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This is a very full two year professional program. Two part-time introductory placements, or practicums, occur in spring/summer term year one and fall term year two. Students are also in academic courses during these terms. Three full-time externship placements, or practicums, occur beginning in winter term through spring/summer term of year two. All academic courses must be completed prior to these three externship placements. 

Placements (practicums) are full-time. Most students often require some time outside of placements in the evenings and on weekends to manage caseloads, workloads, and meet placement deadlines. Though the introductory practicums are part-time, students are also simultaneously in academic courses equating to a full-time commitment from the student. August at the end of year one is the only break in the program. The Clinical Education Sequence quick glance provides further information.

August at the end of year one is the only break in the program. Please note however, that there are usually some elective or clinical experience opportunities that are optional for a smaller number of students during this month. The Clinical Education Sequence quick glance provides further information. Requests for time off during part-time or full-time practicums are only occasionally considered for certain reasons such as medical or bereavement. Requests for days away for personal reasons such as weddings or reunions are not typically approved. Too much time away from placement, even valid and approved, requires make-up time or extensions and can delay graduation.

Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) is a regulated health profession. See website for more information. Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) are health care workers and serve clients with medical conditions in a variety of settings. Expect to complete a placement in a hospital, other medical setting such as long term care, home care, or community outpatient clinic. SLPs bring expertise and client care and service to educational settings. Educational settings are a primary place of employment for SLPs. Expect to complete a placement in schools or at an early learning program/centre. Private practice is a growing service area in SLP and is another setting in which many students complete practicums in. 

To meet graduation, competency, clinical hours, and accreditation requirements students complete three full-time externship practicums as follows: at least 1 adult population focused placement in a typical SLP setting and at least 1 pediatric population focused placement in a typical SLP setting. The other placement can be a mixed population, a specialty clinical area (e.g. fluency or AAC), or a second adult or pediatric population focussed placement. This provides the variety (in setting, clinical educators, experiences, diagnostic/clinical areas, etc) required to determine entry to practice and meet requirements. 

Students must meet clinical practicum course prerequisites prior to participating in placements. This requires completing all program academic courses. Within these required courses students complete an Introduction to Clinical Practice course and the two introductory clinical experience courses. 

There are required clinical prerequisites for placements. These include but are not limited to immunizations, police information check with vulnerable sector clearance, mandatory modules (e.g. privacy and confidentiality), ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ child intervention record check, Basic Life Support (BLS with CPR) training, and N95 mask fitting. Deadlines for clinical prerequisites are firm and essential to participating in clinical experiences early in the program and any practicums.  

See Essential Skills and Attributes for further information on what to further expect when working in the SLP profession. This information may be useful for some applicants to SLP programs, students, faculty, staff, accessibility advisors, health professionals, and the public about the essential skills and attributes (ESAs) related to SLP entry-to-practice. 

You will not be permitted to start your placement or participate in program or course clinical experiences.

No. Placements occur throughout the entire province. Be prepared to move and complete at least one placement outside the greater Edmonton area and outside of other urban areas such as Calgary. Our large urban cities cannot supply the number of placements and experiences that we need at any one time. Students are responsible for all planning and costs related to relocation for practicum placements.

No. Placements occur throughout the entire province. Be prepared to move and complete at least one placement outside the Camrose area. One rural community cannot supply the number and type of placements and experiences that we need at any one time. Students are responsible for all planning and costs related to relocation for practicum placements.

The department does not require students have a vehicle to complete the program. However, many employers in the field of SLP require a vehicle in order to work in that setting or as part of a position. Therefore, many placement sites require a vehicle as part of a student placement. This usually means there is travel between sites in the work day. SLPs and/or students may be travelling to different schools, long term care centres, client or patient homes, daycares, etc throughout the day. 

Placement options are completely dependent on offers from individual sites and SLPs. Students may be assigned a ‘vehicle required’ placement whether or not they have a vehicle or access to a vehicle for that placement. If you do not have a vehicle for a ‘vehicle required’ placement you must make other travel plans (e.g. taxi) while maintaining time management (i.e. be on time at each site/appointment) and without disruption to service on a daily basis. Students are responsible for all planning and costs related to travel and vehicles for placements. 

If travel within the day is not expected then the placement will not typically be described as ‘vehicle required’. Further, if transit is available to and from a site, even if far from campus (e.g. Sherwood Park), that is considered a non-vehicle site. This type of placement will not typically be described as ‘vehicle required’ regardless of the time on transit.

Students must register and pay associated tuition for each fieldwork course (placement/practicum). All costs and planning related to clinical prerequisites such as CPR BLS, immunizations, police information checks are the responsibility of the student. All planning and costs related to placements such as housing, vehicles, travel, parking, meal expenses, clothing/uniforms/PPE, and all other costs are the responsibility of the student. 

Secured placement offers are entered into a tracking database and placement assignment software system. Students review all possible placements. They then select a specified number of placements (e.g. 6) from the total pool of offers. An algorithm is run that works to match as many students to one of their selected placements as possible. Students who do not get one of their selected placements then get a second opportunity to rank remaining offers in order of preference. Matching occurs again to assign as many students as possible in their top preferences. Matching may be adjusted to ensure placement plans meet program requirements for graduation, meet unique student considerations, to address previous unmatched students, and due to some site specific considerations. This process occurs about three months before placement start date. Pplacements are confirmed approximately six weeks prior to placement start date. This is when you learn where you are going and who your clinical educator is. 

Processes and timelines for ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ (Main Campus), Saskatchewan, and Augustana seated students are all essentially the same.

International and provincial placement spots are quite limited or not possible. Interprovincial and international placements follow an application process and/or international and national procedures. Academic standing and professional performance while in the program and in placements are considered for international and Interprovincial opportunities. Availability changes year to year and details will be provided at key points during the program.

Under exceptional circumstances (e.g. approved medical leave) a placement may be deferred. This will need to be discussed with the department and some types of leaves or pauses in the program require application, approval, documentation, etc. Students who defer a placement for an approved reason must realize that they will lengthen their program resulting in graduation delay.