Bilingual Emphasis Course Sequence

Speech-Language Pathology

SEU MS-SLP Bilingual Emphasis Course Sequence


The Bilingual Service Provider (BSP) Track course sequence is an optional track for students enrolled in the MS-SLP graduate program at Saint Elizabeth University. The BE is designed to provide focused clinical training for bilingual students who have a special interest in working with bilingual and culturally diverse individuals who have communication disorders.

Our faculty members have experience working with a variety of cultures and many of them are fluent in languages other than English (e.g., French, Haitian Creole, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, and Spanish) and have benefitted from their experience as bilingual practitioners.

Benefits to becoming a Bilingual Service Provider:

  • Increased marketability and competitive advantage with access to a broader set of clients/patients
  • Increased earning potential
  • A listing in ASHA's ProFind referral service (ASHA’s directory of over 15,000 ASHA-Certified Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists who are accepting referrals)
  • Join ASHA ProFind—Get Discovered!
  • Ability to provide services to clients who may not otherwise have access
  • Ability to provide meaningful care to clients by communicating in their home languages

Eligibility

  • Students who are interested in BE at Saint Elizabeth University must complete following:
  • Respond to BE questions on the Supplementary Application of the graduate program application.
  • Acceptance into the MS-SLP graduate program
    Indicate their decision to participate in BE to their graduate student advisor by the end of their first semester.

Bilingual Service Provider Curriculum

Students will complete the coursework related to diverse populations and a minimum of 20 clinical hours with their target language population

  • Enroll in SLP 615 (Assessment and Treatment of Diverse Populations)

  • Enroll in SLP 525 (Early Childhood Language Development and Disorders)

  • Enroll in SLP 512 (Research Seminar)

  • Enroll in SLP 660 (Comprehensive Seminar)

  • Enroll in SLP 602 (Advanced Clinical Practicum II: Diverse Populations)

  • Enroll in SLP 690 (Advanced Field Practicum in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Populations)

  • By completing the Bilingual Service Provider Track (BSP), students can work with their target language population to provide linguistically and culturally appropriate services based on their bilingual language proficiency.

Bilingual Language Proficiency

The ASHA Ad Hoc Committee on Language Proficiency defined spoken language proficiency as “effective receptive and expressive language skills in both written and spoken modalities” (ASHA, 2019). A person can still be considered proficient in a spoken or signed language if that language does not have a written modality. The Ad Hoc Committee on Language Proficiency focused on spoken language proficiency. Many institutions use the American Sign Language Proficiency Interview to assess an American Sign Language user’s language proficiency. Multilingual service providers require a deep understanding of their primary language(s) and at least one additional language in the following domains during clinical management:

  • Lexicon (vocabulary)
  • Semantics (meaning)
  • Phonology (pronunciation)
  • Morphology/syntax (grammar)
  • Pragmatics (social use)

Students who complete the BSP track are expected to independently provide comprehensive diagnostic and treatment services for speech, language, cognitive, voice, or swallowing disorders using the client’s language and preferred mode of communication. They must also have the language proficiency needed to fulfill the following roles:

  • Describe the concepts of typical speech and language acquisition for monolingual and multilingual people as well as common communication features of disorders in the language(s) used by clients, patients, or students
  • Select, administer, and interpret formal and informal assessment procedures to distinguish between communication influenced by heritage languages and communication disorders
  • Apply intervention strategies for treatment of communication disorders in the language or mode of communication most appropriate for the needs of the individual

Academic Standards

Students will meet the requirements for successful completion of the BE if they demonstrate the following:

  • Maintain standards required of all graduate students in the MS-SLP graduate program.
  • Complete with a grade of “B” or better all assignments specific to the BE (see academic requirements below)
  • Complete with a grade of “B” or better all elective courses associated with the BE (see academic requirements below)
  • Complete with a grade of “B” or better all clinical practica in the on-campus and affiliation settings

Documentation of Completion

Students who complete the graduate program with BE will receive a letter from the Speech-Language Pathology Department documenting the completion of BE curriculum as part of the graduate program.

Contact Us

If you would like further information about BE, please contact the Program Director at ksabourin@steu.edu