Your interest in special education and therapy sets you apart from other majors, and will be boosted by participation in a program designed to provide the deeper knowledge teachers and therapists need to succeed.
This national model of departmental collaboration provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach to teacher and therapist training, and serves as a regional resource for public school districts in addressing shortages in special education, deaf education and speech-language pathology. Existing partnerships with St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf, as well as relationships with St. Louis City schools and St. Louis County Special School District, are especially enhanced to provide you with real-life experience. In addition to local schools, you will benefit from international collaborations including Belize, Costa Rica, and England.
In this new learning environment, faculty and students have the opportunity – through shared classes and resources – to broaden their focus and educational expertise while learning to work together collaboratively, a critical skill for effective practice. All students in the departments gain and share valuable experience while working and learning together.
Not only do students, faculty and staff enjoy the benefits of the center, but the community benefits as well. Fontbonne’s Eardley Family Clinic for Speech, Language and Hearing serves more than 100 individuals of all ages annually, providing both diagnostic evaluation and treatment services for those who might otherwise go without care.
The clinic, as well as conference rooms and a classroom, are acoustically engineered to block outside noises – essential for speech-language pathology and deaf education. In addition, a speech science lab equipped with specialized computer programs and assistive technology devices ensures you gain familiarity with this new technology prior to graduation. Plus, the CTTE includes an audiology suite, a private conference/parent-training room and a classroom directly wired to the audio-visual system of the clinic so that direct observation can be included as part of instruction when necessary.
