They also provide speech-language pathology students the opportunity to meet Connecticut State Dept. of Education school certification requirements through a cooperative arrangement with the university's School of Education. The certification programs typically require two years of full-time graduate study beyond the preprofessional background. A summer session of supervised clinical experience is strongly recommended. The goal is to educate students in the normal processes of speech and language development, language assessment and management, speech pathology, and the scientific approach to clinical processes. Students may follow a thesis or non-thesis track.
Most students begin graduate study with two courses in hearing disorders.
They cannot count as Electives without permission from the Advisory Committee. The ASHA exam can be substituted for the written comprehensive exam if taken Spring Semester of the second year. The General Program provides content and research training for those students who are interested in speech, language or hearing processes or their disorders, but who are not planning to become certified clinicians. The requirements are sufficiently flexible to accommodate individuals with interests in a wide range of areas related to speech, language or hearing processes. Individuals who complete this program frequently choose to continue their work at the doctoral level.