News and Events

HSLS Department Strategic Plan

Assessment Considerations with Hearing Children of Deaf Parents: A Presentation by Jimmy Lee, MS, CCC-SLP, Coordinator of Clinical Services-SLP, Gallaudet University Hearing & Speech Center

About the Department

The Hearing, Speech, and Language Sciences Department at Gallaudet University serves many functions and responsibilities within the University by:

• Providing graduate training in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology;
• Offering a range of clinical services to the Gallaudet and metropolitan DC communities;
• Offering undergraduate courses relating to speech, hearing and consumerism; it offers graduate courses in audiology and amplification to other Departments on campus;
• Supporting research aimed at a broad range of areas affecting deaf and hard of hearing individuals.

The department offers the following degrees: Au.D. in Audiology, Ph.D. in Audiology, M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology. 

The audiology degree program (Au.D.) is designed to produce audiologists fully trained to work with hard of hearing and deaf individuals, offering a broad and intense academic curriculum and an integrated sequential clinical experience. The program is unique in that it trains audiologists to be proficient in American Sign Language with an understanding of the deaf community.

The department also offers a Ph.D. program in audiology that prepares post-Au.D. students for faculty and research positions in universities and other research facilities.

The department's M.S. program in speech-language pathology provides a broad background in speech and language disorders with an emphasis on the communication needs of deaf and hard of hearing individuals.

Our Mission

The multi-faceted mission of the Department of Hearing, Speech, and Language Sciences is to:

• prepare the next generation of well-qualified speech-language pathologists and audiologists, who meet the requirements for professional licensure and/or certification, and meet Gallaudet’s language and communication expectations, to provide the full range of speech, language, and hearing services to individuals of all ages from diverse language, cultural, and communication backgrounds, with particular focus on individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing,
• prepare the next generation of college and university Ph.D. faculty who are culturally sensitive, knowledgeable, and skilled in preparing future audiologists to work with culturally and linguistically diverse deaf and hard of hearing individuals of all ages,
• provide competent, culturally-sensitive, and communication-accessible speech, language, aural rehabilitation, and hearing services for the Gallaudet community and the Washington D.C. metropolitan area,
• conduct research to inform practice and advance speech, hearing, and language sciences,
• assist Gallaudet graduate programs in related fields by offering coursework with relevant knowledge about audiology, speech language pathology and aural rehabilitation to professional specialists in related fields who will be working with clients who are deaf and hard of hearing, and
• provide undergraduate students with coursework and other experiences aimed at furthering their awareness and understanding of themselves as Deaf or hard of hearing people and to provide information aimed at reducing the communication challenges confronted by deaf individuals in a broad range of situations.
• advocate for meeting the language, communication, and cultural needs of deaf and hard of hearing individuals in all of our various professional organizations, and to promote this sense of advocacy in our students.
• actively participate in our professions, through involvement with professional organizations concerned with the promotion and improvement of the professions of audiology and speech-language pathology.