Graduate students are prepared to function in a wide variety of professional settings, such as public and private schools, medical centers, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, community clinics, university training centers, research laboratories, federal, state, and local governmental programs, industry, home health care agencies, and private practice. Through academic and clinical education, students are educated to provide current best practices for culturally diverse individuals across the broad spectrum of clinical-disorders populations from birth through senescence. The doctoral studies are supported by the excellent research libraries at the University of Virginia. Members of the Communication Disorders Program faculty specialize in the areas of auditory evoked potentials, central auditory processing, aural rehabilitation, aphasia, traumatic brain injury, dysphagia, voice disorders, child language and phonology, and language disorders based on reading problems. Clinical training programs are closely coordinated with academic programs and provide the student with the opportunities to become familiar with a wide range of speech, language, and hearing disorders in both the child and adult client, to participate with multidisciplinary teams, and to acquire extensive clinical experience under staff supervision.
Several facilities are available for clinical training.
This learning laboratory supports both the clinical training and research missions of the program. All students begin their clinical experiences in this center. Educational and intervention services are also offered for at-risk infants and their families, and preschoolers who might benefit from early stimulation activities to enhance their potential for language and communication. Students are exposed to a full range of clinical training experiences under the supervision of UVA clinical staff. Advanced clinical training is provided by externships in which graduate students are placed in various clinical settings in the central Virginia area.