College Life

Private Schools That Are Well Known for This Major

• Nova Southeastern University
• Northeastern University
• Long Island University
• Marshall University
• Boston University

State Schools That Are Well Known for This Major

• University of North Carolina—Greensboro
• University of Nebraska—Lincoln
• Temple University
• Pennsylvania State University
• University of Texas—Austin

Classes in the Major

Psychology. A lot of speech disorders have at least some of their roots in psychology. Some are as simple and common as stuttering all the way up to certain kinds of aphasia—language disorders caused by brain damage. In some cases, just knowing that the cause of a speech disorder can't be psychological is useful enough. Regardless, a thorough knowledge of the mind is never a bad thing. Unless you turn to evil, in which case, we'd be concerned.

Anatomy. Did you think this was all social sciences? Sorry about that. Not taking anatomy would be a bit like a mechanic not knowing how an engine was laid out. The problem isn't always physical—but if it is, you'll want to know where everything is located. You need to have a working knowledge of all the various parts of the speech apparatus, which go from the head all the way to the chest, and then learn all the ways they can be messed up.

Language and Speech Development. No one is born knowing how to speak. Wouldn't that be weird? Coming out and just striking up a conversation with the doctor. "I have to tell you, Doc, I have had a bear of a day. I'm all cozy and warm and suddenly you're hitting me on the butt...came as a bit of a shock."

We develop language as we get older. We start out just able to scream and cry, and later on, we can scream and cry, but with profanity. It's so much better. You learn how this happens, and you can learn the pitfalls along the way. This can account for some of the disorders you will encounter.

Language Disorders. This is the overview. New disorders are being discovered every day. Well, maybe not literally every day. That would be so frightening, we wouldn't leave the house. The point is, there are a lot of them. While you'll probably end up specializing at least a little bit, you should know the lay of the land. This is going to give you that.

Diagnostic Procedures. What's going on here? That's sometimes what you're going to have to know. All you know is that someone's having trouble talking. It's up to you to find out why. This is where you learn how to figure out what's going on with someone and what you need to fix the problem.