Speech Language & Hearing Science Emphasis - Undergraduate Leveling Coursework
Every semester, Metro is the Denver-area college of choice for students possessing a bachelor’s degree who seek a career change to audiology or speech-language pathology. A minimum of a master’s degree is required to become certified in speech-language pathology; a doctoral degree is required in audiology. In speech-language pathology, the University of Colorado (CU at Boulder) offers both a master’s and a doctoral degree and the University of Northern Colorado (UNC in Greeley) offers a master’s degree. In audiology, both CU and UNC offer doctoral degrees.
Students with bachelor’s degrees in any field are eligible to apply to graduate school. However, acceptance is competitive; 100+ applications are received annually by CU and UNC graduate programs. Admission is enhanced if students with a bachelor’s degree in a field other than speech, language, hearing science can demonstrate success in “leveling” coursework.
Students should take as many of the following courses as their schedules allow. It is recommended that Biology 2310, Human Anatomy and Physiology I (or its equivalent) be completed prior to SPE 3500. Human Anatomy and Physiology is also offered at many community colleges and universities.
Leveling Courses
| SPE 2890 - Language Acquisition | Fall, Spring, Summer, and On-line |
| SPE 290A - Speech and Hearing Science | Fall |
| SPE 3500 - Anatomy/Physiology of Speech | Spring |
| SPE 3580 - Articulation and Stuttering: Speech Disorders (prerequisites = SPE 2890, SPE 390U) |
Spring |
| SPE 390U - Phonetics and Phonological Awareness (prerequisite or corequisite = SPE 2890) |
Fall, Spring |
| SPE 3600 - Audiology I | Fall |
| SPE 3620 - Aural Rehabilitation (prerequisites SPE 2890, SPE 3600) |
Spring |
| SPE 4510 - Language Disorders (prerequisites = SPE 2890, SPE 3500) |
Spring |
Elective Courses
| SPE 1500 - Introduction to Communication Disorders | Fall, Spring, Correspondence |
| SPE 1610 - American Sign Language I | Fall, Spring |
| SPE 1620 - American Sign Language II | Fall, Spring |
| SPE 3570 - Diagnostic Methods in Communication Disorders | Fall |
| SPE 3610 - Audiology II | Spring |
| SPE 4500 - Clinical Methods in Communication Disorders | Fall |
| ENG 2010 - Nature of Language | Fall, Spring |
| BIO 2310 - Human Anatomy and Physiology I | Fall, Spring, Summer |
Students are urged to contact individual graduate programs and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (www.asha.org) for further information about specific requirements regarding statistics, human development, and physics.