{"id":48968,"date":"2023-05-08T09:20:10","date_gmt":"2023-05-08T14:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/?p=48968"},"modified":"2023-05-11T15:43:20","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T20:43:20","slug":"tarleton-to-graduate-first-communication-sciences-and-disorders-cohort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/tarleton-to-graduate-first-communication-sciences-and-disorders-cohort\/","title":{"rendered":"Tarleton to Graduate First\u00a0Communication Sciences and Disorders Cohort"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 <\/em>Tarleton State\u2019s first communication sciences and disorders cohort is graduating, and two of its four students already have jobs in their new field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s how in-demand their skills are in the community. One student was even offered a job on the spot during her interview, said Brittany Watson, communication sciences and disorders Instructor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe partnered with Granbury, Crowley and Burleson ISDs, and they were trying to recruit our students as they were doing their practicum,\u201d Watson said. \u201cThere\u2019s a huge need for speech-language pathologists, so we\u2019re excited to help support the community in meeting that need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inaugural cohort of four \u2014 Morgan Schaeffer and Ailey Kubala of Granbury, Norma Herrera of Fort Worth and Jillian Martin of Lindsay, Texas \u2014 started the program when it debuted in 2021 and Watson and Dr. Lauren Pierson came on board. They have gained hands-on experience in a variety of settings, such as volunteering through readingpartners.org to tutor struggling students in under-resourced schools, conducting hearing screens and testing in the program\u2019s audiology booth, and participating in an aphasia support group at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital, helping adults who have communication disorders because of a stroke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Aphasia
Graduates of Tarleton State\u2019s first communication sciences and disorders cohort are, from left: Jillian Martin, Ailey Kubala, Morgan Shaeffer and Norma Herrera.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The communication sciences and disorders field encompasses caring and creative problem solvers in speech-language pathology, audiology, special education and medicine. Tarleton Fort Worth\u2019s BS in communication sciences and disorders degree program addresses the science behind communicating with and caring for people, from birth to older adults. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to note the breadth of services this degree helps support in the community, from young children who struggle with speech impediments or reading all the way to adults who have had strokes or brain injuries,\u201d said Dr. Melissa Becker, Director of Extension and Off-Campus Education. \u201cIt touches all the people in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program combines education with hands-on application. Graduates may pursue careers in the rapidly growing field of speech-language pathology and audiology and are poised to help meet the regional and state need for practitioners in healthcare and education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen they graduate they can get licensed as a speech-language pathologist assistant and practice under the supervision of a speech-language pathologist, or they can go on to graduate school,\u201d Watson said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A speech-language pathologist assistant can provide treatment for various communication disorders under the supervision of a licensed speech-language pathologist. A graduate degree in speech-language pathology or audiology paves the way to become a licensed speech-language pathologist (MS CCC-SLP) or licensed audiologist (AuD CCC-A).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently 52 students are in the undergraduate program. The next graduating group will number 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat they\u2019ve gone from zero to 50 since August 2021 \u2014 I think that\u2019s huge,\u201d Dr. Becker said. \u201cThat shows very healthy growth of the program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tarleton program is designed to be transfer friendly, as evidenced by how many students come in from other Texas schools and area community colleges, Watson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe project it will just continue to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jobs in the communication sciences and disorders field are expected to increase 18% between 2016 and 2026, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. News & World Report, using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ranked speech-language pathologist fourth in its \u201cBest Health Care Jobs\u201d and seventh in \u201c100 Best Jobs\u201d for 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To learn more, visit https:\/\/programs.tarleton.edu\/communication-sciences-disorders-bs\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 Tarleton State\u2019s first communication sciences and disorders cohort is graduating, and two of its four students already have jobs in their new field. That\u2019s how in-demand their skills are in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":48970,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":382,"footnotes":""},"categories":[382,423],"tags":[440],"class_list":["post-48968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage","category-academics-research","tag-college-of-liberal-fine-arts"],"acf":{"image":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"priddle","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/priddle-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2023\/05\/Aphasia-Support-Group89-2.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["_Homepage<\/a>","Academics & Research<\/a>"],"unlinked":["_Homepage<\/span>","Academics & Research<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["College of Liberal & Fine Arts<\/a>"],"unlinked":["College of Liberal & Fine Arts<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 3 years ago","modified":"Updated 3 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on May 8, 2023","modified":"Updated on May 11, 2023"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on May 8, 2023 9:20 am","modified":"Updated on May 11, 2023 3:43 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"Four people smiling indoors, one wearing a Tarleton State University shirt.","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}