Bluffton University

More than 'r' and 's' sounds

“You can help children who are unable to talk, to communicate to their parents and their peers. And that’s an indescribable feeling.”   
Abigail Newkirk ’20

The profession allows you to work with people throughout their lifespan, from birth to end of life, in a variety of settings. When you choose this major, you will enter a field that allows you to work with: 

• a premature infant with feeding challenges or decreased hearing acuity in the NICU
• a child with autism in the play room of their own home 
• a child in need of aural rehabilitation following a cochlear implant
• a high school student with dyslexia impacting his success in the classroom
• a college student who suffered a traumatic brain injury from a car accident and struggling with short term memory
• a business man who learned English as a second language and is pursuing accent reduction therapy to improve his ability to build strong client relationships
• a teacher and football coach who has developed vocal fold nodules from yelling across the field and now struggles to use his voice effectively in the classroom
• a man who has his voice box removed because of cancer and must identify a new way to communicate
• a factory worker who requires hearing aids after years in an environment causing noise induced hearing loss
• a grandmother who has suffered a stroke and can no longer communicate or swallow foods safely

This is just a small sample of some of the types of patients and students who benefit from working with a speech language pathologist or audiologist.  The profession allows you to work with someone throughout their lifespan, from birth to end of life, in a variety of settings

If you are interested in learning more about the dynamic, engaging and professional world of speech language pathology or audiology, please request more information.