Speech Therapy (full-time studies) (DU-LO-1)

Learning outcomes approved by Resolution No. 76/2020 of the Senate of the Maria Grzegorzewska University of 28 October 2020 on the approval of study programmes in the field of Speech Therapy, first-cycle studies and Speech Therapy, second-cycle studies, taking into account the Regulation of the Minister of Science and Higher Education of 25 July 2019 on the standard of education preparing for the teaching profession (Journal of Laws of 2024, item 453, as amended).

Upon completion of second-cycle (Master’s) studies in the field of Speech Therapy, the graduate:

in terms of KNOWLEDGE knows and understands to an advanced degree selected facts, objects, and phenomena, along with the methods and theories explaining complex relationships between them, constituting advanced general knowledge in scientific disciplines forming the theoretical foundations; structured and theoretically grounded knowledge covering key issues as well as selected issues within advanced detailed knowledge relevant to the field of study and its programme; economic, legal, ethical, and other determinants of various types of professional activity related to the field of study

in particular, knows and understands

- has in-depth knowledge of the relationships between speech therapy and pedagogy, their place within the system of sciences, including their substantive and methodological connections with other scientific disciplines, as well as the terminology used within pedagogy and its subdisciplines;
- has in-depth knowledge of the medical foundations of speech therapy, including the biological foundations of speech and thinking, the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system, the basics of audiology and phoniatrics, voice disorders, genetic disorders and multiple disabilities, the fundamentals of orthodontics, psychopathology and psychiatry, neurology, neonatology, and physiotherapy in speech therapy;
- has in-depth knowledge of the linguistic foundations of speech therapy, including phonetics and phonology of contemporary Polish, theoretical foundations of language knowledge, issues of word formation, syntax and inflexion, basic concepts and theories of sociolinguistics, acoustic and visual phonetics;
- has in-depth knowledge of the psychological and pedagogical foundations of speech therapy and preventive-supportive activities, fundamentals of neuropsychology; development and shaping of a child’s speech; developmental psycholinguistics; psychological determinants of language and thinking development in a child; the role of sensory integration in speech development and language acquisition; the issue of bilingualism, its types, and the consequences of bilingualism for a child’s development, basics of sign language, logorhythmics, and artistic speech therapy; the role of computers, media, and new technologies in speech therapy; principles of organising speech therapy support; the role of the speech therapist’s skills and methods;
- has extensive and detailed knowledge of principles of speech therapy diagnostics concerning primary functions and orofacial reflexes, as well as rehabilitation procedures in swallowing disorders; issues of early speech therapy intervention, delayed speech development in diagnosis and therapy, cortical-origin speech underdevelopment, types of articulation disorders (dyslalia), fluency disorders-stuttering and cluttering, selective mutism, aphasia, and dysarthria; principles of speech therapy diagnosis and treatment, including individuals with intellectual disabilities, individuals with autism spectrum disorders, and individuals with dysarthria; methodology of speech therapy procedures and principles of designing speech therapy programmes; issues of speech therapy for the visually and hearing impaired, older adults, and oncological speech therapy, including the basics of voice rehabilitation after laryngectomy; methods of auditory and language training as well as individual rehabilitation;
- has extensive and well-organised knowledge of the organisation and functioning of the education system, basic issues of education law, national and international regulations concerning human rights, the rights of the child, the rights of the student, and the rights of individuals with disabilities; the significance of the school’s position as an educational institution; the functions and goals of school education; models of the contemporary school; the concept of the hidden curriculum; alternative forms of education; issues of internal school law; the core curriculum in the context of teaching programmes and educational-preventive activities; and topics related to the evaluation of the quality of activity of a school or educational institution;
- has in-depth knowledge of the role of the teacher and concepts of teaching practice: teacher professional ethics; teachers’ professional pragmatics-the rights and duties of teachers; principles of legal responsibility of form tutors, teachers, and educators for the safety and health protection of students; issues of evaluating the quality of teachers’ work; principles of designing their own professional development path; the role of the beginning teacher in school reality; determinants of success in the teaching profession and occupational diseases of teachers; issues of self-reflection and self-development: personal resources in teaching work-identification and development; individual strategies for coping with difficulties, stress, and teacher burnout;
- has in-depth knowledge of education in the context of development: ontological, axiological, and anthropological foundations of education; fundamental dilemmas of contemporary civilisation; the essence and functions of education and the educational process, including its structure, characteristics, and dynamics; psychological and pedagogical support in schools-legal regulations, forms, and principles of providing support in educational institutions within the education system, as well as the importance of cooperation between the student’s family and the school and between the school and the external environment;
