Communicative Disorders (B.S.)
Why Study Communicative Disorders at NIU?
A degree in communicative disorders provides you with information about speech, language and hearing development, and is often the first step toward becoming an audiologist, a rehabilitation counselor or a speech pathologist – some of the most rewarding and lucrative careers today. But if even if you choose not to pursue a graduate degree, our program will provide you with a strong foundation for careers in human services, education and other healthcare fields.
Careers with a Communicative Disorders Degree
With your bachelor’s degree, you can find rewarding careers such as:
- Outreach: Patient and communities outreach, career counseling, inclusion specialist, patient advocacy
- Products: Development, promotion, sales for products used in clinical, education, health care or rehabilitation fields
- Care centers: Group homes, senior centers, adult and child day care centers
- Private sector opportunities: Insurance, administration, medical records
Communicative Disorders Faculty
Studying communicative disorders involves course work in many disciplines, and our faculty has diverse experience and research interests including:
- How concussions affect hearing.
- Hearing health care for the underserved.
- Assistive technology.
- Impact of closed captioning on listener comprehension in college classrooms.
- Emergency preparedness for persons with disabilities.
- Language learning for children with autism spectrum disorder.
- Motor learning in individuals with Parkinson’s Disease.
Hands-on Learning Opportunities
We offer plenty of opportunities for you to get involved outside of the classroom. There are organized volunteer programs, internships and study abroad opportunities including trips countries such as Belize, Mexico and Australia to provide health information.We also have many student association and networking groups such as: And, if you want to surround yourself with others who are devoted to the service of society, you can live in the Health Professions House – seven floors of Stevenson Residence Hall where approximately 175 students interested in health and service related majors and careers live together.