Program Overview

Speech pathologists work with a diversity of people and communication challenges. They may provide feeding advice to the parents of a baby born with a cleft palate, help a child with a stutter to speak more fluently, and help an adult who has had a stroke or a brain injury to regain their communication skills.

In this course, you will gain an understanding of typical and acquired communication development, swallowing disorders and clinical practice in speech pathology.

In your first year, you’ll study interprofessional course units with students from other disciplines.

You will then focus on the science and anatomy of speech and language, and ways to assess, manage and prevent functional impairment.

You’ll complete supervised placements in Curtin’s on-campus clinics and in various community settings, to apply your learning and develop practical skills.

In your final year you’ll manage a research project. Graduating with an honours degree, you'll have the expertise to launch your career as a highly-trained speech pathologist.

What you'll learn

• Apply knowledge of human communication science to the delivery of speech pathology services and research in diverse and changing settings
• Critically analyse information to plan, implement and evaluate speech pathology services and research
• Locate, extract and critically appraise evidence and information from a range of resources to solve theoretical and applied problems in human communication science
• Demonstrate excellence in written, verbal and non-verbal communication skills appropriate to the discipline within a legal and ethical framework
• Use technologies relevant to the human communication sciences to inform clinical practice and research
• Understand and implement varied learning strategies, and take responsibility for ongoing professional and personal development
• Incorporate and demonstrate awareness of global or international perspectives in health care to clinical practice and research in speech pathology
• Demonstrate awareness of and respect for individual human rights and cultural diversity
• Independently and collaboratively apply professional skills in an ethical manner across a range of professional settings