By JESSALYN KIRCHHOFF
Tiger Media Network
Fort Hays State University is the land of limitless possibilities for its students. One department on campus offers hands-on learning for its students to help them prepare for the real world.
Karmen Porter, chair of the Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) Department, notes all the undergraduate research opportunities CSD students have the opportunity to participate in.
“Many of our students have had the opportunity to be involved in undergraduate research and have had wonderful success,” Porter said. “The majority of our undergraduate research students in our program have had the opportunity to present at national conferences with their research mentor. Many have also presented at our state conference and at SACAD. “
Porter goes on to highlight a few recent examples of notable success.
“Dr. Ma, Willow Ludwig, and Lauren Stallbaumer won third place at SACAD for their research project on stuttering in Spring 2023,” she said. “Willow Ludwig also won the 2023 Outstanding Undergraduate Scholar for the College of Health and Behavioral Sciences.
Additionally, Jersey Garoutte won the 2022 Outstanding Undergraduate Scholar for the College of Health and Behavioral Sciences.
Porter said it varies year to year how many FHSU CSD students attend these conferences.
“In 2023, we had 33 graduate students and 10 undergraduate students attend the Kansas Speech-Language-Hearing Association (KSHA) conference in Overland Park in September,” Porter said. “In November, we had 24 graduate students and two undergraduate students attend the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) conference in Boston.”
Assistant CSD Clinical Coordinator Tara Marshall also praises the success of the program’s students.
“This year, we had a team of students compete in the Prairie Cup Knowledge Quest at KSHA and our FHSU team won, beating teams from WSU, KSU, KU, and even a faculty team,” Marshall said. “This was the third year in a row that an FHSU team has won at KSHA.”
Marshall said the same group of students competed at ASHA, where they also took first place.
“This was the first time the event was held at ASHA since 2020,” she said. “We had a team compete at ASHA once before in 2016, and they won that competition, too.”
Although Marshall is beyond impressed with these accomplishments, she stops to point out that these conferences are not only a place to win awards.
“Many students also connect with prospective employers, especially at KSHA,” she said. “They are able to network and learn more about externship opportunities as well as employment opportunities.”
Marshall notes that many CSD individuals report that hands-on learning is how they learn best.
“Our field is very much an application-based field. After spending time learning academic knowledge and introductory information into the field regarding how the communication process works, incorporating hands-on activities are vital for students to start putting their learning into practice,” Marshall said.
According to CSC Clinical Coordinator Jacque Jacobs, CSD Seniors who are enrolled in undergraduate clinics have the opportunity to provide services in one of several settings such as the Herndon Clinic, Holy Family Elementary, Tiger Tots Preschool Center, or Head Start/Early Childhood Connections.
Jacobs goes into depth about the unique experiences that each of the different locations provides.
“The Herndon Clinic is located on the first floor of Albertson Hall and in this setting, undergraduate clinicians typically have opportunities to work with young children who have been diagnosed with speech sound disorders and/or language delays,” Jacobs said. “Meanwhile, at Holy Family Elementary, the undergraduate clinicians provide services to small groups of Kinderprep and Kindergarten students with an emphasis on phonological awareness and oral narratives.”
Jacobs said clinicians at Tiger Tots or Early Childhood Connections/Head Start help engage preschoolers in pre-literacy learning by preparing interactive speech and language activities.
Jacobs emphasizes that while participation in a clinic as an undergraduate student is not a requirement for program completion, it has been proven as highly beneficial to FHSU students who choose to utilize the programs.
“Students may spend anywhere from 45 minutes to two hours a week providing direct clinical services in their assigned setting,” she said. “We consider this real-world experience as a privilege for students as they are required to apply and meet certain academic criteria in order to be accepted into furthering educational programs.”
Porter said in addition to the benefits of undergrad students spending time in the clinics, it is also necessary for students who wish to become speech-language pathologists or audiologists to go to graduate school.
“Many students who earn a BS in CSD go on to get their MS in SLP. An MS in SLP is the entry-level degree for a Speech-Language Pathologist.” Porter said. “Some also go on to get their Au.D., which is the entry-level degree for an Audiologist.”
Porter continues by stating that in order for students to apply for an MS in SLP, students need to have certain pre-requisite courses that they typically earn in their BS.
“They need these courses for two reasons, she said. “One is they prepare students for the graduate coursework and two is that since the MS in SLP is an accredited program several of the prerequisite courses are ‘required’ to fulfill accreditation standards. Students who don’t have a BS in CSD can still apply for the master’s program, but they are encouraged to take leveling courses first.”
Prerequisite courses include both CSD core courses like anatomy and physiology of the speech mechanism, phonetics, and language development, as well as general education courses such as statistics and biology.
However, Porter said that while some students choose to follow the Graduate School path, many CSD students pursue other paths that do not require a graduate degree.
“The most popular path for many of our BS-only students is to work as a speech-language pathology assistant or SLPA,” she said. “Most SLPA jobs are found in educational settings and typically involve providing speech and language services to children under the supervision of a speech-language pathologist.
Other related areas that students have gone into with their BS in CSD include early intervention specialist, healthcare administrator, preschool teacher, sales of clinical, education and healthcare materials, and interpreters for the Deaf, just to name a few.
More information on careers within and related to CSD can be found here https://www.fhsu.edu/commsciencesanddisorders/B-S–Overview/ug-job-opportunities
Whether CSD students choose the graduate path or not, the hands-on learning opportunities that are provided, have paved the way for CSD students to pursue their desired careers.
More information on obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Disorders from FHSU can be found here https://www.fhsu.edu/commsciencesanddisorders/ .
Further information on the hands-on on learning opportunities that the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders offers can be found here https://www.fhsu.edu/commsciencesanddisorders/hands-on-learning/ .
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