Speech Therapy

The speech therapy course program stresses strong theoretical and clinical training to assess the nature and process of human communication and its disorders. The program prepares students for careers as professional speech therapists. Through a practical and systematized course of study, students acquire both basic and advanced knowledge and special competency in various areas of communication disorders.

A speech therapist is an individual who provides assessment, treatment and other means of assistance needed to maximize the patient's communication capacities. Services provided by a speech therapist are to improve the patient's impaired functions, to maintain and/or improve his or her residual functions and to educate their family members and communication partners.
To become a speech therapist, it is necessary to pass the National License Examination for Speech-Language-Hearing Therapists. All graduates of the present course are eligible to take the examination.

Students experience clinical practice in Kitasato University Hospital under the supervision of a senior speech therapist.

Outline of speech-language pathology and auditory rehabilitation

As an introduction to the professional field of speech pathology, topics such as the components of human communication, nature and categories of communication disorders, and requirements for ST are discussed in this one-year course for freshman students.

Linguistics. psycholinguistics. phonetics. acoustics

These subjects are essential to understand the nature and use of human language. Linguistic competence and performance, and the systems and mechanisms for speech sound production are taught in lectures and exercises for second year students.

Other subjects

Medical audiology, Language development, Higher brain dysfunction, Child language disorders, Voice disorders, Auditory rehabilitation in children and adults, Diagnostic audiology, Fundamentals of hearing aids and cochlear implants, Clinical practicum

Speech -Language Pathology

Assessment of phonological awareness in young children, Development of reading ability of Kanji: a cognitive approach, Development of fluency skill exercises for Japanese stutterers

Voice and Speech Sciences

Physiological and acoustic studies on the nature of pathological voice and speech, Assessment of the nature of dysphagia

Audiology and Hearing Science

Improvements of verification and validation process in hearing aid fitting, Standardization of speech audiometry, Improvements of aural rehabilitation treatment for the geriatric population, Development of a masking simulator for training audiologists