ACSLPA Coursework Requirements

The ACSLPA Coursework Requirements Form is included in the Registration Application Package. We use this to determine if you have completed the requirements for coursework. There is a specific ACSLPA Coursework Requirements form available for each of the professions: one for speech-language pathology, and one for audiology.

ACSLPA coursework requirements reflect the minimum requirement necessary to practice as a speech-language pathologist or audiologist
in Alberta. You may use both graduate and undergraduate university level coursework to demonstrate you have completed the academic coursework requirements in some categories. In other categories, only graduate level courses are typically accepted. Undergraduate coursework may be considered if the content is determined to be “substantially equivalent”. This will be reviewed by the Registrar and ACSLPA’s Registration Committee.

Clock hours means the total number of hours of course instruction. For example, a course that is scheduled for three hours per week over a
12-week period would be calculated as (3 hours/week x 12 weeks) = 36 clock hours. Hours of self-study are not applicable.

Unless otherwise specified in course syllabi or other university documentation, ACSLPA will consider that each semester hour of recognized credit corresponds to 15 hours of lecture for theory based, “instructor-led” courses, which may include lectures, tutorials, seminars or workshops.

33% of “student-led” hours can be counted toward the required totals. These may include laboratory hours, problem-based learning hours, self-directed study hours, or guided learning hours.

Your program of study must include a minimum of the following hours:

Coursework Category Courses Within Category Minimum Requirement
Foundational Knowledge Specific to the Profession
  • Anatomical, physiological and neurological basis of speech, language and hearing function
    (i.e., anatomy & physiology, neurosciences, neuroanatomy, related to speech and hearing)

Speech-Language Pathology Majors

  • Fundamentals pertaining to the use of speech and language processes (i.e., linguistics, psycholinguistics,
    normal acquisition of speech and language, phonetics, phonology)

Audiology Majors

  • Physical basis and processes of the production and perceptual processes of hearing (i.e., hearing science, acoustics)
 135 clock hours
Basic Knowledge from Related Disciplines and Professional Practice Issues
  • Basic principles and methods involved in conducting research (i.e., statistics, research methods)
  • Psychological and social aspects of human development (i.e., psychology or education courses pertinent to communication disorders)
  • Professional practice/issues, administrative organization of programs (i.e., professional issues, principles of clinical practice)
 180 clock hours
Core Professional Area
(speech-language pathology)		 Speech-Language Pathology Majors

  • Articulation/phonological disorders
  • Preschool/school-aged language development and literacy
  • Developmental language disorders
  • Acquired language disorders
  • Cognitive communication disorders
  • Voice and resonance/structurally related disorders
  • Fluency disorders
  • Neurologically based/motor speech disorders
  • Augmentative and alternative communication
  • Dysphagia

Professional practice issues specific to SLPs

 405 clock hours
Core Professional Area (audiology) Audiology Majors

  • Hearing measurement
  • Audiological assessment
  • Electrophysiological and other diagnostic measurements
  • Basic and advanced concepts in amplification (systems, selection, fitting, verification and validation)
  • Implantable hearing devices
  • Calibration and maintenance of instrumentation
  • Auditory and vestibular disorders (peripheral and central)
  • Assessment and management of tinnitus, hyperacusis
  • Pediatric audiology
  • (Re)habilitation procedures applied to children, adults, the elderly, specific populations (developmental delay, occupational hearing loss)

Professional practice issues specific to audiology

 405 clock hours
Minor Professional Area Speech-Language Pathology Majors

  • Hearing disorders; screening procedures/basic audiometric testing; application of audiometric information to the speech-language assessment; (re)habilitation of speech-language in hearing impaired; use, care and maintenance of hearing aids, assistive listening devices and amplification systems

Audiology Majors

  • Speech and language development, delays and disorders (screening/identification programs for speech, language and hearing problems throughout the lifespan; potential impact of hearing loss on speech and language acquisition; screening procedures for speech-language delays and disorders)
 45 clock hours
TOTAL HOURS IN ALL CATEGORIES 765 CLOCK HOURS
(MINIMUM)

NOTE:  You can separate your hours into different requirement areas, but you cannot count the same hours twice, in two different requirement areas. For example: you could put 75 of the 150 hours into one requirement area, and 75 into another, but you cannot count all 150 hours in two different requirement areas.