Students learn to counsel individuals with communicative disorders and their families, caregivers and other service providers, and to select, prescribe, dispense, and provide services supporting the effective use of augmentative and alternative communication devices and other communication prostheses and assistive devices.

The mission of the Communicative Disorders department is to provide quality education to pre-professional and graduate students from diverse populations who are majoring in Communicative Disorders by offering educational experiences that require the application of knowledge of normal and abnormal communication, critical thinking, data analysis, the use of professional oral and written communication, and the infusion of technology, when possible, for the prevention, assessment and intervention of communication disorders.? The program in graduate education will guide graduate students to:? (a) acquire the knowledge and develop the skills, competencies and attitudes that are essential for the prevention, assessment and intervention of communicative disorders, and the safe, effective, and efficient practice of entry-level speech-language pathology, (b) develop the ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate data, and to conduct research, (c) provide professional and public service to local, state, national, and world communities, (d) continue their professional growth by exploring developments in the profession and learning new models of prevention, assessment and intervention, and (e) develop an understanding and appreciation of ethnic and cultural diversity on normal and disordered communication.