Communication Sciences & Disorders

221 Bohannon Hall, 1207 Ordean Court, Duluth, MN 55812

Phone:(218) 726–7974; Fax: (218) 726–8693

Email: cd@d.umn.edu

University of
Minnesota
Duluth

College of Education &
Human Service Professions

Part 8: Graduate Clinical Education: Practicum Requirements

The Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) offers a graduate program which combines academic, research, and clinic endeavors. Students must complete 4 semester credits of internships to meet Graduate Degree requirements; however, students will participate in substantially more clinic practicum experiences in order to demonstrate a depth and breadth of knowledge and skills in speech-language pathology, as is required by the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders and by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Graduate students are involved in practicum every semester of their graduate education.

Two course enrollments are available for clinical practicum

In addition to 25 observation hours, students must accrue 375 clock hours to fulfill ASHA requirements of 400 hours for clinical certification. Of the 375 clock hours, a minimum of 325 must be earned at the graduate level. Students who enter the program with no clock hours may find it necessary to extend their graduate work in order to accrue sufficient clock hours. All clinic activity which accrues clock hours must involve at least 1 credit of practicum registration.

Practicum Prerequisites

Only students who are CSD Majors or Graduate Students in the CSD Program are considered for practicum. Students must complete certain prerequisites:

  1. Clinic Observation Completed ASHA requirements for the Certificate of Clinical Competence state that an individual must have 25 hours of supervised observation. The CSD Department requires that these observation hours be completed BEFORE beginning clinic practicum. Students are required to present proof of completion of observation hours before beginning their first practicum through the CSD Program.
  2. Grade Point Average of 3.0 or higher To be in good academic standing, a graduate student must maintain an overall grade point average of 3.0 or higher. Any student failing to maintain the required average is considered to be on academic probation. A student on academic probation will have one semester to increase their grade point average to the minimum requirement of 3.0. Students failing to meet the grade point average requirements will not be allowed to register for further Communication Sciences and Disorders courses, including CSD 8097 and CSD 8197.
  3. Mandatory Practicum Orientation: All incoming graduate students are expected to participate in the mandatory practicum orientation, which is part of the orientation to the Graduate Program in Speech-Language Pathology at UMD.
  4. Completion of HIPAA Courses 1 and 4: All students, faculty, and staff who have access to Protected Health Information (PHI) must comply with the Federal Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Graduate students will be assigned HIPAA courses 1, 3 and 4, which must be completed before the student is allowed to participate in practicum.
  5. Immunizations To ensure a clinic environment which minimizes the risk of the spread of serious infectious disease, all students and staff providing services in the Robert F. Pierce Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic (RFP) must submit documentation of the following health requirements:
  6. Mantoux Test: This test must be repeated annually, with results submitted on an annual basis to the RFP Clinic. The Mantoux Test is a tuberculin skin test which shows if a person has ever been infected by tuberculosis (TB) germs. If there is a positive test result from the Mantoux Test, follow-up care by a physician is mandatory to determine the presence of active TB.
    • Hepatitis B Vaccine: The Hepatitis B Vaccine is a series of 3 shots given over a period of months. Students may choose initiate the series or sign a waiver stating they do not wish to start the series. Students who choose to get the Hepatitis B Vaccine are responsible for initiating the series before starting clinical activity at the RFP Clinic.
    • Graduate students participating in practicum experiences at other health care facilities and schools may have additional health documentation they must submit. They also may be required certified in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR).
  7. Malpractice Insurance: The Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders carries malpractice insurance to cover staff, faculty and students who practice in the RFP Clinic. This insurance also covers students who complete internships and externships off-campus as a part of their degree through the UMD CSD Programs.
  8. Criminal Background Checks: Off-campus practicum sites licensed by the Minnesota Department of Health require our department to initiate a criminal background study on students who will be providing direct services at their facilities. Consequently, all graduate students will be required to complete Background Study Forms, supplied by the Department, at the beginning of their graduate program, in preparation of placement at a facility licensed by the Minnesota Department of Health. Refusal to provide the information necessary to ensure an accurate and complete background study will result in your disqualification from placement at off-campus sites.

Department Experience Requirements for Graduate Students

The CSD Department is charged with providing you the opportunities for a breadth and depth of experiences in your professional education. To this end, you may be given additional practicum assignments when the assigned case is determined an appropriate opportunity to broaden your scope and mastery of clinical skills.

While ASHA does not set a requisite number of hours in each diagnosis category, the UMD CSD Department has determined that direct clinic experience across all areas is optimal for professional development. Successful completion of clinical service and demonstration of skills is required for earning your degree.

Every effort will be made to give you assessment and intervention experience across the following areas:

In addition, every effort will be made to give you experience in working with people of various ages and various cultural/social backgrounds.

