Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology Prerequisite Courses

Students are required to have completed all of the following prerequisite courses prior to enrollment in the MS SLP program. Evidence of completion must be by official transcript from an institution of higher education. Applicants to the MS SLP program who have not completed these courses should include a plan for completion of these courses in their application materials. *Applicants can have prerequisite courses incomplete or in-progress as the time of an application, but they must complete courses before the start of the program in mid-August. 

All incoming students are be required to provide documentation to verify 25 hours of supervised clinical observation. The Pacific course CSD 306 Clinical Observation (not specifically required) provides an excellent opportunity to complete these observations. Official documentation that includes a time log, SLP signature, and ASHA/license number is collected after a student is accepted but prior to the start of the program in mid-August. 

ASHA Certification Requirements

  • Biological Science (3 credits): credits): Any course that covers the study of living organisms and the investigation of the science of living things. Examples: biology, genetics, zoology, molecular or cell biology, ecology, embryology, evolution, microbiology, sociobiology
  • Physical Science: Physics or Chemistry (3 credits): Any course that covers matter, energy, motion, and force. Examples: physics, biophysics, mechanics, or physics of specific areas such as sound, optics, electricity, thermodynamics, biomechanics. Any course that covers the atomic structure of chemicals, bonding, behavior of gases and solutions, functional chemical groups, the relationship between biological systems and principles of chemistry. Examples: chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry
  • Statistics (3 credits): Any course that covers the principles of statistics with a focus on interpreting data and mathematical means of conveying measurement and uncertainty. Must be a free-standing course in statistics and must be taken outside a CSD program.
  • Social and Behavioral Science (3 credits): Any course with a focus on the systematic study of human or animal behavior. Examples include: psychology, sociology, social anthropology, psychobiology, cognitive science.

*See also: https://www.asha.org/Certification/Course-Content-Areas-for-SLP-Standards/. Pacific University requires that these courses have been taken for a minimum of 2 semester credits (preferably 3) with an earned grade of C or better. Pass/No Pass grades accepted only when the course is only offered on a pass/fail basis. Course audits are not accepted. Advance placement or International Baccalaureate courses are only accepted if credit is shown on the undergraduate transcript.

Pacific University Program Requirements**

  • Clinical Phonetics (3 credits): A course that covers human speech sound production, speech sound systems, the international phonetic alphabet, transcription phonetics, and a major emphasis on the application of phonetics in clinical settings, and the practice of clinical transcription.
  • Speech Science (3 credits): A course that covers acoustics of speech production and perception.
  • Anatomy and Physiology of the Speech and Swallowing Mechanism (3 credits): A course that covers the anatomic structures and functions important for speech production. Must be CSD specific, a general human anatomy course will not usually meet this requirement.
  • Speech and Language Development (3 credits): A course that covers the acquisition of speech and language skills in typically developing children through adolescence or early adulthood.
  • Audiology (3 credits): One or more courses that cover the anatomy and physiology of the auditory and vestibular system, disorders of these systems, introduction to audiometry, as well as principles of hearing and balance evaluations.
  • Aural Rehabilitation (2 credits): One or more courses that cover intervention for individuals with hearing impairments, including both behavioral strategies and rehabilitative technologies such as hearing aids and cochlear implants.
  • Neuroanatomy and Neurophysiology (3 credits): A course that covers central and peripheral nervous systems with an emphasis on the development and typical function of nervous system structures and functions that support communication, human behavior, and swallowing. Must be CSD specific.

**Pacific University School of CSD requires an earned grade of C or better in each of these courses and a minimum of 3 semester credits in each of the above areas (except where otherwise specified above).

Strongly Recommended: The Pacific course CSD 200 Introduction to Communication Sciences and Disorders (or its equivalent). A course that provides students with an overview of the development, etiology, and treatment of speech, language, hearing, and swallowing processes and disorders.