“Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) work to prevent, assess, diagnose, and treat speech, language, social communication, cognitive-communication and swallowing disorders in children and adults” (ASHA). I am on track to be an SLP by pursuing the major in Communication Sciences and Disorders at UNH. But what I’m here to talk about is what the major really entails, the rewards it grants and future it will give you!
The communication sciences and disorders major is already such an excellent program at UNH and I am only at the beginning of my second year. The classes are intense, the professors are dedicated and the hard work must be done. Some of the classes I’ve already taken are Anatomy and Physiology I, Anatomy of Speech and Hearing Mechanisms and Introduction to Linguistics. Some of the classes I will be taking in the future are Speech and Hearing Science, Clinical Phonetics, Neurology, Speech-Language Pathology I and II and Fact Fiction and Fraud. The major classes include learning a completely new alphabet (IPA), the anatomy of the entire throat and brain as well as the muscles and bones that help produce speech, how to diagnose and how to treat patients.
But it doesn’t stop there. Following receiving your undergraduate degree, newly graduated students must complete and receive their master’s degree as well. You then will go on to complete a clinical fellowship year where you are supervised by a state licensed SLP. During this year you must complete a minimum of 1,260 hours and a minimum of 36 weeks working full-time. After this year, you now qualify to apply for your Clinical Competence (CCs) from the ASHA. Then, you must apply for your state license in the state you choose to work in. In this state however you don’t need to work in a specific place. This can be at home visits, schools, hospitals, etc. This is not the only path you can take, but it is one of the most common ones.
I could not be more excited about the path I’m on and hope it brings me immense success. I also hope this article helps anyone who’s still stuck on a major to choose, or educates people who don’t know much about the program/career!