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University of Colorado
Providing Academic and Research Excellence
in the Science Field of Speech-Language Pathology
Vernon B. Ingraham, 33°, Grand Cross
Executive Secretary
Scottish Rite Foundation of Colorado
March 2010
This article provides an overview of the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU-Boulder) and the
work performed by the Scottish Rite Foundation of Colorado’s CU partner, the SpeechLanguage Hearing Center. The following topics are discussed:
General Information about CU-Boulder
The Foundation’s Partnership with CU-Boulder
Academic Excellence at CU-Boulder’s Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing
Sciences
Clinical Care at CU-Boulder
CU-Boulder’s Research Work Regarding Speech-Language Disorders
General Information about CU-Boulder
Founded in 1876 (the same year Colorado became a state), the University of Colorado at Boulder
has an undergraduate student population of about 30,000 and a graduate student population of
about 4,800. It is one of two Colorado universities providing graduate programs in speechlanguage pathology.
CU-Boulder offers an array of undergraduate, masters, and doctoral degree programs. With a
tradition of academic excellence in sciences, engineering, business, law, and other disciplines,
CU has four Nobel laureates and more than 50 members of prestigious academic academies such
as the National Academy of Sciences.
CU-Boulder is also one of the premier public research universities in the nation with more than
90 research centers, institutes, and laboratories. In the past six years it has received more than
$1.5 billion in sponsored research funding, placing it 6th among all public universities. During
the past several years it has been awarded more NASA research funding than any other
university.
The Foundation’s Partnership with CU-Boulder
In 2007 the Scottish Rite Foundation of Colorado entered into a RiteCare partnership with CUBoulder’s Speech-Language Hearing Center. The Center, located on the Boulder campus near
CU’s planetarium and the Coors Events Center, opened in 1970. The department with a limited
number of clinical services was originally located in two small campus houses. The Center is an
integral part of the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences which was
established in 1959.
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Speech- Language Hearing Center - 2009
The Center offers comprehensive speech, language, and audiology services to children and adults
in Boulder County and surrounding areas. These services are provided as part of on-site training
for students who are studying to be speech, language, and hearing professionals. The Center also
serves as a valuable resource for research and observation.
Early childhood speech-language and audiology services are provided in the Child Learning
Center (CLC) component of the Speech-Language Hearing Center. In the 2008-2009 academic
year the Child Learning Center served 414 children and families with 90 graduate students
participating in delivery of services. All services are supervised by clinically certified
professional speech-language pathologists and audiologists who are departmental faculty
members.
In 2007 and 2008, 78 children received speech-language services as a result of the financial
support from the Scottish Rite Foundation of Colorado. During this period the Foundation
supported the CLC with grants totaling $34,660. Of this amount $23,000 was allocated for 2009
in addition to $4,000 in matching funds to support the CLC Space camp program. The
Foundation again has recently approved a 2010 budget for the CLC totaling $23,000.
Academic Excellence at CU-Boulder’s
Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
The principal academic programs offered by the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing
Sciences include:
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Master’s Degree in Speech-Language Pathology leading to ASHA Certification
Master’s Degree in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, non-clinical program
Doctor of Philosophy in any area of study within speech, language, and hearing sciences
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Doctor of Audiology
Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience within a specialization in Speech, Language and
Hearing Sciences
Doctor of Philosophy in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences with a joint Ph.D. in
Cognitive Science
Students admitted into the Doctoral programs and the Master’s programs which lead to ASHA
(American Speech-Language-Hearing Association) certification in 2009/2010 are as follows:
Doctoral Programs
Master’s Programs (ASHA)
44 students
68 students
The Department has a faculty of 26 professors and instructors as follows:
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Doctoral faculty in Speech-Language Pathology
Doctoral faculty in Audiology
Clinical faculty in Speech-Language Pathology
Clinical faculty in Audiology
Other faculty and instructors
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In addition, CU has 31 adjunct faculty members associated with institutions such as The
Children’s Hospital, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, University of Northern
Colorado, Harvard Medical School, Gallaudet University, Boys Town National Research
Hospital, and the Veterans Administration Hospital as well as a number of other institutions.
Included in this group of adjunct faculty members is the Kelley Family/Schlessman Family
Scottish Rite Mason’s Chair in Childhood Language Disorders – Deborah Hayes, Ph.D.
In 2005 the Scottish Rite Foundation of Colorado initiated a $5,000 scholarship in speechlanguage pathology offered to second-year graduate students in the Master’s degree program
leading to ASHA certification. Students eligible to apply for this scholarship must intend to
work upon graduation in early childhood intervention in Colorado. Since inception, nine
scholarships have been awarded to graduate students at CU.
