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Alaska Speech Language Pathology Schools - AK
Published: January 25th, 2010
Education for Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists in Alaska
Alaska is currently experiencing a shortage of qualified speech-language pathologists to help individuals with communication difficulties, especially within the Native American population where studies show there seems to be a greater occurrence of communication disorders. Students are encouraged to seek out courses during their education and their career that address the needs of multicultural populations, with an emphasis in Alaska and the Northwest on Native Americans.
For those interested in this field, and have what is perceived as “distance challenges” (being more than 50 miles from campus), distance education programs can be an alternative to campus programs and enable students to fulfill some, if not most, of the required undergraduate and post graduate coursework. This is particularly true here, as there are few if any campus based speech pathology schools in Alaska.
Some of the courses covered in the curriculum include phonetics, language development, articulation and phonology, audiology, aural rehabilitation, anatomy and physiology of speech and hearing and bioacoustics.
Because of the shortage of speech-language pathologists and audiologists in Alaska, there are a number of scholarships. One of the scholarship opportunities available is through the Alaska Speech-Language Hearing Association. The organization gives preference to Alaska Natives and those students who plan to work with the Alaska Native population. Applications can be downloaded at http://www.aksha.org/assets/PDFs/2009-Beirne.pdf.