The program requires two years of full-time study and accepts students for the Fall semester only. Students completing the program are eligible to apply for national and state certification. Course work includes language and learning disorders of pre-school and school age children, neuromotor communication disorders, augmentative and alternative communication, dysphagia, adult neuropathology, and courses in phonological, fluency, and voice disorders. Formal courses are balanced with carefully designed seminars and practicum experiences. A major feature of the program is its highly individualized and personal approach.
Classes are small and taught by an exceptional faculty who are readily available to students.
Students complete their first year of supervised clinical practicum at the campus facility. Regarded as one of the finest clinical teaching units in the Northeast, the Center serves a varied population of children and adults with communication disorders. The equipment inventory, which has kept pace with recent technological developments, includes all types of video and audio equipment, and computers. This includes persons with severe physical disabilities, language and phonological disorders, or cognitive deficits who do not have adequate spoken language abilities to meet their daily communication needs. AAC intervention enhances communication through the use of signs, symbolic gestures, language boards, and computerized communication devices.