Speech Pathology and Audiology, MA

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Department of Health Sciences Speech and Hearing Program

IM Building

Speech and Hearing Clinic - IM 275/ Program Director Office IM 339
(216) 687-3804
http://www.csuohio.edu/sciences/dept/healthsciences/graduate/index.html

Elizabeth Domholdt, Director, School of Health Science
Myrita Wilhite, Au.D., CCC-A, Speech Pathology and Audiology Graduate Program Director

Introduction

The Master of Arts degree program in Speech Pathology and Audiology provides students with the necessary clinical and academic expertise to obtain employment in clinical and research positions. The program maintains an active, nationally accredited speech-language and hearing clinic and has student externship liaisons with many hospitals, clinics, and schools in the Greater Cleveland area. The graduate academic program holds accreditation from the Council on Academic Accreditation (CAA) of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).

Faculty Research and Publications

Faculty members are active in a wide variety of research areas, and their research is published in international and national scholarly journals. The program features state-of-the-art facilities for research, instruction, and service delivery. Graduate students are encouraged to pursue independent research by completing a master’s thesis.

Current faculty information can be located on the Cleveland State University Faculty Profile page.

Financial Assistance

The program offers graduate research and teaching assistantships funded by University and grant support. Any student interested in applying for a graduate assistantship should complete the appropriate portion of the Application for Graduate Admission. Please refer to the section on Expenses and Financial Aid: Graduate Assistantships in this Catalog.

Career Information

Graduates of the program meet the requirements for ASHA certification, state of Ohio licensure, and, if opted for, the Ohio Department of Education teaching license. Graduates hold positions in public schools, hospitals, community clinics, and long-term care facilities. Increasingly, experienced speech-language pathologists are establishing themselves as private practitioners. Program graduates also may elect to pursue a doctorate at another university to seek employment at a university or research facility.

Admission Information

Admittance into the program is limited by the capacity of the program to provide supervised clinical experience in multiple settings. Because admission is selective, not all applicants who meet the minimum requirements for College of Graduate Studies admission can be accepted.

Applicants for admission are required to submit the results of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and two letters of recommendation from individuals who are familiar with their undergraduate academic and/or clinical performance. A personal statement of interest that describes the applicant’s capabilities and career goals must be included.

Although an undergraduate major in communication disorders is not required for admission to the program, students whose major is not communication disorders must complete the following six undergraduate courses or their equivalents before admission is possible. These courses are SPH 228 - Phonetics, SPH 349 - Speech and Language Development for Majors, SPH 231 - Introduction to Communication Disorders, SPH 232 - Introduction to Audiology, SPH 353 - Clinical Methods in Communication Disorders, and SPH 351 - Anatomy and Physiology of the Speech and Hearing Mechanism. Two additional undergraduate courses or their equivalents are required for ASHA certification and must be completed by master’s candidates who have not previously taken these courses. These are SPH 485 - Speech and Hearing Science and SPH 481 - Aural Rehabilitation.

The application deadline is January 15. Submit the Application for Graduate Admission and all admission materials (official transcripts, official test scores, letters of recommendation, and personal statement) to the Graduate Admissions Office.

Apply Now: http://www.csuohio.edu/graduate-admissions/how-apply

Degree Requirements

1. Required grade-point average

Students must earn a 3.0 grade-point average or higher in all required graduate courses, including any required graduate course(s) taken as a non-degree student.

2. Students must fulfill the course of study approved by their advisor

3. Minimum clinical hours

Students must complete a minimum 375 of supervised clinical hours of direct client/patient contact plus 25 hours of clinic observation.

4. Students must successfully complete the following courses:

5. Completion of either a comprehensive examination or a master’s thesis

Students must successfully complete either a comprehensive examination or a master’s thesis. A maximum of four credits may be counted toward the master’s thesis. (See Exit Requirements)

6. Students seeking Ohio teaching license

Students seeking Ohio teaching license as a public school speech-and-language pathologist must enroll in student teaching during their graduate study program. Approval for the Ohio teaching license will be withheld until the successful completion of the master’s program. (See EST 575 - Practicum in Speech & Hearing , which is offered by the College of Education.) Two courses SPH 435/SPH 535 - Organization and Administration of a Public School Speech and Hearing Program, and SPH 438/SPH 594 —Dialect Difference in the Schools) must also be completed.

