All incoming students are encouraged to complete a minimum of 25 observation hours in the area of speech-language pathology prior to admission to the graduate program. Observation hours may not be more than five years old.
Only time spent observing direct services may be counted. Direct services are defined as time spent providing intervention/therapy services or diagnostic/evaluation services to a patient. Time spent in meetings, rounds, paperwork, or networking may not count toward the 25 hours. Students must only observe therapists who are licensed appropriately by his/her state licensing agency and also certified by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (i.e., must hold a current Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology (CCC-SLP)). These observations can occur in any setting (i.e., schools, nursing homes, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, etc.) and online observation hours from approved sites may be counted.
