History

In 1938, Dr. Doris Yoakum joined the newly established Department of Speech as a faculty member and the Director of the Speech Clinic. The goals of the clinic were to "provide facilities for guidance in the diagnosis and correction of all kinds of speech disorders and offer special counsel and instructions in speech improvement to students who were in need of correction". During this early period of the center's history, the faculty who had responsibility for clinical instruction and the provision services, began traveling with students to provide diagnostic, screening and therapy services to the area public schools.

Today the Speech and Hearing Clinic represents best practice at NIU for its integrated approach to teaching, research and service. The Department of Communicative Disorders maintains the center's mission to provide effective clinical services to clients and families; prepare graduate students for professional practice in audiology, rehabilitation counseling and speech-language pathology; and provide a site and population for clinical research and the development of new knowledge. More than 150 students participate in clinic Activities each year. The faculty, who still participate in clinical instruction and the provision of services, and students in the department strive to place equal importance on all three components of this mission, ensuring that quality of services is augmented by the center's instructional and research goals.