Master's degrees - Speech and Language Therapy

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The Faculty offers four master's degrees with Professional Focus. Generally speaking, these master programmes aim at training professionals in normal language and pathological language, who are able to lead professional interventions as well as critical and theoretical reflections on language use. More specifically, this programme's objective is to prepare you to intervene on pathologies related to speech, voice and oral or written communication, whatever their origin (developmental disorders, acquired disorders, genetic conditions), that affect children, adolescents, adults or the elderly.

- Preparing for the professional world
- Specialisation
- Skill-based teaching
- Anticipate the evolution of speech therapy
- Career opportunities

Preparing for the professional world

Today's professional world constantly requires adaptibility, problem-solving and collaboration skills, and "situational" intelligence. The ULg's curriculum relies on skill-based teaching (see below), which enables its programmes to meet this demand, while taking an active part in the profession's development. Extra emphasis has been put on early screening and intervention, and therefore on prevention.

A great variety of teaching methods are used in the student's clinical training. they encourage work in small groups (a dozen students), coached by tutors. For instance, the course on "Learning of speech and language therapy research : seminar of integration in developmental speech and language therapy" follows a problem-based teaching method by studying actual clinical cases; the seminars on internship support are given monthly, and led by clinical speech pathologists; a "Seminar for personal and professional development" is also now included in the curriculum, with a main focus on resources related to professional relations, a skill that is especially valuable for people in the professional world.

Finally, thanks to their pluridisciplinarity, the master programmes in Speech and Language Therapy are especially well-suited to preparing students to work as a part of a pluridisciplinary team.

Specialisation

Four master's degrees with Professional Focus are on offer. Each of these master programmes puts much emphasis on clinical training, with 30 credits for internships and practical work, distributed across the two years, totalling a minimum of 600 hours. Part of the internships is dedicated to developmental speech therapy (language and learning disorders), and the other to your specialisation. A 5th master is offered. It can be taken after earning the 2nd-tier degree, and combines pluridisciplinarity and creativity.

Master's degree with Professional Focus in Orthodontia - voice

This master's is aimed at future professionals who wish to improve their knowledge of therapy for the spoken or sung voice, as well as the speech therapy practice used to support orthodontic treatment in particular.

Master's degree with Professional Focus in Deafness

This master's aimed at future professionals who wish to specialise in teaching lip-reading to patients who have become deaf, speech therapy for the hearing-impaired, sign language, speech therapy for early deafness, and therapy or the preservation of language in acquired deafness.

Master's degree with Professional Focus in Neuropsychology of Language and Verbal Learning Disorders

This master's is aimed at future professionals who wish to specialise in diagnosis in the treatment of aphasias and written language disorders (dyslexia, difficulties in spelling).

Master's degree with Professional Focus in Spoken Language and Speech Handicaps

This master's is aimed at future professionals who wish to specialise in the diagnosis and treatment of oral language disorders and communication, whether these disorders are severe (dysphasia) or early (treatment of very young children).
Therapy for people with a disability is also developed at all levels.

Master programme with Pluridisciplinary Professional Focus in creative Projects

The specialisation, offered in no other French-speaking Belgian university and based on the ID-Campus project, is offered through the ULg's various masters since September, 2012.

Creativity, at the heart of revival in our societies

Creativity has now become an essential means to meet the challenges of a world that is ever more volatile, evolving and uncertain. For an organisation, the ability to overcome obstacles, react to market changes and seize opportunities results in the adoption of a generally innovative perspective (products, services, business models, processes).

Enabling a creative state of mind

All people have creative abilities : the creative process can be taught and developed. Beyond individual creativity, there is also the question of group creativity and how to manage such groups.

Pluridisciplinarity, a fertile ground for creativity

These challenges also require teamwork or the successful completion of a project based on the interaction of people with different skills and levels of experience.

Programme

For you, this focus involves a post-master : you must hold a master's degree in order to qualify for this programme. Its three components are as follows :

• one common programme students of all branches, aiming at teaching skills related to the management of creative projects
• projects split into three phases
• optional classes chosen among a pool of classes offered by all faculties or partner higher schools

Upon registering, you also choose two subjects among five offered, ensuring that you work on projects whose components are strongly related to your two subjects of choice.

More info - ULgTV Report

Skill-based teaching

In line with the goal of reconciling studies with current professional requirements, the ULg has created a repository of the professional skills in language therapy that the profession is founded on. At the end of your studies, you will be able to :

1. Be in charge of prevention activities for disorders within the speech therapist's field :
    - by providing clear and comprehensive information on the risk factors associated with certain disorders
    - by identifying disorders as early as possible

2. Evaluate a patient :
    - through a comprehensive approach
    - taking into account their initial issue as well as any medical indications or prescriptions

3. Treat a patient suffering from a disorder requiring speech therapy :
    - taking into account the personnal and environmental aspects that can influence the treatment
    - taking into account the disorder's comorbidity as well as their etiology¹

4. Establishing a professional rapport
    - by building and maintaining a relation of trust
    - by communicating in an adequate way

5. Develop the expertise required to practice a high level of speech therapy for the patient and for society in general :
    - by taking part in continuing education and the profession's development
    - by displaying professional ethics

⁽¹⁾ _{Taking into account the possible associations of disorders and their causes.}

Anticipate the evolution of speech therapy

In addition to meeting current demands, the university education must prepare future professionals to plan ahead for the evolution of knowledge and practices. The University of Liège is therefore banking on research as a part of its academic programmes.

This specificity will also allow you to make precise plans for a therapeutic project, to refine diagnoses and to measure the actual efficiency of the reeducation measures taken. This is indispensable for students wishing to continue after their master's degree with a doctorate. Furthermore, continuing education days as well as scientific days dedicated to speech therapy are also organised each year.

Career opportunities

There are many opportunities available to speech therapists, such as : -    working as a private speech therapist -    hospital departments -    rehabilitation and functional re-education centres -    specialised medico-educational institutes -    specialised institutions for the handicapped (intellectual deficiency, motor and      neuromotor deficiency, sensorial deficiency, social inadequacies, etc.) -    child psychiatry departments -    nursing homes -    specialised classes -    specialised prevention and health screening departments

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