What are the options out there?

A huge question when you come from a non-major background is: What Schools Offer Pre-SLP Courses?

When you are looking for schools to fulfill the Masters program pre-reqs, be careful. College is a business. They'll try to get you to take as many classes as they want, just to get more money from you! What you need to know, is that on top of the "major-specific" courses that you have to take in the SLP field, there are some other, general courses required by ASHA.

As of 2014, ASHA requires the following general courses:
1. Biological Science - 3 cr.
    - this could be Biology, Anatomy & Physiology, Neuroanatomy, etc.
2. Physical Science - 3 cr.
    - this could be Chemistry or Physics
3. Statistics - 3 cr.
4. Social/behavioral Science - 3 cr.
    - this could be Sociology, Psychology, Anthropology, etc.

(For more info on these, and other requirements, see the 2014 SLP Certification page by ASHA)

I ended up choosing to do my courses through La Salle University's Pre-SLP program. And when I started they told me that my Psychology and Sociology courses wouldn't satisfy the requirements. I'd have to take Abnormal Psychology. So this was not true, and I looked online to find out for myself, and I found that they weren't right. I didn't end up applying to their graduate program, but if I did, I would have needed the Abnormal Psych to apply. So, just be careful, and know your facts before you enroll in the online program you end up choosing, and before you apply for graduate school as well.

Some of the online programs out there are as follows:

1. La Salle University

The great thing about La Salle is that it's a very flexible program. I did the majority of my credits through their program, and was able to work 35-40 hours per week at the same time. I typically took 2 courses per semester, although I did take 3 during one fall semester and that was a little more difficult. La Salle's courses mostly focus on Discussion posts, which you must participate in weekly in order to pass the classes. My thoughts on DB (discussion boards) are that if you are going the online route, discussions make it much more exciting to learn than just straight textbook readings. I enjoyed the input and perspectives of the 25-30 students in my classes, it gave me the chance to think a little differently than I would normally. Without the discussions, I find online courses very difficult to engage in or absorb. So I really enjoyed this aspect of La Salle's program. Two other huge bonuses were that tests did not have to be proctored (as of Spring 2015), and you could take any class any semester (for the most part--summers were sometimes more limited). The tests were great because you could pretty much take them whenever, wherever you wanted--very flexible, and that's what I ultimately want if I'm trying to work full time too.

The biggest negative aspect for me with La Salle was that many (but not all) of the professors were barely involved in their classes. Some would just grade your work or open class content each week, but not give you any type of feedback at all. One of the best things about this field is that professors typically have a wealth of experiences to share with their classes, so missing out on that in a number of the La Salle courses was very disappointing. If you take the materials shared by the professors seriously though, you can still learn a lot. Another huge issue I had was with registering for classes and billing. One semester I somehow was just not registered for my classes at all and only found out one week before classes started. These course have max limits, so I got wait-listed and got very nervous that I would be set back a semester (which for grad school apps means an entire year). So I was not happy. Their billing department was also super disorganized. I would wait and wait for my bill to be posted, and call, and wait, and they would sometimes post it after the due date! I never got a late charge, but it was seriously frustrating.

The courses offered by La Salle are listed below, and I've taken them all as part of pre-requisites. The ones I've found that have not been necessary to all of my grad school apps are the last 2, but they were great for additional info about assessment and treatment.

Intro to Language and Communication.................................................3 cr
Intro to Communication Disorders........................................................3 cr
Phonetics................................................................................................3 cr
A&P of Speech and Hearing Mechanisms............................................4 cr
Language Development.........................................................................3 cr
Acoustic Bases of Speech and Hearing.................................................3 cr
Introduction to Audiology.....................................................................3 cr
Neurological Bases of Communication and Behavior..........................3 cr
Clinical Procedures in Speech and Language Pathology......................4 cr
Diagnostic Procedures in Speech and Language Pathology.................4 cr

For more info about La Salle's Pre-SLP program, click here.



