The Center for Teacher and Therapist Education (CTTE) is home to a unique collaboration between the Education/Special Education Department and Communication Disorders & Deaf Education Department.

These departments and related clinical facilities are now housed in a common space that will help the university better serve its students as well as the broader community.
This national model of departmental collaboration will provide a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach to teacher and therapist training, and serve as a regional resource for public school districts in addressing the current shortages in special education, deaf education and speech-language pathology. Existing partnerships with St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf and the Brentwood School District as well as relationships with St. Louis City schools and St. Louis County Special School District will be especially enhanced.

Community Impact

Read what our program directors are saying about the exciting opportunities the CTTE offers you and the community.

“It is not enough to simply know our professional disciplines. The challenges of living and going to school in the 21st century require professionals to collaborate. Together we are better. The CTTE will allow students to learn both their respective disciplines and to practice collaboratively with students of other disciplines, faculty, families and members of the community.”

– Gale B. Rice, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, chair of communication disorders and deaf education department
“The CTTE is a compelling extension of the history, mission and values of Fontbonne University. When the six founding Sisters of St. Joseph arrived in St. Louis, it was for the purpose of teaching the deaf. The university has been true to this educational mission, as excellent programs in Communication Disorders, Deaf Education and Education/Special Education have flourished separately over the years. The joining of these entities in the CTTE will provide a collaborative atmosphere which will yield more than the sum of its parts, and which will be a credit to the strong tradition of the university in providing critical services to the community.”
– William W. Freeman, Ed.D., dean of education and associate professor