Typical Clinical Education Sequence for Graduate Students

First Year, Fall Semester:

First Year, Spring Semester:

Summer Session:

Second Year, Fall Semester:

Second Year, Spring Semester:

Evaluation of Student Performance

UMD clinic instructors will use the UMD Grading Protocol (Appendix D) and will follow the grading guidelines as outlined in Practicum Handbook Part 9. Off-site supervisors may or may not choose to use the UMD Grading Protocol.

Each site may choose their own protocol for assessing the student´s clinical performance. They are welcome to use the UMD Practicum Evaluation Protocol (Appendix D) from the UMD CSD Program. All sites are asked to complete the ASHA Clinic Competency Scale (Appendix D) at the end of the semester, which is used to gauge student growth over time and across sites; and to determine program trends and make program decisions.

It is recommended that the site supervisor and the student meet each week to discuss client progress and student progress. It is recommended that the site supervisor complete a mid-semester evaluation of student performance, review this with the student, and establish goals for growth for the remainder of the semester. The supervisor is to report the mid-semester grade and progress to the university liaison.

Students participating in off campus practicum work are subject to Counsel Out Procedures (Handbook Part 10) if the practicum grade recommended by the site supervisor is a C or lower.

Clock Hours Documentation

Students are responsible for documenting clock hours accrual on forms provided by the Department, and Clinic Instructors must record their observation time on these forms for each session. Student interns record each session on the Daily Clock Hours Record (See Appendix A). At the end of the Semester, students will generate a Semester Clock Hours Form (See Appendix A) for each instructor with whom they worked. This Form must be verified and signed by the Clinic Instructor.

Finally, students will update the Clock Hours Summary Form (See Appendix A) each semester, which is a running log of clock hours accrued toward their degree. As students near completion of their degree, they will print out and submit the Clock Hours Summary Form as a record of all activity toward their CCCs. Interns will submit this form for signatures by the Department Chair and the Clinic Director.

Graduate students transferring from other undergraduate programs will need to enter their total observation hours and their undergraduate clock hours in the Clock Hours Summary Form. Up to 50 undergraduate clock hours may be used toward the total 375 clock hours required by ASHA for certification.

Course Objectives for CSD 8097

Course Requirements/Expectations for CSD 8197

  1. Spend 40 hours/week at the site
  2. implement treatment programs designed for assigned clients
  3. perform diagnostic evaluations as assigned by your site supervisor
  4. establish positive working relationships with site supervisor and other site staff
  5. comply with site standards for documentation of treatment and diagnostic services
  6. convey treatment information to clients/families/professionals in oral and written forms
  7. meet professional expectations of the site
  8. comply with CSD department standards for documenting clinical clock hour accrual
  9. Abide by the ASHA Code of Ethics

Refer to Appendix B for Course Outcomes and a sample practicum itinerary.

Off-Campus Internships and Externships

Prerequisites

Internship Prerequisites

Externship Prerequisites

Procedures for Arranging Placements/Affiliations

All off-campus placements are arranged by the clinic director, who is the university liaison for all off-site practicum experiences. Each student meets with the clinic director during the Fall Semester of their first year of graduate school to formulate potential plans for off-campus placements. Students share their interests and preferences and the clinic director will honor these requests as much as possible, though there is no guarantee that students will be placed with any given organization. Influencing factors such as site availability, number of requests for particular sites, and site/supervisor requests, will affect final placements.

Students should not contact sites or professionals to arrange their own practicum placements for internships or externships. If students do have interests in sites outside of the Duluth area, they are encouraged to bring contact information to the clinic director. The clinic director will pursue a placement with the site.

Students will not be placed in a site without a current affiliation contract in place. This contract more clearly delineates the roles and responsibilities of the site, the site supervisor, and the university program. A copy of the Affiliation Contract will be available for the student to review upon request, prior to being placed in a site.

University Liaison

The clinic director is the university liaison for off-campus internships and externships. The university liaison establishes strong communication between the facility and the university program. The liaison will use site visits, telephone calls, and surveys for this purpose. If the student or the site supervisor has concerns or questions regarding any aspect of the practicum experience, they are advised immediately to contact the university liaison. The site supervisor, the student, and the university liaison will develop a plan of action to improve the situation.

Applying for Practicum Placements

Many practicum sites require a student resume, transcripts, and an interview with the student prior to the practicum. This particularly is true for full-time externships at medical facilities. The purpose of the interview is to ensure shared expectations for the practicum experience and, in some cases, to select an intern from a group of candidates from multiple university programs.

Supervision

All off-campus site supervisors must hold ASHA certification at the time of supervising the student. Additionally, the CSD Department prefers the supervisors to have a minimum of three years´ clinical experience.

Whether a student is involved in a full-time or part-time practicum, the exact schedule of the practicum is a matter of mutual discussion between the site supervisor and the student. We encourage the supervisor to involve the student in as many aspects of their clinical practice as possible, though only direct client contact time may be credited toward ASHA clock hours. The supervisor must abide by the following ASHA supervision regulations: