Speech-Language Pathology Assistant (SLPA) - About This Program

Applicants, please note that the Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology & Hearing Aid Dispensers Board has voted to increase the minimum required fieldwork hours from 70 to 100 hours. Starting with Cohort 9, all students will be required to complete 100 hours of fieldwork in order to be eligible for SLPA Licensure. This change will result in an increased term for XSLP 902 from 8 to 10 weeks.

Licensed speech-language pathology assistants earn considerably more than registered speech-language pathology “aides,” which are the only paraprofessional positions available for those with associate’s or bachelor’s degrees in communication disorders and sciences/speech-language pathology who have not yet obtained – or do not wish to pursue – a master’s degree.

The CSUN SLPA advanced professional development certificate program is for those students who have completed a bachelor's degree in Speech-Language Pathology/Communication Disorders and Sciences and wish to become licensed Speech-Language Pathology Assistants (SLPAs), regardless of whether they intend to pursue a master’s degree.

• Offered in collaboration with CSUN’s College of Health and Human Development, the SLPA certificate program is a 130-hour course of study that provides approximately 20 hours of anytime/anywhere online instruction and 110 hours of clinical fieldwork.
• SLPA clinical fieldwork consists primarily of face-to-face work with clients (100 hours) and also includes an administrative/support services component (10 hours).
• Supervision of clinical fieldwork is provided by experienced speech-language pathologists with current California license/credential and preferably American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) memberships.
• The entire program can be completed in one semester.

More than one-fourth of all speech-language pathologists in California are CSUN graduates.