Leveling Program

Division of Communication Disorders

 

 

Leveling Information

The graduate program curriculum builds on an undergraduate degree in communication disorders. If you have a bachelor's degree in a different area, you must complete a core set of courses called Leveling. The courses can be completed in one academic year on campus. 

Coursework

There are 8 leveling courses (see Table below). Although the full set of leveling courses is not required prior to admission to our graduate program, completion of all the courses will maximize success in graduate school.

Of the leveling courses, four are Pre-requisites to applying to the graduate program: students will not be considered for admission without having completed or being currently enrolled in these courses. Two courses are Required: these must be completed by the end of the graduate program, in addition to the master’s courses. Two leveling courses are  strongly Recommended for success in graduate school, but if they are missing, rather than taking the courses, you may be required to do additional readings or activities.  

In addition to the Leveling courses, four college non-remedial Foundational courses, one in each of the following areas, are required: (a) social science (preferably psychology), (b) biological science (preferably biology), (c) physical science (preferably physics), and (d) statistics. These are typically part of the general education of any bachelor’s degree and are easily obtained in community colleges, so having all of them done before starting the graduate program is strongly recommended. Finally, courses in American Sign Language are helpful for working with individuals with a variety of communication difficulties, but  ASL courses are not required  leveling courses. The Division of Communication Disorders offers the American Sign Language Certificate for students who are especially interested in this topic.

Clinical Observation Hours

Before beginning direct clinical contact hours in the graduate program (first semester on campus), students must complete at least 15 hours of  supervised observation of clinical practice in speech-language pathology, which includes debriefing by a clinical supervisor.   These hours are obtained in SPPA 4250 Clinical Methods.

Enrollment Status

Leveling is completed on a course-by-course basis.  At the time of master’s application, students send official copies of all college transcripts as part of the application package, for the University of  Wyoming the application occurs in the Communication Sciences and Disorders Centralized Application- https://csdcas.liaisoncas.com/applicant-ux/#/login

If students are full-time campus levelers, we recommend enrolling in second bachelor's status (SBA). This makes the levelers part of the Division for advising and communications, and allows them to qualify for financial aid. Please note, however, that leveling coursework alone does not constitute a full second degree.

If, during leveling, students also take a graduate course (numbered 5000 or above) that they may want to apply later to any UW graduate program or a graduate program at another university, they must change their status to non-degree graduate student (NDG) for the semester in which they take the graduate course. NDG students pay tuition for all coursework in that semester at the higher graduate student rate. Contact the Registrar for further information on this. 

Further Information

For more information about leveling coursework that we offer on-campus here at UW, contact Teresa Garcia at tgarcia@uwyo.edu.

Number	Course Name	SCH	Status
SPPA 2210	Phonetics and Phonological Development	3	Prerequisite
SPPA 3265	Anat & Phys of Speech, Swallow, & Hearing	4	Prerequisite
SPPA 3160	Speech & Language Development	4	Prerequisite
SPPA 4340	Basic Audiology	3	Prerequisite
SPPA 4150	Aural Rehabilitation	3	Required
SPPA 4380	Neurological  Basis of Communication	3	Required
SPPA 4250	Clinical Methods	3	Recommended
SPPA 4240	Speech & Language Disorders Across the Lifespan	3	Recommended