Why Major in Communicative Disorders?

If you're motivated to help others, consider pursuing a bachelor’s degree in communicative disorders (COMD). Whether you're preparing for an advanced degree or you want to develop a strong foundation for employment in human services, education or healthcare, communicative disorders may be a good fit for you. It combines the best qualities of healthcare and teaching and makes for a rewarding career.

The communicative disorders field is broad and brings many different work opportunities:

• Clients' and patients' ages may range between infancy and geriatrics.
• Work environments consist of clinics, hospitals, schools and many other settings.
• We work with diverse populations and are striving toward raising the percentage of bilingual speech-language pathologists and audiologists in our field. 

Learn about our exciting organization, Communicative Disorders Student Association (COMDSA), and how you can be part of it.

Guidance

Transfer Credits

Do you have community college credits? Our students appreciate the number of credits that can be transferred from a community college toward our undergraduate degree program. To learn more, contact undergraduate advisor Alex Blake at aaebly2@niu.edu.

Ask a Student

Want to reach a current COMD undergraduate student to learn more? Email us at comdsa@niu.edu and you'll be contacted by a student who can answer your questions.

Careers

With a B.S. degree in communicative disorders you'll gain in-depth knowledge of communication processes and the nature and impact of communication disorders. Your strong understanding of diversity and disability will be applicable to a number of interesting careers:

With some additional examinations or certifications, you'll be prepared for the following roles:

• Applied behavior analyst (ABA) line therapist
• Audiology assistant
• Early intervention specialist
• Hearing instrument dispenser
• Lactation specialist
• Speech-language pathology assistant

Graduate Study

When you earn your undergraduate degree in communicative disorders, you'll need to meet additional educational requirements necessary to become an audiologist or speech-language pathologist. The undergraduate communicative disorders program provides basic information regarding communication development and disorders, hearing, disability and rehabilitation, and prepares students for entering the Doctor of Audiology (Au.D.) or the Master of Arts in speech-language pathology programs. Both programs are offered at NIU.