Speech and Language Therapy

The Degree Programme sets out to train speech therapists with knowledge, competencies and relational skills in the following fields:

PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY: starting from an awareness of their role, this field translates into the assumption of professional responsibility in all their activities towards individuals and the community, with a cultural sensitivity and respect for personal autonomy. It therefore translates into the professional practice deriving from the code of ethics and the laws in force. Skills and attitudes are developed to achieve the specific professional competencies, including the ability to independently manage documents, technologies and procedures. The learning path therefore passes from the theoretical dimension to that of real ethical and responsible behaviour.

PREVENTION: Speech therapists promote health, identify preventive needs of the disability, promote the actions necessary to overcome the disability and prevent it from worsening

ASSESSMENT: this field refers to the competencies the students will acquire in order to obtain objective and subjective information through the use of standardised tools, interviews and observations to identify the speech therapy needs of the person and the community; to formulate the related therapeutic objectives through specific procedures for functional evaluation; to identify physical, psychological and social needs to assist functional recovery.

TREATMENT AND REHABILITATION: this area concerns the planning of treatment and speech rehabilitation, defining rehabilitation programmes, cooperating in the drafting of the rehabilitation programme, identifying the most suitable therapeutic methods, and implementing the rehabilitation process according to the programme. They assess the outcome and response to the rehabilitation programme and introduce modifications where required, preventing and managing critical situations, implementing targeted projects to handle critical situations, according to scientific evidence.

USE OF AIDS: this field concerns the ability to recognise the patient's communication resources, identify and select the aids suited to overcome the disability aiming to improve the quality of life, train users and their families in the best use, verify their impact and use in ADL, programme the outcome and responses to the intervention.

THERAPEUTIC EDUCATION: speech therapists must be able to implement therapeutic education programmes, establishing a support relationship to assist the patient, define an efficient and effective educational programme, educate the patients and their families to learn self-care and functional recovery skills, assess the educational needs of the patients and their families and monitor the effectiveness of the educational project.

MANAGEMENT: this includes the management of all (human and material) resources, information (general information on the users, cultural data) as well as the economic part. They require knowledge and skills in ethical conduct, legislation, management, social skills, interpersonal cooperation, networking, planning, organisation and definition of therapy programmes. The field focuses on all procedures and tools that allow future professional physiotherapists to organise their work as a whole, through the following actions: identifying the nature of the problem, analysing, choosing, interpreting and identifying the solution to problems, seeking external collaboration where necessary, recognising and respecting other roles and competencies, and interacting and collaborating within a multi-professional team, using general guidelines and protocols to standardise operating methods. In the management of clinical risk, they identify and underline difficulties. They are able to use information and computer systems to analyse data.

TRAINING/SELF-LEARNING: this is the context in which speech therapists learn, develop and consolidate their own cultural bases. This field includes the assessment of individual knowledge and competencies, referring to recognised and appropriate cultural, ethical and professional standards, in order to identify any training needs and contribute to the education of the healthcare staff. These professionals therefore hold responsibility for their own professional training and development, assessing their own level of professional competence in order to understand their own learning needs, planning and implementing self-learning initiatives.

COMMUNICATION AND PERSONAL RELATIONS: This area defines the relational basis on which the speech therapist practices professionally within rehabilitation, social and institutional spheres, using communication and relational skills with patients and families, through active listening and management and relational dynamics. This field also concerns the interaction with other professionals, coordinators and tutors and with other healthcare workers.

These constitute the cultural, scientific and relational baggage required to acquire full professional skill and to understand, tackle and manage the pathological events which require rehabilitation and/or treatment and which are acquired through lectures, laboratory work, practical lessons in classrooms equipped with rehabilitation instruments, supported by professors and tutors. Self study is also recognised (in the library or using databases for research). The following subject areas are included in the Degree Programme: biochemistry, physics, statistics, anatomy, physiology, pathology, as well as clinical, surgical, psychological and sociological skills required to ensure students gain solid bases for exercising the profession.
Core subjects will also be studied, concerning speech therapy, linguistics, medical and socio-psychological sciences.
Course units are also included relating to healthcare law, the organisation of health boards and legal medicine. Teaching is delivered through lectures, seminars, working groups and discussion of pertinent topics and simulations. Teaching is delivered using modern teaching tools. Traditional teaching activities are supported by curricular internships in specialist public healthcare facilities and other scientific facilities satisfying the learning outcomes, in Italy or abroad, based on specific agreements. This training leads to a progressive assumption of responsibility and professional autonomy, as well as the gradual interaction and integration with the various professional figures involved in rehabilitation projects. Laboratory work and internships are carried out under the supervision and guidance of professional tutors appointed specifically for their communication skills and trained in the function, assigned to each student. Laboratory work and internships are coordinated by an highly qualified teacher whose professional profile is consistent with the degree programme.
The study programme includes a maximum of … exams, organised in an integral manner among several course units or coordinated modules. Learning is assessed through oral and written exams, as well as progress tests (self-assessment or intermediate interviews.

Admission to the degree programme in Speech Therapy requires possession of a bachelor's degree or three-year university diploma, or any other degree obtained abroad, recognised as suitable.
Additionally, students must possess the knowledge and competencies laid down annually in the Ministerial Decree governing the entrance exam, as published in the call for applications.

The number of allocated places, the date of the entrance exam, the contents and methods of the selection process are laid down annually by MIUR Decree and indicated in the call for applications.

The methods for verifying the knowledge required for admission are defined in the degree programme teaching regulations.

If the assessment is not positive, additional learning requirements will be specified.
Completion of the learning requirements is the subject of a separate test.
The relevant testing method is also set out in the degree programme teaching regulations.

Students who do not complete the additional learning requirements by the date established by the competent bodies and, in any case, by the end of the first year of the degree programme, will be unable to sit exams in the following years.