BSc Speech and Language Therapy

This three-year full-time degree programme will teach you all the essential theory, methodology and skills you need for a career as a speech and language therapist. It is made up of compulsory modules and substantial learning placements.

Year 1

1. The Foundations module will introduce you to, the core concepts and knowledge of SLT in the areas of linguistics, phonetics, psychology, biology and speech and language therapy theory.
2. Modules about two client groups – disorders of fluency, and developmental speech and language difficulties – help you to develop your understanding of basic approaches to intervention,
3. You will participate in shared learning with occupational therapy and physiotherapy students and begin to learn about what it means to be a professional in today’s health and social care and educational environments in the professional development module.
4. You will also undertake two pre-clinical placement modules, including the Conversation Partners programme, where you will develop and refine your communication skills and reflective practice in the community.

1. Modules cover deafness and hearing impairment, learning difficulties, acquired language and communication disorders, and mental health difficulties.
2. You will be introduced to research skills, by learning to interpret and appraise data, and to consider how this informs intervention. You will also join physiotherapy and occupational therapy students to study research skills.
3. The Practice Education 2 module covers clinical skills, an introductory placement and an 8-week block clinical placement.

1. Modules cover motor speech disorders and disorders of the oral and vocal tract.
2. You will engage in a team-based research project led by one of our research-active members of staff, and write it up as a dissertation.
3. You will focus on clinical decision making and session planning.
4. The Practice Education 3 module involves further clinical skills sessions and an 8-week block clinical placement.

In your final year, you will engage in a team-based project led by one of our research-active members of staff.

You will investigate communication difficulties and related topics at a greater depth, working closely with colleagues and conducting fieldwork.

Topics for recent research projects include lifestyle issues for individuals after strokes; the television-viewing habits and preferences of adults with intellectual disabilities; factors associated with developmental communication problems; and vocal use in relation to changing circumstances.

Some recent projects have been published in academic journals, with students named as co-authors.

We work closely with Connect, a charity focused on reconnecting the lives of people with communication problems after stroke.

As a first year student, you will be paired up with a member of the local community who has an acquired communication difficulty. Throughout the year you will meet with them to develop your skills in communication and supported conversation whilst providing them with meaningful social interactions.

The skills you develop in this early placement will form the foundations of your later clinical practice and we are proud of the benefits of the programme to both students and participants.

After the first year, we work closely with our clinical colleagues in the East of England to provide you with opportunities to develop your clinical skills with different client groups and in different settings.

We will provide you with a springboard into the profession. Your career in Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) could take you into:

• hospitals
• community health centres
• schools and nurseries
• prison services
• people’s homes
• the wider community

Many graduates have gone on to have successful careers in health and education settings, some have set up their own practices and others have returned to higher education as academics and researchers.