Clinical Practicum Hours for Speech-Language Pathology:
In order to fulfill certification, licensing, and graduation requirements, you must complete 375 clinical contact practicum hours within the course of your academic and clinical program (400 hours total including 25 clinical observation hours). Three hundred and twenty five (325) hours of the 400 hours must be completed in clinical practicum at the graduate level. A maximum of 75 hours including observation hours may be accepted from undergraduate practica at the discretion of the CMD program.
To meet Departmental and teacher certification requirements, of the 325 graduate clinical hours required for speech‑language pathology, a minimum of 100 hours must be completed in a school setting.
To meet Departmental requirements clinical contact time must be recorded for each of the below listed service categories which have been derived from the ASHA 2001 Scope of Practice in Speech-Language Pathology and the ASHA Knowledge and Skills Acquisition (KASA) form. Please see Appendix A for a copy of the ASHA Knowledge and Skills Acquisition (KASA) form.
Although ASHA does not require a specified number of clinical hours in each of the below listed categories, the Department requires that you accumulate some contact time in child and adult evaluation and treatment in each of the nine service categories listed. You may also accumulate time in Counseling and in Emerging Areas of Practice. No Departmental requirements pertain to these two categories.
1. Articulation
2. Fluency
3. Voice and Resonance*1
4. Receptive and Expressive
Language Disorders*2
5. Hearing*3
6. Swallowing Disorders*4
7. Cognitive Aspects of
Communication*5
8. Social Aspects of
Communication*6
9. Other Communication
Modalities*7
*1 Including: respiration and phonation.
*2 Including: phonology; morphology; syntax; semantics and pragmatics in speaking, listening, reading, and manual modalities.
*3 Including: auditory training; speechreading; speech and language intervention secondary to hearing loss; visual inspection, listening checks and battery checks of amplification devices; audiometric screening; evaluation and treatment in central auditory processing disorders. Please be advised: it may be that not all of the Departmentally required hours obtained in audiology will be able to be applied to the accumulation of the 375 hours required by ASHA. Only those audiology hours which fall under the ASHA Scope of Practice in Speech-Language Pathology may be applied to ASHA hours accumulation.
*4 Including: oral, esophageal, and related functions, including: oral function for feeding, and orofacial myofunction.
*5 Including: attention; memory; sequencing; problem solving; and executive functions.
*6 Including: challenging behavior; ineffective social skills; and lack of communication opportunities.
*7 Including: oral, manual, augmentative, and alternative communication techniques and assistive technologies.
Under certain circumstances Departmental time requirements for the numbered service categories listed above may be modified by the program director or clinic director, or be met by the completion of approved alternative clinical activities. However, if certain of your required clinical times have been modified or supplanted by alternative clinical activities these alternative clinical activities do not replace clinical contact time. You are still responsible for completing all 375 required ASHA clinical contact hours. To have these non-contact/modification hours recorded you must submit the Non-Contact/Modification Time Submission Form. Please see Appendix H for a copy of the form.
You are responsible for completing clinical hours and for assuring that the clinical hours are appropriately recorded on the Departmental computer. Each time hours are submitted, a Clinical Hours Tracking Packet will be sent to you and a copy placed in your file. You are responsible for reviewing the packet and calling any errors to the attention of the program director for rectification.