Fact Sheet for Clinical Educators

The Communication Disorders and Sciences Distance Learning Program at CaliforniaStateUniversity, Northridge has more than 50 advanced graduate students engaged in clinical practica (“externships”) under the supervision of experienced clinicians in medical centers, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, rehabilitation centers, medical offices and offices of private practitioners. The goals for these clinical experiences include acquisition of new clinical skills, enhancement of the breadth and depth of experiential learning through a variety of professional settings, fulfillment of portions of the required practica for state licensure and professional certification, and exposure to exemplary models of professional practice and conduct.

Qualified graduate students are placed in externships upon mutual agreement between the department and the off-campus facility and its staff. This fact sheet provides information about the department, the preparation of students for externships and the process of placing a student into an externship.

Background

  • Founded in 1958, CaliforniaStateUniversity, Northridge, with a total enrollment of more than 34,000, is one of the 60 largest universities in the United States and the only four-year institution of higher education in the San Fernando Valley. It is the second largest campus of the CSU System of Colleges and Universities.
  • The Department of Communication Disorders and Sciences enrolls approximately 100 graduate students in its residential Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology programs. Additionally, 170 graduate students are enrolled in three cohorts for the online, distance education program in Speech-Language Pathology, offered through the College of Extended Learning. When undergraduates and non-majors enrolling in department coursework are included, the total full-time equivalent enrollment in the department exceeds 250 students. The department employs 10 full-time and 13 part-time faculty in the disciplines of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, as well as other professional staff in the fields of early childhood education and early intervention.
  • The department’s classrooms, laboratories, clinics and offices are housed on three floors of Monterey Hall, a recently renovated, 38,000 square foot facility on the southeast corner of the campus.
  • The CSUN Language, Speech and Hearing Center (LSHC) is the clinical division of the department. Residential students obtain their clinical observation and initial 100 hours of supervised client-contact in this facility, usually over a period of three semesters. The LSHC experiences 15,000 annual client visits, distributed among its 20 to 25 individual diagnostic, general treatment and specialty treatment clinics. These clinics include the award-winning Early Start Programs and other multi-disciplinary clinics, as well as the hearing aid dispensary. Distance Program students obtain 25 observation hours in CDS 469O and obtain a minimum of 225 hours in three supervised pediatric clinical practicum experiences in their communities.

Student Preparation for Externship

  • While the Master of Sciences degree, itself, requires only the final 30 units of advanced graduate coursework, the entire course of study includes many prerequisite courses. The Distance Learning Master’s Degree Program takes 3 years of full time study to complete and meets the requirements for Californialicensure, ASHA certification and the Californiastate Speech-Language Pathology Credential.
  • Graduate students in Speech-Language Pathology must fulfill both academic coursework and clinical practica prerequisites in order to qualify for consideration of an externship.
  • The academic prerequisites include the following 3-unit semester courses. Please note that these are advanced courses and that the student will have completed a total of approximately 48 semester units in Speech-Language Pathology, excluding the units earned for clinical practica and in audiology courses, prior to the externship:

CDS 552Language Disorders II

CDS 558Neuroanatomy and Neurophysiology of Speech, Language and Hearing

CDS 659Aphasia, Apraxia and Dysarthria

CDS 661Advanced Study of Voice and Fluency Disorders

CDS 663 Neurogenic Disorders and Swallowing and Cognition

  • The prerequisite for the externship is completion of three pediatric clinical practicum experiences. Students obtain a minimum of 225 clock hours of client contact prior to consideration for placement in an externship.
  • Other, administrative prerequisites for students to fulfill throughout the externship include purchasing or maintaining:

Personal Health Insurance

Current TB Test

Current CPR Training

Externship Affiliation and the Placement Process

  1. The department maintains formal training affiliations with more than 250 facilities. For practical reasons, most of these are located in the greater Los Angeles area, but there is no geographic restriction on affiliation. Out-of-area affiliations are especially needed for residential students during the summer term while they are living at home, and for the distance education students in their local communities.
  1. In most instances, externship affiliations involve execution of a written clinical practicum affiliation agreement. The department negotiates agreements on behalf of the university, with review and signature by the institution’s director of purchasing. The department can provide a sample agreement form and can also consider any amendments to its form or the forms provided by the affiliating facility. The duration of these agreements typically runs between one to three years before renewal is required.
  1. The facility agrees that it will provide a qualified clinical educator and will meet the supervision expectations of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s Council of Academic Accreditation.
  1. The placement process begins with the student’s externship application. The application is reviewed by the Distance Learning Program advisors for the following:
  • The student’s qualifications for externship are reviewed and approved;
  • Individual training needs and goals for each student are understood, including:
  • Unmet clock hour requirements
  • Unusual travel limitations
  • The student has been advised of the administrative prerequisites;
  • Potential sites for the externship have been discussed;
  • The student’s resume has been submitted and reviewed;
  • Externship expectations have been discussed, including:
  • Treating externship in a manner similar to a job
  • Presenting oneself for an interview
  • Availability to meet reasonable requirements of externship facility (e.g., consecutive days, weekends, late hours, health exam, etc.)
  • Willingness to meet needs of externship facility
  • Willingness to make presentations at facility’s staff meetings, on request
  1. The next step involves preliminary contact with the facility by the department chair or externship coordinator. The purpose of contact is to propose the possibility of placing a specific student for training during a specified period of time. If the facility is interested, then the department will arrange for the proposed student to contact the facility for an interview. The final decision for accepting placement, in all cases, rests with the facility.
  1. Evaluation of the student performance in the externship is the responsibility of the facility’s clinical educator. The student enrolls in a credit/no credit course, CD 672A/B Advanced Clinical Practicum (“Externship”).
  • The on-site clinical educator is asked to conduct a face-to-face meeting with thestudent at least twice during the externship to provide oral and written feedback on clinical performance. More frequent informal performance evaluations are encouraged.
  • The on-site clinical educatorcompletes the Student Evaluation forms for written feedback. A copy of the written evaluation is given to the student and a second copy is sent to the Distance Learning Program for review and placement in the student’s academic file.
  1. The duration of the externship is stipulated in advance. It will depend upon the availability of supervision and of appropriate clients at the facility and upon the training needs of the student. Generally, externships last 8 to 10 weeks and generate 80 to 100 client-contact hours.