Speech-Language Pathology Assistant Certificate

The role of speech-language pathology assistants (SLP-As) is to support clinical services provided by speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to, primarily, students in public schools.  No school district can employ an SLP-A without assigning a certified speech-language pathologist as supervisor.  

In 2003, the Colorado Department of Education approved a Type 1 Authorization:  School Speech-Language Pathology Assistant.  To qualify for this authorization, individuals must:

• A bachelor’s degree in speech communications, speech language/pathology, or communication disorder/speech sciences OR a bachelor’s degree (in any major) plus 24 semester hours in speech language hearing sciences from regionally accredited college/university.  The Speech-Language Pathology Assistant Certificate at MSU Denver provides the required coursework.  Please see the Speech, Language, Hearing Sciences SLP-A Certificate Advising Guide 2024-2025 for the required course work.

AND

• Complete an approved SLP-A program/methods course that includes an internship with a minimum of 80 direct contact hours with a certified SLP.  MSU Denver’s speech-language pathology assistant (SLP-A) seminar and field-experience course (SLHS 4350) meets this requirement.

This certificate allows students with a prior bachelor’s degree to gain the competencies required by the Colorado Department of Education to be authorized as a speech-language pathology assistant (SLP-A).

Students must have earned a grade of C or better in all SLHS pre-requisite coursework (Please see Speech, Language, Hearing Sciences SLPA Certificate Advising Guide 2024-2025), with a minimum 2.5 GPA. 

REQUIRED COURSES:

• SLHS 2100 Language Acquisition & Development
• SLHS 2530 Speech Science
• SLHS 3200 Clinical Phonetics
• SLHS 3530 Anatomy & Physiology of Speech & Hearing
• SLHS 3600 Diagnostic Audiology
• SLHS 4100 Language Disorders & Differences
• SLHS 4200 Speech Disorders & Differences
• SLHS 4610 Aural Rehabilitation
• SLHS 4350 Speech-Language Pathology Assistant Methods 

In the final semester of the program, students will submit an internal application to the department for acceptance into the SLHS 4350 – Speech-Language Pathology Assistant Methods course.

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

• Degree-seeking SLHS majors are required to take non-SLHS prerequisites. These suggested prereqs may be waived for certificate students, however, students without this background knowledge will need to enroll in a formal course and/or engage in independent review of the material to be successful.
• Before beginning the 4350 internship, students must provide documentation that they have completed 25 observation hours with ASHA-certified SLPs.

The SLHS 4350 Speech-Language Pathology Assistant Methods course is specific to the certification requirements of Colorado and may not be reciprocal in other states. It is the applicants responsibility to know what the requirements are of the state they are looking to work in. If you want to participate in the class while in another state you need to contact the department prior to applying and note that you are out of state within your application. It will be your responsibility at the intern to have a potential certified, supervisor eligible SLP working in a public school and include their contact information in your application.

SLHS 4350 Speech-Language Pathology Methods course is composed of a 3-credit online seminar and a 4-credit public school SLP-A internship.  The 4-credit field experience requires 180 hours of internship work under the direction of an ASHA certified speech-language pathologist who has been working in the field for at least three years. 

Students must apply for and receive permission to enroll in this course from the SLHS department chair and/or appointed representative(s).  Space in the SLPA course is limited and positions are awarded through an application process.  It is the policy of the Speech, Language, Hearing Sciences department to provide equal educational opportunity to all applicants without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, age, non-disqualifying handicap or veteran status. View the required application components here.

During 80 hours of direct contact with children, SLP-A interns learn and practice duties of an SLP-A (e.g. screening, collecting data in the classroom relative to IEP objectives & providing intervention).  The SLPA student’s supervisor must directly observe 50% of these hours.   

For a minimum of 100 hours, SLPA students perform other SLPA duties (e.g. preparing materials, entering data in charts, discussing student progress or data with the supervisor, attending meetings, planning intervention lessons) that need not be directly observed by their SLP supervisor.   

Students work at their internship site for 12-14 hours per week for 16 weeks on a mutually agreed upon weekly schedule – typically two full school days per week.   

The course instructor will connect with each supervisor prior to the internship to provide materials on the SLP-A scope of practice and our curriculum.  The instructor will be available to consult with the supervisor throughout the experience.  Supervisors complete an evaluation of their interns at midterm and at the end of the internship. 

The SLHS 4350 Speech-Language Pathology Assistant Methods course is specific to the certification requirements of Colorado and may not be reciprocal in other states. It is the applicants responsibility to know what the requirements are of the state they are looking to work in. If you want to participate in the class while in another state you need to contact the department prior to applying and note that you are out of state within your application. It will be your responsibility as the intern to have a potential certified, supervisor eligible SLP working in a public school and include their contact information in your application.

You must have 25 guided observation hours with an ASHA certified SLP, prior to the start of the SLHS 4350 Speech Pathology Assistant Methods course/internship.  If you have not completed 25 guided observation hours when applying, you will need to provide a plan for how you will complete the hours as well as a timeline for completion.

• The guided observation and direct client/patient contact hours (e.g. the individual receiving services must be present) must be within the ASHA Scope of Practice in Speech-Language Pathology and must be under the supervision of a clinician who holds current ASHA certification in the appropriate profession and who, after earning the CCC-SLP, has completed (1) a minimum of 9 months of post-certification, full-time experience and (2) a minimum of 2 hours of professional development in the area of clinical instruction/supervision. Observations must be recorded in hours in 15 minute increments (15 minutes = .25 hours).  – https://www.asha.org/certification/2020-slp-certification-standards/ 

If you need additional hours to reach the required 25 hours, also provide a plan of how you will be completing the remaining hours.  

• You can observe any ASHA certified SLPs using the above guidelines. 
• We offer virtual guided observation hours for students accepted into the course.  Please contact the SLHS Department for more information.

In your application include an Guided Observation Log of how many observation hours are completed with signatures from the supervising clinician.  If you are coming from another university your observation log must include: date of observation, printed name of clinician, signature of clinician, ASHA number of clinician, clinician contact information (email & phone number preferred), location of observation, service observed, population observed, direct contact time. 

In the final semester of the program, students will submit an internal application to the department for acceptance into the SLHS 4350 – Speech-Language Pathology Assistant Methods course. View the required application components here.

Applications are completed through Qualtrics and available from January – March to apply for fall cohorts, and August – October to apply for spring cohorts.  Only complete applications submitted by deadline will be considered.  Access the SLHS 4350 application here.

Interested students are encouraged to begin the application process early.  Applications for fall cohorts must be received by the second Friday of March.  Applications for spring cohorts must be received by the first Friday of October.