What You Will Study. How You Will Learn.
The Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences major fuses the scientific study of communication and the art of helping others live to their fullest potential.
Undergraduate students engage in foundational and applicational curriculum as they simultaneously discover their skills and explore how they fit in the real world. The pre-professional degree track progresses students through the comprehension of speech-language principles, generation of new knowledge and application of strategic assessment and treatment theories.
To learn more, please review the degree requirements or consult the degree checklist.
Curriculum Overview
The Bachelor of Science in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences degree comprises of 120 credit hours.
To fulfill the major, a minimum of 35 and maximum of 48 hours of SLH coursework are required. Statistics (three hours) is also required and satisfies the core curriculum math requirement.
Students build their framework of understanding during the first two years of undergraduate study; they are also encouraged to complement that coursework with hands-on experiences to see how theories apply in the field.
Foundational courses include:
- Introduction to Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences: Examine the variety of topics that speech, language and hearing scientists study, and about the individuals that audiologists, speech-language pathologists and deaf educators work with to improve communication
- Perspectives on Deafness: Develop an understanding of, and appreciation for, the experience of deafness for the individual, community and society
- Introduction to Phonetics: Learn the anatomy of speech mechanisms, gain skills for phonetic analysis and start to think like a clinician
- Fundamentals of Speech Science: Understand the fundamentals of human speech production and speech perception
- Language and the Brain: Explore the fascinating mystery of how the brain processes speech and language, while also examining neurological disorders and affected speech and language function
As students grow in their studies, classes are designed to provide more specialized applications, such as:
- Principles of Audiology: Focus on the clinical field of audiology, including adult and pediatric diagnostics
- Introduction to Speech & Language Disorders, Assessment and Treatment in Children: Learn the ethical scope of practice for Speech-Language Pathologists and apply assessment and treatment methods
- Evidence-based Practice in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences: Enhance skills for clinical practice through experiential learning labs, critical thinking exercises and authentic research evaluation and analysis