Home
understanding human
communication
And offering a full range of speech, language and hearing services to the community.
Who We Are
The most human of all attributes is the ability to communicate. GW’s Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences is dedicated to understanding human communication in all of its dimensions — while addressing the conditions that hinder it.
The department offers a highly customizable undergraduate program and a nearly 100 percent graduate student employment rate. In state-of-the-art research labs, students work alongside faculty and clinicians to understand the pressing topics of the day, including teaching children with autism spectrum disorder how to develop healthy eating habits, finding ways to help people with aphasia communicate and helping transgender people find their voice.
The department is also home to GW’s Speech and Hearing Center, a full-service community clinic where graduate students gain hands-on experience with a diverse set of clients.
Statement of Anti-Racism
The Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences is in solidarity with all Black people, Indigenous people and all People of Color, as well as others who have been marginalized for far too long. We recognize our position of privilege and affirm our commitment to combat systemic racism, discrimination and injustice within the academy and the communication disorders professions.
We commit to doing the work to dismantle and eradicate racism, bigotry and hatred of all kinds through research, education and engagement with our broader community. We continue to value linguistic diversity and strive to empower all people to develop their communication to the fullest potential.
We strive to find new ways to establish equity, challenge systemic oppression and continually educate ourselves to produce an anti-racist community.
It is by our actions that we ultimately affect the world. As activist Angela Davis once said, “In a racist society, it’s not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.”
About Our Anti-Racism Statement
Prospective Student Open Houses
To learn more about our post-baccalaureate and/or graduate programs in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, our department offers 2 in person and 2 virtual open house experiences. During the open houses, you will learn more about the program's academic and clinical schedule, the admissions process, applying for scholarships, summative assessment and/or completing a thesis and research opportunities. In addition, you will have the opportunity to interact with both faculty and current graduate students.
“Because GW is in the center of D.C., we get a huge, diverse patient population to deal with -- in my clinical externships and at the GW learning clinic, which was one of the major driving points for coming here. I don’t think I would have been able to get such a broad, diverse patient population anywhere else.”
Kristopher McColley, MA '24
Speech-Language Pathology
