Information for Summer 4

The process is the same as that required for Practicum 1 and 2. Once an externship site and supervisor have been secured, start-end dates have been agreed upon, and compliance requirements of the externship site have been outlined, the student submits a completed Registration Checklist and Information for Practicum/Externship to speech@nau.edu. Then the office ensures that the checklist and information sheet have all necessary information and gives consent for CSD 608 registration. The student will receive an email confirming permission to register. Be sure to register and pay in a timely manner. Students may be administratively dropped from this class by the registrar because the payment deadline was not met.

Note that students can complete site-specific compliance requirements (those required by the site but not CSD) after registering for the class.

Yes. Although it’s preferable for students to remain at their externship for the full 12 weeks, many students return to work before the course ends. CSD allows for a shortened externship experience if approved by the externship supervisor. Students interested in a shortened externship must complete a “Reduced Clinical Rotation Length Petition”(found on the CSD Forms page under “602/608 Required Forms”), accompanied by an email from the externship supervisor granting permission for a reduced clinical experience.  In reality, regardless of the length of the externship, you must complete 12 credit hours to meet the clinical requirements of this program.

Most students opt for online federal and state backgrounds checks. The College of Health and Human Services often uses www.verifiedcredentials.com but students have also successfully obtained background checks through www.criminalbackgroundrecords.com and HireRight.

It is, of course, important to log all direct client/patient contact hours throughout your clinical rotations. Remember that a grand total of 400 clinical clockhours are required at the end of all clinical experiences: 25 observation hours (normally pre-practicum), and 375 direct client contact hours, 325 of which must be completed at the graduate level. This means that, if necessary, it might be possible to “recruit” 50 hours of treatment experience obtained during SLPA licensure, if the supervising SLP from that clinical experience agrees to approve the hours within the CALIPSO environment. It is also possible for the externship experience to be extended, if agreeable to all parties, until the required 325 graduate-level clockhours are attained.

In order to receive a letter grade for CSD 608:

1. Submit “supervisor feedback” within CALIPSO. The evaluation of your supervisor will be read only by the department chair and Summer coordinator and will not be released to your supervisor. Please provide a candid evaluation of your supervisor.
2. Make sure that all clinical clockhours are submitted to and approved by your supervisor;
3. Review your final performance evaluation with your supervisor and make sure that it has been submitted (this will largely form the basis for your grade);
4. Complete and submit the “Exit Survey” you were emailed by the survey service Qualtrics . This is an ASHA requirement.
5. Complete and submit the “Employment following Graduation” form you were emailed by the survey service Qualtrics. This is also an ASHA requirement.

Not exactly. Your Master’s degree will confer on the last day of the NAU 12-week session, typically the second week of August. It will take an additional two weeks for the degree to post to your transcript. If you’re an Arizona resident, once your degree has posted and official transcripts are available, you may apply for your temporary SLP license, which will operate for the duration of you clinical fellowship. Until you receive your temporary SLP license, your therapeutic responsibilities will be guided by SLPA policy (or whatever policy is associated with your job title at your workplace). Please review the specific licensing requirements of your state.

State-by-state licensing requirements are outlined on a devoted ASHA website found at http://www.asha.org/advocacy/state/. Follow the link for your state – contact information is included should you have specific questions.

Most states require the student to complete a form, provide official transcripts which can demonstrate proof of a Master’s degree in the field, document completion of a clinical practicum, document a passing Praxis score, provide a copy of the student’s Clinical Fellowship Agreement, provide proof of US citizenship or legal resident alien status, and pay a fee (or two).

Note that the program director, Dr. Anna Sosa, provides verification of state requirements of accumulated clinical hours or program completion. Please email your request  and associated forms (with applicant information filled out) to speech@nau.edu. It will be forwarded to Dr. Sosa.

It is typically possible to search “Temporary SLP license”, followed by your state, to locate appropriate forms online.

CF supervisory requirements are dictated by ASHA. The clinical fellowship itself entails a minimal 36-week, 1260-hour experience with 80% of that time spent in direct clinical contact (see http://www.asha.org/certification/Clinical-Fellowship.htm for further details and clarification). ASHA requires that your supervisor hold an ASHA certification in speech-language pathology. By the end of the CF, your supervisor must affirm the existence of 12 supervisory experiences during each of three segments; each segment will include 6 hours of on-site observation of direct client contact and 6 other mentoring activities. This means that your supervisor will spend a minimum of 18 hours directly observing and evaluating your clinical performance during your CF; other mentoring activities will be depend upon the specifics of the situation.

You will apply for your initial SLP license. Again, requirements can vary by state, but typically require a form to be completed, fee/s payment, and documentation of:

1. Official transcripts issued to the applicant after conferral of the Master’s degree in SLP;
2. Completion of a clinical practicum.
3. Completion of a clinical fellowship;
4. Passing score on the Praxis; and
5. No criminal history.

Again, initial SLP licensing forms and requirements can be found online through state licensing boards – links are available on ASHA’s state-by-state licensing requirements website.

You apply for your CCCs at the same time that you apply for your initial SLP license. The application is available on the ASHA website and will require:

1. Disclosure statement/affidavit submission;
2. Verification that 2014 Clinical Standards have been met. Again, this form will be attested to and signed by the program director, Dr. Anna Sosa. Please contact the program director at speech@nau.edu.
3. Official graduate transcripts;
4. Documentation of passing Praxis score;
5. CF Report and Rating Form after completion of the CF; and
6. Fee payment.

Note that CCCs are renewed every three years; subsequent renewal will require completion of 36 hours of ASHA-approved continuing education.

Many states require school-based SLPs to obtain a non-professional teaching certification of some kind. It’s not as scary as it seems and will require no further education on your part. You can find the complete list of requirements as a link on the ASHA website outlining AZ state licensure info. As of 2017, you need to fill out an application, have a passing Praxis score, get proof of 250 supervised clinical clockhours from CSD (email Dr. Sosa for this), obtain official transcripts from NAU, and pay a fee.

You can call or email CSD. Faculty can be emailed directly or the office can be contacted at speech@nau.edu – the office will forward emails to appropriate department members as needed.

Due to student privacy laws, we are obligated to communicate with you via your NAU student email account, which is good forever. Please check this email occasionally for important communication from CSD or at least until you have obtained licensure and your CCCs. Many students forward their NAU email to a regularly used email address. It’s also a good idea to keep the NAU Registrar Office apprised of your current postal mailing address – this is how you will receive a copy of your degree, for instance.