SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY
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Contact: Graduate Program Director
Application Deadlines:
(Fall only – Feb 1st. Students accepted to the program are eligible for a summer start date.) NOTE: If you are a new graduate student and you intend to apply for a Competitive Graduate Award (CGA), the deadline for having all of your application materials turned in moves up to January 15th. If you apply for the CGA but your SIUE application is incomplete, your application for the Competitive Graduate Award will be removed from consideration.
MASTER OF SCIENCE
The Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders offers a program leading to the Master of Science degree in speech-language pathology. The graduate program in speech-language pathology is accredited by the Council of Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).
Students who complete the program are prepared to accept professional opportunities in health care facilities, community clinics, private practice, and public schools. The program combines classroom instruction and research and provides opportunities for graduate internships in a variety of settings. Students completing the prescribed program are eligible for eventual certification by ASHA, an Illinois license in Speech-Language Pathology, and Type 73 certificate to work in the public schools. Students seeking a Type 73 certificate must pass the Illinois Test of Basic Skills and the Illinois Certification Testing Service Content Area Test for Speech-Language Pathologists: Non-teaching.
ADMISSION
To be considered for admission to the graduate program, students must submit copies of the application for graduate study, copies of undergraduate and graduate transcripts and scores from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) to the Graduate School. The student must also submit three letters of recommendation, including one from outside the student’s academic program to the program director of the Speech-Language Pathology program in the Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders. Recommendation forms may be obtained from the program’s website. Students must document a 3.0 grade point average (A=4.0) to apply. Admission is a competitive process. Not all qualified applicants will be admitted to the program.
The majority of students have completed a bachelor’s degree in speech-language pathology with specific undergraduate course work. Some provision is made for students with degrees in related fields following the completion of undergraduate course work in speech-language pathology and audiology.
PROGRAM OF STUDY
Thirty-six (36) semester hours of acceptable graduate credit are required to complete the Master of Science degree in speech-language pathology. These hours include eleven (11) core courses, two electives, and a culminating comprehensive examination or eight core courses, three electives, and a culminating thesis.
Students in the program must maintain a grade point average of 3.0 in all graduate courses. No credit is allowed toward a graduate degree in courses in which a grade below C is earned. The program has two plans through which the program requirements are fulfilled.
Thesis Plan
Required courses (16 hours): SPPA 503, 520, 544, 545, 548, 560
(5 –6 hours from the following): SPPA 540, 541, 542, 543, 547, 551, 555, 558
Electives (8-9 hours) within the specialization or in related areas.
Thesis (6 hours): SPPA 599.
Non-thesis Plan
Required courses (30 hours): SPPA 503, 520, 541, 542, 543, 544, 545, 547, 548, 558, 560
Electives: (minimum of 6 hours) within the specialization or in related areas.
EXIT REQUIREMENTS
All students must pass either a written or an oral comprehensive examination administered by the graduate faculty in speech-language pathology. The examination covers the broad areas of speech and hearing sciences, speech-language pathology, and audiology. Students may choose the thesis option in lieu of a written examination. In addition students must pass the Illinois Test of Basic Skills before completing their program.