Speech and Language Pathology
Te Reo Kōreo Kia Tika
Qualifications
Overview
Speech-language therapists/pathologists are professionals educated in the study of human communication, how it develops, and the many differences and difficulties that children and adults experience.
Speech-language therapists/pathologists work in preschools and schools with children and students who have difficulty communicating and learning. This includes supporting children who stutter, have autism, or have a voice disorder.
Speech-language therapists also work with infants born prematurely and provide services for adults who have lost the ability to communicate or swallow effectively due to stroke, degenerative disease, brain injury, or cancer.
- The Speech and Language Pathology programme at UC is Aotearoa New Zealand's most established, having trained a majority of the country's speech-language therapists/pathologists.
- The MSLP is accredited by Te Kāhui Kaiwhakatikatika Reo Kōrero o Aotearoa | New Zealand Speech–language Therapists' Association, and is recognised in Australia and the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Canada.
- The UC Speech and Hearing Clinic offers a comprehensive range of professional services for people with communication difficulties or swallowing problems. Students have opportunity to be present at appointments and work under the supervision of qualified clinicians.
- Te Kura Mahi ā-Hirikapo | School of Psychology, Speech and Hearing has 12 full-time staff and is a national resource centre for information and continuing professional education in communication sciences and disorders. Each year the Department welcomes a number of distinguished scholars from around the world, including Erskine Fellows who lecture and conduct collaborative research in the Department.
Students entering the MSLP will generally have a background in science, linguistics, engineering, psychology, education, or health sciences.
Students entering postgraduate research programmes will generally have studied speech and language pathology at undergraduate level.
The speech-language therapy/pathology profession offers a range of career opportunities. Graduates are highly employable as clinicians both in Aotearoa New Zealand and overseas.
Graduates are able to work in a variety of settings. You can work with children who have autism or language delays in preschools and schools or with elderly stroke patients in a large hospital or nursing home. You can be an entrepreneur, developing and marketing new communication devices and tests, or building your own private practice. With further postgraduate study, you can teach at a university, conduct research in a scientific laboratory, or be an administrator.
Perhaps best of all, you can combine several of these to establish a challenging and satisfying career that improves the quality of life for children and adults who experience communication difficulties.
Find out more about what you can do with a degree in Speech and Language Pathology.
Contact us
Te Kura Mahi ā-Hirikapo | School of Psychology, Speech and Hearing
Phone +64 3 369 4333
Email psyc-speech-hear@canterbury.ac.nz
Location
Psychology building – see campus maps
Postal address
Te Kaupeka Pūtaiao | Faculty of Science
Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury
Private Bag 4800
Christchurch 8140
New Zealand
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