Clinical Practicum Experiences

Clinical experiences in CSD are designed to enable students to complete their clinical practice at off-campus facilities affiliated with Rockhurst University. With over 125 clinical affiliations, there are ample opportunities for students to obtain experience with culturally and linguistically diverse populations while serving both pediatric and adult clients.

Pediatric sites include:

• Urban, suburban and rural school districts
• Preschools serving children with special needs
• Children's hospitals
• Auditory-oral programs for children with hearing loss
• Home-based services for families with infants and toddlers
• Private practices
• Outpatient pediatric facilities
• Public health departments 

Students have access to a wide variety of childhood communication disorders including problems of language, articulation/phonology, pre-literacy, fluency, voice, resonance, hearing, swallowing and social aspects of communication. Students also work with children in the areas of pre-literacy, literacy, and writing.

Clinical sites serving the adult population include:

• Acute care hospitals
• Rehabilitation hospitals
• Rehabilitation outpatient centers
• Voice disorders clinics 
• Skilled nursing facilities

Within these facilities, students have the opportunity to obtain clinical experience with patients who have a variety of disorders, including aphasia, apraxia, dysarthria, cognitive-communication disorders, dysphagia, right hemisphere dysfunction, and voice disorders, among others. Students may work with patients who have traumatic brain injuries and cerebrovascular injuries, such as strokes. Patients who have neurogenic disorders such as Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer's, and dementia are served by the speech-language pathologists in these facilities, and are therefore part of the students' clinical experiences. Several of the sites provide access to assistive technology used for augmentative communication with a variety of patients.