- has well-organised knowledge of the principles of teacher’s care and educational work: the teacher’s duties as a form tutor, methodology of educational work, the educational work programme, styles of classroom management, order and discipline, respect for the dignity of the child, student, or pupil, differentiation, individualisation and personalisation of work with students, the functioning of the school class as a social group, social processes within the class, conflict resolution in the class, animating the social and cultural life of the class, supporting student self-governance and autonomy, and developing children’s and students’ communicative competence and social skills necessary for establishing proper relationships; the concepts of integration and inclusion; the situation of a child with physical and intellectual disabilities in mainstream schools, the problems of children with autism spectrum disorders and their functioning, problems of children suffering from neglect and lack of care, and the school situation of children with migration experience; the issues of children in crisis or traumatic situations; risks faced by children and adolescents: aggression and violence, including cyberbullying, as well as addictions, including those to psychoactive substances and computers, as well as issues related to informal groups, youth subcultures, and cults;
- has in-depth knowledge of students with special educational needs: students’ special educational needs and their determinants (the scope of functional diagnosis, methods and tools used in diagnosis), the necessity of adapting the educational process to students’ special educational needs (developing support strategies, constructing individual programs), and the evaluation of the effectiveness of support provided to students with special educational needs; principles of working with students with learning difficulties; causes and manifestations of learning difficulties, prevention of learning difficulties and their early detection; specific learning difficulties-dyslexia, dysgraphia, spelling disorder (dysorthography), and dyscalculia-as well as learning difficulties resulting from dysfunctions of the perceptual-motor sphere and developmental disorders of abilities, including linguistic and arithmetic skills, and ways of overcoming them; principles of teacher-based diagnosis and diagnostic techniques in pedagogy;
- has in-depth knowledge of career guidance: supporting the student in designing their educational and career path; methods and techniques for identifying a student’s potential; and the need to prepare students for lifelong learning;
- has in-depth knowledge of key psychological concepts: cognitive processes, perception, reception and processing of information, speech and language, thinking and reasoning, learning and memory, the role of attention, emotions and motivation in the processes of behaviour regulation, abilities and talents, the psychology of individual differences-differences in intelligence, temperament, personality, and cognitive style;
- has in-depth knowledge of student’s developmental process during childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood: physical, motor, and psychosexual development; development of cognitive processes (thinking, speech, perception, attention, and memory); social-emotional and moral development; physical and psychological changes during puberty; development of selected mental functions; developmental norms; personality development and formation; development in the context of upbringing; disorders in the development of basic psychological processes; theories of integrated student development; uneven development and developmental disorders in students; behavioral disorders; issues such as shyness and hyperactivity, special talents, functional disorders during adolescence, lowered mood, depression, identity formation, adulthood, identification with new social roles, as well as the formation of lifestyle;
- has in-depth knowledge of social perception and communication: social behaviors and their determinants, interpersonal situations, empathy, assertive, aggressive, and submissive behaviours, attitudes, stereotypes, prejudices, stress and coping with it, communication in institutional settings, principles of cooperation, communication processes, barriers to communication, media and their educational influence, communication styles of students and teachers, communication barriers in the classroom, various forms of communication-self-presentation, active listening, effective message delivery, nonverbal communication, emotional communication in the classroom, and communication in conflict situations;
- has in-depth knowledge of the importance of language as a tool in a teacher’s work: issues related to working with students with limited knowledge of the Polish language or with language communication disorders; methods of communication for didactic purposes-the art of lecturing and asking questions; ways of increasing students’ communicative activity; practical aspects of public speaking-linguistic correctness, language ethics, etiquette of traditional and electronic correspondence; as well as issues related to voice production-the structure, functioning, and protection of the speech organ and principles of voice emission;
- has in-depth knowledge of the significance of the organisation, statute, work plan, tasks, and principles of safeguarding children in nursery school and pupils in schools or other educational institutions, as well as outside them, and the educational and preventive programmes implemented in these institutions;
- has in-depth knowledge of the economic, legal, ethical, and other determinants of various types of professional activity of a speech therapist-teacher, including concepts and principles in the field of industrial property protection and copyright law, the basic principles of creating and developing different forms of entrepreneurship, as well as human rights and civil liberties;

