SLPA - Speech-Language Pathology

A survey course that introduces students to the role of speech-language pathologists (SLP) in education, healthcare, and private clinic settings. Covers the nine disorder areas that speech-language pathologists are prepared to address, including disorders of articulation, receptive and expressive language, voice, fluency, social communication, cognition, aural rehabilitation, augmentative/alternative communication, and swallowing. This course is designed to help learners explore the knowledge and skills needed to become an SLP.

Phonetic transcription is a skill used by speech-language pathologists to record and analyze the speech production abilities of their clients. It is used when gathering speech samples of individual clients over time, to evaluate whether they demonstrate a speech articulation disorder or a dialectal difference, and to monitor progress of clients in intervention. In this course, students will learn to transcribe speech samples using the international phonetic alphabet (IPA), and will apply this skill to evaluation of speech articulation.

This course reviews anatomical structures of the head, neck and ear; and the physiology of speech production, hearing and swallowing. This course is designed for students who are preparing for a career in speech-language pathology or audiology.

This course covers the physical properties of sound, including how it is generated, received, and interpreted by humans. The importance of environmental and linguistic sounds in the human experience will be explored. Learners will also discover the dynamic interplay of respiration, phonation, articulation and resonance that results in human speech.

Human infants are born with reflexive feeding instincts that allow for their survival and ability to thrive. This course will explore the evolution of successful feeding and swallowing in children. Babies are also predisposed to interact socially with caretakers and thereby learn to communicate. The amazing journey toward communicative competence is explored in detail, including the evolution of articulate speech patterns, and receptive and expressive language. The role of early literacy experiences in the development of oral and written language is outlined, as well.