Clinical Care at CU-Boulder
CU-Boulder’s communication disorders clinical services provide children and adults with both
comprehensive assessment and remediation. Individualized intervention and treatment is
available in either individual or group settings. Some of the areas in which services are offered
include:
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Augmentative Alternative Communication
Aural Rehabilitation
Autism
Brian Injury – stroke, head injury, aphasia
Child Learning Center
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Cochlear Implants
Language Disorders in Children
Language Learning Disabilities
Reading Disorders and Dyslexia
Speech Disorders
Stuttering
Voice Disorders
The Child Learning Center (CLC) is focused on identifying and serving young children and their
families who might not otherwise receive speech and language therapy due to a lack of funding
for therapeutic services. Services provided by the CLC include:
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Speech, language, and literacy and individual and small group intervention programs
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Pathways to Assessment of Learning ~ A comprehensive, family-centered,
transdisciplinary, team-based assessment enhanced with parent resource consultants, a
consulting Occupational Therapist, and an Early Childhood Special Educator as well as
Audiologists and Speech Language Pathologists working with child and family members
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Inclusive toddler group and preschool classroom services
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Parent education and support program
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Bilingual (Spanish) Services ~ El Grupo de Familias
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Story of Friendship Programs and Space Camp Summer Program for children with ASD
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CLC Outreach Program ( e.g. workshops, coaching, and consultation to area child care
centers and preschool personnel and families to improve quality of early care and
education) – funding provided through grants from The Rose Foundation and the temple
Hoyne Buell Foundation
Group Therapy Kids - 2009
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Intervention programs are provided individually, in small groups, or through the CLC’s toddler
and preschool programs during the 16-week semesters. Therapy is provided to children once or
twice weekly. These programs enable the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing
Sciences to develop clinical competencies in graduate students through supervised delivery of
state-of-the-art, high-quality inclusive services to young children and their families.
Examples of group activities include A Story of Friendship and Space Camp.
Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their typical peers, ages 3-6,
may participate in A Story of Friendship group activity. With Scottish Rite
Foundation support, this activity has evolved into a community-based program,
housed at Creekside Elementary School in the Boulder Valley School District.
Participating children engage in a play-date experience focusing on social
interaction and communication. The “storybook journey” approach to curriculum
provides auditory and visual cues for peer interaction within a play context.
Story of Friendship - 2009
Space Camp is a two-week summer program for children with ASD. It promotes
social communication between these children and their typically developing
peers. Each child with high-functioning ASD brings a typically developing friend
to the camp. Each of these pairs of children, ages 6-9, are supported by a
graduate clinician who works with them in exploring their common interest in
space and in developing social communication skills through joint projects or
games and field trips.
The field trips are taken to the Sommers-Bausch Observatory and the Fiske
Planetarium on the CU-Boulder campus. Professors and students at the
observatory and planetarium provide the children with experiences that are
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informational and promote interaction and pragmatic language skills.
Scholarships for children enrolled in the camp are provided with funding support
from the Scottish Rite Foundation.
Space Camp - 2009
Numerous other group activities are available for children who stutter; children who have
articulation difficulties; children who are struggling with learning to read, write, and spell;
children with cochlear implants; children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing; and Spanish speaking
children with communication challenges.
CU-Boulder’s Research Work
Regarding Speech-Language Disorders
Research activities are an integral part of the mission of CU’s Department of Speech, Language,
and Hearing Sciences. The Department has six research laboratories:
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Hearing Research Laboratory
Child Learning Center
Language and Sign Language Development Laboratory
Brain and Behavior Laboratory
Motor Speech Disorders Laboratory
Bilingual Development in Children
The Department has a wide range of partners and affiliates in conducting this research. These
organizations include:
1. Center for Language and Learning (CU-Boulder Campus)
2. Computation Language and EducAtion Research (Boulder)
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Marion Downs Hearing Center (University of Colorado Hospital)
National Center for Voice and Speech (Denver Center for Performing Arts)
University of Colorado Hospital Audiology Clinic
Center for Neuroscience ( CU-Boulder Campus)
Institute of Cognitive Science ( CU-Boulder Campus)
The following examples of faculty research projects convey the depth and range of research at
CU-Boulder which are directed at Speech-Language Disorders.
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Research into the nature of oral and written learning disabilities in first and second
languages and their effect on first and second language acquisition.
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Research on the influence of certain factors (e.g., linguistic, cognitive, social,
environmental, and emotional) in contributing to communicative success in persons with
brain damage.
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Research and development of rehabilitation methods for persons with acquired
neurologically-based language and cognitive disorders.
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Research in age-related changes in language-motor interactions and motor
learning/plasticity in the speech system to determine how aspects of speech motor control
and learning are affected by neurological disease.
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Cognitive and language processing in monolingual and bilingual children and the
examination of the roles of language experience and cognitive processing ability in
language learning.
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Research on efficacy of Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT) for persons with
idiopathic Parkinson’s Disease funded through NIH grants.
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Investigation of the maturation of the human central auditory pathways in normal hearing
children and in children with hearing impairment, including those with cochlear implants
with a view of better understanding the effects of sensory deprivation on central auditory
development funded through NIH grants.
These examples of research presently underway at CU demonstrate the Department of Speech,
Language, and Hearing Sciences continued emphasis on academic training in speech-language
pathology and audiology as well as research advancements in the field of communication
disorders. We are honored to be associated with our CU RiteCare Partner in its various
endeavors to prepare graduate students in the field of communication disorders and to advance
the research and science in this field of study.