CSD 293E Topics Cognate to Speech-Language Pathology. New developments in related areas and their applications to speech-language pathology.

Topic 1: Dysphagia. Characteristics, evaluation, and (re)habilitation of individuals with swallowing disorders due to neurogenic and/or structural deficits.

Topic 2: Measurement in Communication Disorders. Issues surrounding and strategies employed in the assessment of communication disorders, with particular emphasis on assessment in linguistically and culturally diverse populations. Emphasis on nondiscriminatory assessment.

Topic 3: Acquired Language Disorders. A survey course focusing on the characteristics, classification, assessment, and treatment of acquired language disorders.

Topic 4: Bilingual Collaborative Models of Assessment and Intervention for Bilingual Children. This course surveys a number of recent changes in service delivery in speech-language pathology, focusing on bilingual individuals, and includes topics such as family-centered services, team approaches and issues, classroom consultation and collaboration, laws affecting the field, and counseling techniques for communication disorders in multicultural contexts. This course is an elective topic in the present curricular structure.

Topic 6: Language Theory and Bilingualism. Exploration of the impact of bilingualism on assessment and intervention in communication disorders. A framework is developed for the understanding of language disorders in bilingual children and adults that is based on linguistic and psycholinguistic theories of first and second language acquisition.

Topic 7: Cognitive and Linguistic Foundations of Language Development and Disorders. Presents a framework for understanding the cognitive and linguistic mechanisms that underlie language development and disorders. Includes linguistic and psycholinguistic theories of language development.

Topic 8: Anatomy and Physiology of the Speech Mechanism. In-depth study of the anatomy and physiology of structures involved in speech, language, hearing, and swallowing. Includes anatomical and physiological mechanisms of respiration, phonation, articulation, and hearing; and the central nervous system and blood suppy to the speech and hearing mechanisms.

CSD 293F Recent Developments in Speech Pathology. Current developments in selected categories of speech disorders; designed to provide depth in one or more areas.

Topic 1: Aphasia. Characteristics, evaluation, and treatment of communication disorders due to acquired brain damage, including aphasia, dementia, and non dominant hemisphere syndromes.

Topic 2: Acquired Speech Disorders. Evaluation and intervention strategies for children and adults with acquired neuromuscular speech disorders.

Topic 3: Team Management of Craniofacial Patients. An overview of the various problems associated with congenital anomalies that may result in communication disorders, particularly cleft lip and palate. Emphasis is placed on team-oriented methods of assessing communication skills and strategies for maximizing these skills.

Topic 4: Cognitive-Communication/Language Disorders in Adults. Course focuses on the clincial management of communicative disorders resulting from diffuse brain lesions in Alzheimer's dementia (AD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Study will focus on best intervention practices as indicated by current research-based evidence.

CSD 393G Problems in Speech Pathology. Selected topics in behavior modification, including remediation of neuromotor disorders, pronunciation problems in second language learning, remedial Departments for the disadvantaged, and augmentative communication modes.

Topic 1: Multicultural Research in Communication Sciences and Disorders. An analysis of research designs and methods from a multicultural perspective.

CSD 395N Neurobiology of Language. Provides grounding in sensory, motor, and neurophysiological correlates of speech and language. Topics covered include neuroanatomy and neurophysiology of human brain with emphasis on corticobulbar motor pathways, auditory, somesthetic and visual projection systems; theoretical perspectives on language representation in the brain; cognitive neuroscience brain imaging research; neurophonetic theories of sound processing; and hemispheric specializations.

CSD 398T Supervised Teaching for Graduate Students in Communication Sciences and Disorders. A course in college-level course organization and teaching techniques.

CSD 698A, B Master's Thesis. The equivalent of three class hours a week for two semesters.

CSD 398R Master's Report. Preparation of report to fulfill requirement for Master of Arts under the report option.