The newest master’s program at Mount St. Joseph University is Lighting the Way for future clinicians to serve persons, from infants to the elderly, helping them find their voices and discover new opportunities.
Launched in 2023, the Master of Speech-Language Pathology (MSLP) reflects the values of the Mount, with a focus on academic excellence and service to others. Students are immersed in hands-on learning from the onset, taught by professors who are also active clinicians.
“We wanted a program that not only teaches the clinical skills needed but also emphasizes the importance of dignity, respect and service to others,” says Erin Redle Sizemore, Ph.D., chair of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. “Speech pathology is about more than treating a disorder—it’s about improving the quality of life for our patients and their families.”
The program’s groundbreaking approach is resonating with students—and the community. The number of students doubled from the first year to the second. And Sizemore expects the growth to continue, especially given the appeal of the Mount’s innovative 3+2 combined degree track. This allows students to complete their bachelor’s degree in three years, followed by their master’s degree in two. Students enter the workforce more prepared and a year earlier than most of their peers across the country.
“I keep telling everyone how lucky I am,” says Maddie Baker, who is finishing her third year in undergraduate Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences and applying to the master’s program. “I’ll be able to graduate in five years from a program where the professors know my name and care about my success. And, I’ll have experience in all kinds of clinical environments… I feel like this program is preparing us to be the best speech pathologists possible.”
A BEACON TO THE REGION
Sizemore came to the Mount in 2021 to lead the development of the master’s program. She and her team wanted to structure it in a new way, creating more opportunities for learning and helping shape clinicians into lifetime learners committed to service. The program has a robust professional development component and the faculty are all working clinicians, in addition to serving as professors.
At the heart of the Mount’s program is putting students in diverse clinical environments from day one. These clinics are no-fee, meaning people of any means can access needed therapies.
Sizemore says these program elements probably wouldn’t be approved at many universities because they want to know how they’re going to recoup the cost of such training.
“But when I pitched this approach to the administration, they said, ‘Yes. Let’s do it.’ This is consistent with the mission of the Mount,” she says.
As a result, the Mount is committed to “producing excellent, lifelong clinicians who also share in the mission of making the world a better place,” Sizemore says. “That’s a pretty fantastic return on investment.”
The work of speech pathology includes helping children with speech delays, assisting adults recovering from strokes or head injuries and treating swallowing disorders. At the Mount, students are exposed to a variety of specialties through a range of community partners.
Students work with young clients at Santa Maria Community Services and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, adults with developmental disabilities at the Ken Anderson Alliance, and the older sisters who live at the Sisters of Charity Motherhouse.
Over the summer, the program hosted a free speech and language camp with individual and group therapy for children, ages 3 to 6. During one of the weeks, the preschoolers explored the ocean with under-the-sea games and activities; another week, they explored a back-to-school theme, with sensory tables and interactive stories and songs. On-campus individual and group therapy continues throughout the year.
When students participate in the clinics, faculty are onsite, supervising and sometimes working side by side with the students, says Emily Buckley, the program’s director of clinical education.
“All of the faculty and students love the community partnerships,” Buckley says. “It’s an opportunity to give back— and for the faculty, it’s a reminder of why we wanted to become speech therapists in the first place: to help people.”
CHANGING LIVES, ONE LETTER AT A TIME
For the faculty and the students, speech pathology is more than a career. It’s a calling.
Baker wants to honor the speech therapist who taught her how to pronounce the letter R.
Sizemore was inspired by the struggles of her sister, who had severe speech issues as a child, and her neighbor, who had autism and accompanying speech challenges.
Assistant Professor Sisan Cuervo, Ph.D., remembers the challenges of learning English as a second language after immigrating to the United States from Colombia, when she was 12.
“I realized very early on that when a child had difficulty communicating, it could have a dramatic impact on their life,” Cuervo says.
She worked with children who had special needs and studied sign language until she discovered speech pathology.
“What drew me in was the ability to help people communicate, to give people their voice,” she says.
One of those persons is 3-year-old Christian. At his 18-month appointment, his mother, Christina Hoffman, says the pediatrician diagnosed him with a speech delay and recommended a program supported by speech therapists from the Mount. After a year of therapy with Cuervo, Christian can tell anyone who asks—and even those who don’t— all the names of his favorite dinosaurs.
