The clinical education model, known as “the overall contexts in which a program’s clinical instruction occurs”, is the cornerstone of graduate student learning. Clinical training education, which is required for pre-professionals to become licensed in a given field and includes training in graduate Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) programs, has undergone several changes in recent years. Historically, clinical education primarily was achieved in-house; where graduate students obtained their training in a university clinic.
Most graduate SLP programs still retain a university clinic where graduate students receive most of their clinical hours. One of the main benefits of a university clinic, aside from providing assistance and support to the community, is the guidance and knowledge from university faculty and clinical educators. Graduate students generally receive one-on-one training from faculties, supervisors and work with one client at a time (in most cases). In the traditional model, however, populations are limited to the clientele that seek additional support from the university. Clinical hours from diverse and differentially-diagnosed patients, therefore, are more challenging to acquire.