In the area of skills, is able to use their acquired knowledge-formulate and solve complex and unusual problems, and perform tasks in an innovative way in unpredictable conditions, including the use of advanced information and communication technologies (ICT); adapt existing or develop new methods and tools; perform tasks and formulate and solve problems using new knowledge, also from other fields; independently plan their lifelong learning and guide others in this respect; communicate with diverse audiences, and appropriately justify their positions

in particular, they can:

- observe and interpret social phenomena and their determinants, students’ developmental processes; therapeutic, caregiving, educational, and organisational activities of teachers; relate them to various areas of speech therapy practice and draw conclusions for developing their pedagogical skills and methods;
- analyse the medical foundations of speech therapy;
- analyse and identify the biological foundations of speech and thinking; explain the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system; analyse and apply the basics of audiology and phoniatrics, orthodontics, psychopathology and psychiatry, neurology, neonatology, and physiotherapy in speech therapy; analyse voice disorders, genetic and multiple disabilities;
- analyse the linguistic foundations of speech therapy; analyse and apply phonetics and phonology of contemporary Polish; analyse theoretical foundations of language studies; present basic issues in Polish word formation, syntax, and inflexion; present key concepts and major theories of sociolinguistics; analyse and interpret acoustic and visual phonetics;
- analyse the psychological and pedagogical foundations of speech therapy and preventive and supportive interventions; apply foundations of neuropsychology; analyse and assess child speech development and developmental psycholinguistics; define and evaluate psychological determinants of a child’s language and thinking development; determine the role of sensory integration in speech development and language acquisition; define bilingualism and its types; determine the consequences of bilingualism for child development; apply speech therapy prevention; use the foundations of pedagogical audiophonology; analyse the process of reading and its components from psycholinguistic and glottodidactic (language teaching) perspectives, and present the role of reading and writing in language communication; identify the risk of dyslexia, including carrying out diagnosis and intervention; use intercultural speech therapy; analyse and apply pedagogical methods, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), and basics of sign language in speech therapy; apply logorhythmics and speech therapy techniques using existing or newly developed methods and tools;
- analyse and apply speech therapy diagnostics of primary functions and orofacial reflexes; plan and implement rehabilitation procedures in swallowing disorders; plan and carry out early speech therapy intervention; identify delayed speech development in diagnosis and therapy, cortical speech impairment, and articulation disorders (dyslalia); plan and implement diagnosis and therapy for individuals with intellectual disabilities; identify fluency disorders of speech, including stuttering and cluttering; apply speech therapy for the visually and hearing impaired, as well as auditory and language training methods; diagnose and analyse selective mutism; plan and implement speech therapy diagnosis and treatment for individuals with autism spectrum disorders; diagnose aphasia and carry out therapeutic intervention; plan and provide speech therapy for patients with dysarthria; to plan and implement individual rehabilitation method; apply gerontological and oncological speech therapy approaches, with knowledge of post-laryngectomy voice rehabilitation; to diagnose communication disorders and design speech therapy interventions using or developing appropriate methods and tools;
- analyse examples of research studies, design and conduct simple pedagogical research using existing or newly developed methods and tools; draw conclusions, process and present results, and indicate directions for further research;
- identify cases of human rights violations, including discrimination, indicating their legal basis, and suggest the use of appropriate legal means to protect them;
- apply basic theoretical knowledge in speech therapy and related disciplines to identify and solve unusual educational problems in unpredictable conditions, e.g., communicate in conflict situations, communicate effectively and consciously, cope with stress; through appropriate selection of sources and information derived from them, evaluate, critically analyse and synthesise, creatively interpret and present this information, as well as select and apply appropriate methods and tools, including advanced information and communication technologies;
- identify a student’s potential and educational needs (including cognitive, cultural, social, and material diversity, talents and interests, as well as barriers and difficulties in students’ learning process; situations of risk and addiction), to design appropriate support, methods, and forms of work, and to advise on their development pathway in line with adopted curricular assumptions;
- plan and implement educational and self-educational activities aimed at comprehensive development of participants in care, educational, and therapeutic processes, while coordinating teamwork involving students, teachers, and representatives of the wider community; including integration activities, work with gifted students, actions supporting both their own and their students’ educational development, independence in acquiring knowledge, development of key competences, lifelong learning, conscious and responsible decision-making, and improvement of personal manners and conduct, using existing or newly developed methods and tools;
- evaluate undertaken activities, assess the usefulness of typical methods, procedures, and good practices in performing tasks related to various areas of pedagogical activity, assess student work, and present it as formative assessment;
- express ethical judgments related to the teaching profession;
- speak and write in a clear, coherent, and precise manner, construct extended oral and written arguments on assigned topics in Polish and a foreign language (at B2+ level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages); communicate with others using specialist terminology and skills in academic writing;
- analyse, with the support of a work experience supervisor and academic teachers conducting courses in psychological and pedagogical preparation, pedagogical situations and events observed or experienced during work experience.

in the area of social competences, is ready to create and develop models of appropriate conduct in the work and life environment, take initiative, critically assess and evaluate themselves as well as the teams and organisations in which they participate, lead a group, and take responsibility for it

in particular:

- self-reflection, a critical attitude towards their knowledge, skills, and competences, continuous professional development and personal development, as well as independent and collaborative improvement of pedagogical skills and methods; effective correction of their language errors and improvement of vocal production skills;
- using acquired knowledge to analyse educational events and solve cognitive and practical problems; therefore, being ready to seek knowledge, and in case of difficulties, to consult experts, seek their opinions, and cooperate with them;
- undertaking pedagogical activities in the social environment; creatively seeking the best pedagogical and didactic solutions that support the developmental progress of learners; taking on professional challenges with an understanding of the meaning and social value of their work;
- acting in the public interest, including for individuals requiring care, assistance, and special attention; building relationships based on trust, showing empathy, and professionally resolving conflicts in the workplace where pedagogical activities are carried out;
- thinking and acting in an entrepreneurial manner; taking responsibility for pedagogical and speech therapy activities, i.e., diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, referring learners to other specialists, and providing oral and written opinions concerning the learners; caring for the achievements and traditions of the profession; upholding the ethos of the speech therapist teacher profession.