Communication Sciences Disorders

The academic and clinical components of our master’s program address the following sets of requirements:

• The University’s School of Graduate Studies minimum requirements for the MS degree
• The Department of CSD’s academic and clinical requirements
• ASHA’s certification requirements for speech-language pathology
• North Carolina’s state licensure requirements for speech-language pathology
• North Carolina Department of Public Instruction requirements to practice in public schools
• The Department of CSD has not made a determination that its curriculum meets the state educational requirements to practice in any other state.  Prospective and current students who are non-North Carolina residents should use the following link, http://www.asha.org/advocacy/state/, which provides information regarding state licensure specific to individual states throughout the United States.

The Department of CSD requires prerequisite courses in the following areas to address ASHA certification standards IV-B and IV-C for speech-language pathology (NCCU course numbers are provided, and these courses are offered online):

• Anatomy and Physiology (EDSH 5710)
• Aural Rehabilitation (EDSH 5752)
• Introduction to Audiology (EDSH 5751)
• Phonetics (EDSH 5730)
• Scientific Bases of Speech or a similar class that combines speech and hearing science (EDSH 5725)
• Speech and Language Development (EDSH 5700)
• At least 25 clinical observation hours of ASHA-certified speech-language pathologists (SLPs) with valid supporting documentation across a variety of settings (EDU 4810)

ASHA certification standards also require 3-credit-hour coursework in the following basic sciences:

• Biological sciences (courses should emphasize a content area related to human or animal sciences, e.g., biology, human anatomy and physiology, genetics, neuroanatomy, or neurophysiology)
• Physical sciences (chemistry or physics only)
• Social sciences (e.g., psychology, sociology, anthropology, or public health)
• Statistics (at least a grade of B or grade 3.0)

With the exception of Aural Rehabilitation, each prerequisite course and a minimum of 25 guided observation hours must be completed before a student can enroll in a clinical practicum. Students who have not completed all of the prerequisite courses can be admitted to the Department of CSD.

Areas of Focus

The Department of CSD offers graduate students the opportunity to enhance their professional competencies by specializing in areas of service. Faculty members coordinate these areas of specialization and determine the eligibility criteria and application process. Upon selection, students participate in distinct educational, professional development, or practicum experiences in speech-language pathology to foster their knowledge and skills in a specific area.  These areas may require students to complete courses and practicum experiences in addition to the expectations in the typical course sequence. Areas of specialization include:

• Transgender Voice Modification
• The Bilingual specialization provides a combination of specialized coursework and practicum training to address the needs of bilingual or multilingual children and adults with communication disorders.
• A Collaborative Approach to Training Special Educators and Speech-Language Pathologists (CATSS) is a federally funded personnel development grant from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), US Department of Education, designed to improve the outcomes for children with disabilities such as significant emotional disabilities, communication impairments, or autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The purpose is to train graduate scholars in special education (SPED) and speech-language pathology (SLP) to provide evidence-based practices to school-age children with high-intensity needs through an interdisciplinary curriculum.