2. Utah State University

USU's online program is pretty impressive. It's got 1st Bachelor's Degree, 2nd Bachelor's Degree, and Non-Degree options, so it can literally apply for anyone. I am currently (Summer 2015) taking one of my last pre-requisite courses through their non-degree program (all I had to do was fill out some minimal paperwork and pay the fee for 3 undergrad credits--way cheaper than La Salle). It's definitely no where near as flexible as La Salle's program. USU's tests are proctored, and there's a much tighter schedule for assignments being turned in. In case you don't know, proctoring is when you have to go somewhere (like a public library, educational institution, or government institution) and have an individual certified by your school give you the exam (or open it for you to take). This person monitors you while you take it to ensure that you don't cheat, and you will likely have to pay a fee for using a proctor. Not fun or remotely cool. This makes life a little more difficult, and is a major reason why I'm glad that I'm only taking one course at USU. Even though I'm only taking one class through them (and another through a different school), it's been tough working 35 hours a week with this class.

Although a major weakness for their program is lack of flexibility, I am impressed with my professor for the class that I am taking this summer. He is very on top of replying to students and providing help, his lectures and all the class information is available from the start of the semester, and he has us doing very hands-on lab assignments throughout the semester, which are so cool! It's nice to finally be doing something in the field besides observing a session or watching a video (the curse of learning online). Utah offers quite a few courses online, you can take them any semester you want (I think), and you can check out each syllabus on their website. I am taking the Disorders of Articulation and Phonology course, check out the list below for all of the courses offered at USU:

Speech, Language, and Hearing Development...............................................3 cr
Fundamentals of Anatomy for Speech and Language....................................3 cr
Phonetics/Developmental Phonology.............................................................3 cr
Language Science...........................................................................................3 cr
Disorders of Articulation and Phonology.......................................................3 cr
Acoustics and Anatomy of the Ear.................................................................3 cr
Speech Science...............................................................................................3 cr
Observation/Grad Prep...................................................................................2 cr
Basic Audiology.............................................................................................3 cr
Assessment & Treatment of Children with Communicative Disorders.........3 cr
Language Assessment & Intervention for Preschool Children......................3 cr
Aural Rehabilitation.......................................................................................3 cr

For more info about their programs, click here.


3. Longwood University

Longwood's program is flexible, just like La Salle's so I really enjoy that so far in the semester (Summer 2015). There are no discussions, or very few for my course at Longwood, however the instructor is very involved in the class so far. She's already given feedback on just an intro post, which is nice to see. She also seems like she will be assigning some great, hands-on assignments, so that's a plus as well. Longwood doesn't have proctored tests, which I love, and makes a working girl's life just a bit easier.

I haven't had nearly as much to do yet for this class, in comparison with USU's course, so I don't have quite as much to say. However, I definitely am a fan of the flexibility so far, and registering for my class was very easy as well. Also, something to be aware of, Longwood's courses are only offered during certain semesters, so you can't just take whatever you want whenever you want. My course was luckily offered the semester I needed (Summer), but it's not offered any other semester. So be careful with their course schedule when looking into their program. I'm only taking one (Phonology and Language Disorders) so I did not have to apply at all. Courses offered by Longwood include:

Introduction to Communication Disorders................3 cr
Language Development.............................................3 cr
Morphology and Syntax............................................3 cr
Phonetics...................................................................3 cr
A&P of Speech and Hearing Mechanisms................3 cr
Phonology and Language Disorders.........................3 cr
Introduction to Audiology........................................3 cr
Speech Science.........................................................3 cr
Neurology in Communication..................................3 cr

To learn more about Longwood's program, click here.


These are just 3 schools that I have experience with taking pre-requisites online. I can't speak for any other schools out there, but I know there are more. I did a thorough search online when I was looking for my last two pre-requisites to get into grad school for the fall, and luckily the last two that I needed were offered online during the summer. Be very careful to check the availability of the classes you want to take, because not all schools are like La Salle and USU--which offer their classes pretty much every semester. Many are like Longwood, which only offers certain classes during certain semesters.

If anyone knows of any other schools with good online programs, feel free to comment about your experience below.