As a part of the SPA curriculum, students are required to complete a total of 25 clocked observation hours to graduate.  The SPA program offers the following courses to junior and senior students in order to meet this requirement:

SPA 400 Observation in Communication Disorders (3 hours)

During this course, students are responsible for locating a clinical placement of their choice in the appropriate setting and will be expected to observe the supervising clinician, attend meetings, and complete report/goal writing activities.

For further training, an additional elective course is also provided and highly recommended to each student.

SPA 403: Clinical Practicum in Communication Disorders (3 hours)

This course allows the students to obtain career-specific therapy contact hours under direct supervision within a medical and/or educational setting of the professor’s choosing. Students will work hands-on with patients to better prepare them for graduate work and future occupations.

For all observation and practicum courses, only speech-language pathologists and audiologists with a valid state license and ASHA certification will be permitted to provide supervision to the students.

For practicum eligibility and requirements, please see course catalog and/or SPA Practicum Handbook PDF.