Exit Requirements

The program offers both a thesis and a comprehensive examination option. Students interested in pursuing a thesis must first complete SPH 596 - Directed Study with a graduate faculty member who is interested in directing the thesis. The thesis can begin upon completion of at least eight credit hours of graduate study plus the directed study preparatory to the thesis. The student must have a minimum 3.3 grade-point average in order to obtain approval for the thesis proposal. The student selects a committee that is composed of at least three graduate faculty members, including the thesis director and at least two other members. After approval of the student’s thesis proposal, he or she carries out the study with the support of the thesis committee. Upon acceptance of the completed thesis by the committee, the student is awarded the Master of Arts degree, provided all other academic and clinical requirements have been met.

Students electing to write a comprehensive examination in place of a thesis must have successfully completed at least 24 credit hours of graduate study with a minimum 3.0 grade-point average. The comprehensive examination consists of selecting a service or research project that will involve professional writing and an oral presentation. Students must register for SPH 591 - Comprehensive Examination with the permission of their advisor.

Curriculum Structure

In planning a curriculum leading to a Master of Arts degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology, a student must satisfy the specific requirements established by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). These requirements partially fulfill the criteria leading toward the Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) in speech-language pathology. In addition, a student must satisfy the specific requirements established by the State of Ohio Board of Speech Pathology and Audiology for State of Ohio Licensing in Speech-Language Pathology. Students must meet with their assigned advisors to ensure that all clinical and academic requirements for national certification and state licensure are fulfilled by the time they plan to complete their program of study.

Specific ASHA Guidelines

Students must earn at least 75 credit hours that reflect a well-integrated program of study regarding:
1. biological/physical sciences (6 credits);
2. a stand-alone course in statistics (3 credits);
3. behavioral and/or social sciences, including human behavior and communication (6 credits); and
4. the nature, prevention, evaluation, and treatment of speech, language, hearing, and related disorders 15 credits related to:
  1. the anatomic and physiologic bases;
  2. the physical and psychophysical bases; and
  3. the linguistic and psycholinguistic aspects

All areas of academic course work must address issues pertaining to human development and behavior across the life span and for culturally diverse populations. These 75 credit hours reflect the 41 credits required for the Master of Arts in Speech Pathology and Audiology plus relevant coursework taken at the bachelor and post-baccalaureate levels.

The student must earn at least 41 credit hours in courses that concern the nature, prevention, evaluation, and treatment of speech, language, and hearing disorders. In accordance with the Council on Academic Accreditation Standards, students must demonstrate all clinical competencies as defined by the program.
Students must complete at least 25 clinical clock hours of supervised observation prior to beginning the initial clinical practicum. All supervision must be provided by an individual who holds a Certificate of Clinical Competence in the appropriate area of practice.
The student must submit evidence of the completion of a minimum of 400 supervised clinical clock hours of which at least 375 hours must be in direct client/patient contact. The program requires that students whose major is speech-language pathology must have completed the following supervised clinical hours at a minimum of three practicum sites:
1. 20 clinical hours each in the evaluation of speech disorders in children and speech disorders in adults;
2. 20 clinical hours each in the evaluation of language disorders in children and language disorders in adults;
3. 20 clinical hours each in the treatment of speech disorders in children and speech disorders in adults;
4. 20 clinical hours each in the treatment of language disorders in children and language disorders in adults;
5. 20 clinical hours in audiology with experience in both screening and aural rehabilitation.
Students must successfully complete either a comprehensive examination or a master’s thesis. A maximum of four credits may be counted toward the master’s thesis. (See Exit Requirements)

Students must demonstrate clinical competencies across the life span as indicated by ASHA in the following “big nine” areas: Articulation, Fluency, Voice and Resonance, Receptive and Expressive Language, Hearing, Swallowing, Cognitive Aspects of Communication, Social Aspects of Communication, and Communication Modalities/Augmentative/Alternative Communication Systems.