Position Statement on Students Who Speak English with Accents and Nonstandard Dialects

The department recognizes that students who speak with accents and/or dialects can provide effective speech, language, and hearing services to persons with communication disorders as long as they have an appropriate and effective level of knowledge and expertise in normal and disordered communication, an effective level of diagnostic and clinical skills, and are able to model the target phoneme, grammatical feature, or other aspect of speech and language necessary to communicate effectively and address the client’s needs.   Students who do not meet this criterion, as determined by the graduate chair and clinical program director, are referred for accent modification. The student will remain enrolled for services, provided by either an outside agent or a faculty member with expertise in the area, as long as is considered necessary by the graduate chair and clinical program director in consultation with the student and service provider, or for a maximum of one year from the date the student was notified that he/she did not meet the above criterion. This on-going service will not preclude a student from pursuing a major in Speech-Language Pathology or Teachers of Students with Speech, Language or Hearing Disorders. A student who chooses not to participate in an accent modification program will be removed from clinical practicum.