“I don’t know where we would be without Dr. Cuervo and the program at Mount St. Joseph,” Hoffman says. Because of the therapy, “our son will be able to go to preschool without any delays. It means the world to us knowing that he will be able to fit in and make friends and have confidence in himself.”
What’s so special about the Mount, Hoffman says, “is the passion they have for helping kids. They go above-and-beyond, and they truly make a difference.”
John Arand offers the same high praise. A devastating stroke six years ago at the age of 58 left him completely non-verbal. For six years, Arand worked with speech therapist Lauren Burke, an instructor at the Mount; at Burke’s invitation, he now meets with the graduate students to provide insight from a patient’s perspective.
“I credit Lauren with giving me back my voice,” Arand says. “She helped me relearn how to make sounds and move my tongue and mouth. She was a godsend.”
Having faculty who are practicing clinicians enhances the learning experience.
“We bring real life into the classroom,” Cuervo says. “I see patients one day, and I’m teaching the next. It’s different when you teach from experience and practice. This way, students get the best of both worlds.”
A WELL-ROUNDED EDUCATION
The professional development plan is another hallmark of the program. Developed by Sizemore, it’s designed to encourage graduate students to go beyond academics. Every student must earn a certain number of points in different categories. So, for instance, in the category of service, students receive points for volunteering. Another category is advocacy.
“We know that in order to form whole clinicians, these areas are just as important as practice and academics,” Cuervo says. “Writing a letter to your senator advocating for hearing aid access is something that, as graduate students, you may not normally have time for. But if you are encouraged to do it and you’re getting points for it as part of the long-term requirements of the program, then you begin to see your role in a more holistic way.”
The focus on providing a well-rounded education was a big draw for Taylor Fenn when she was looking for a master’s degree program. She started with the program’s inaugural class and will finish with her degree at the end of this school year.
“I really feel like Mount St. Joseph has our best interest at heart,” Fenn says. “From the very start, they wanted to make sure we were well-rounded clinicians instead of having us home in on a specialty. The program has given me so many hands-on opportunities and experiences that I definitely feel like I’ll be well-prepared when I graduate.”
LIFE-LIKE LEARNING LABS
At the Mount, hands-on learning also means time in the simulation lab. Before Burke joined the faculty, she worked at a hospital with new speech pathologists. She found that increasingly, they lacked confidence in their skills because of a lack of hands-on training.
When the simulation lab program opened at the Mount, “it could not have been a more perfect fit for the things that I’m passionate about,” Burke says. “I want to train new speech-language pathologists who are career-ready and confident. And you gain confidence through making mistakes and failing and getting back up again and having some resilience. The whole point of the simulation and integration course that I teach is to give our students a space to make mistakes… so that when you go into a clinical setting, the hard part of doing it for the first time is already over.”
The Speech Therapy Skills Lab has what Burke calls “task trainers” and high- and low-fidelity mannequins, from those with realistic anatomy to primitive tools like PVC pipe and straws. There’s a private room in the back so Burke can conduct a therapy session and video stream it to the students in real-time. There’s also a nursing simulation lab with two mock hospital rooms and an observation room in the middle. Sometimes high-fidelity mannequins serve as patients; other times, “standardized patients” read from a script.
Burke says that she doesn’t know of any other program in the country offering the same degree of dedicated simulation and integration coursework.
“I make it very clear from the beginning that I’m not grading them on the accuracy of their actions,” she says. “I’m looking for depth of learning … and if they failed, what they took away from that failure.”
In the future, Burke hopes to expand the simulation lab. She only has room for one of the task trainers/mannequins, so students have longer wait times, which takes up valuable class time. She’s made some of the task trainers herself, so having professional models would be valuable.
Another need for the growing program is a permanent location for an on-site clinic. The area currently being used is earmarked for another purpose, so the department needs to outfit a new space. It needs to be accessible, built to minimize background noise, and designed as patient-friendly, especially for the children who come in for help.
“I am really proud of the program we’ve built so far, and I’m excited about the possibilities of what’s next,” Sizemore says. “I love being a speech pathologist. The fact that I get to help a child say ‘mom’ for the first time or take a bite of food for the first time is a huge privilege. My excitement for teaching and for developing this program comes from sharing that passion with others and helping inspire them to go out in the world, to help people, and to make a difference.”
To give to the Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences program, Students using an otoscope to look visit www.msj.edu/give-hs