Graduate Learning Aims

The department of Speech-Language Pathology offers a Master of Science program which prepares students to become professional speech-language pathologists and to serve and lead in a diverse and changing world. Learning aims of the program are:

Master Knowledge and Skills

• Master the professional skills, methods, and knowledge needed to be a speech-language pathologist.
• Synthesize knowledge using interdisciplinary approaches.
• Acquire the tools to continue professional development as a speech-language pathologist, and to form the basis for life-long learning.

Think Critically

• Access, analyze, and evaluate information effectively in the discipline.
• Disseminate and communicate information effectively within the professional world.

Manifest Leadership and Social Responsibility in the Workplace and Community

• Understand and value differences in clients, client families, and professional colleagues and have the skills to work effectively in a diverse and changing world.
• Through coursework and clinical experiences, comprehend professional ethics and understand the framework for selecting and defending an ethical and right course of action in the profession.
• Through mentorship by the academic and clinical faculty, learn to contribute professionally and personally to the broader community.
• Consider issues of justice in making professional decisions.

Graduate Learning Outcomes

Master Knowledge and Skills

• Meet the criteria for mastery of professional knowledge and skills according to the guidelines for the Certification of
• Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
• Consult interdisciplinary research sources and work with professionals from other disciplines.
• In the graduate program and after graduation, engage in continued learning and on-going professional development.

Think Critically

• All graduates will be able to communicate effectively in spoken and written language.
• Throughout the academic and clinical program, students will demonstrate problem-solving skills. This can be observed and documented through the clinical diagnostic and treatment experiences.
• Through pre-professional portfolios, students will demonstrate their ability to access, evaluate, and disseminate data and information effectively.

Manifest Leadership and Social Responsibility in the Workplace and Community

• Graduates will understand, appreciate and demonstrate ethical principles. The knowledge of professional ethics will be acquired through coursework and mentorship by the academic and clinical faculty.
• Graduates will understand and appreciate diversity.The knowledge of multicultural issues will be learned through coursework and clinical experiences.
• Graduates will understand and facilitate change through leadership activities.
• Graduates will model the values and principles inherent in a Jesuit education.

Make a Personal and Professional Contribution to the Broader Community

• Through faculty models and mentors, service learning, internship, and externship experiences, students will learn to share their professional knowledge, talents, and time.
• Through the experiences gained at Loyola and through faculty models and mentors, graduates will learn to work for social justice and systemic change.