The ability to communicate is our most precious human characteristic. When a person cannot communicate, isolation from friends, family and society often occurs. Nearly 10 million Americans have a speech, language and/or hearing disorder. Speech-language pathologists and deaf educators provide services to enhance the lives of those with communication disorders.
All faculty members in Fontbonne University's Communication Disorders and Deaf Education department have the academic preparation and the practical experience to prepare teachers of the deaf or speech-language pathologists. Deaf education faculty members have teacher certification and speech-language pathology faculty members are licensed by the state of Missouri and certified by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

The department offers a strong academic and clinical orientation to the field of speech, language and hearing disorders. The undergraduate program in deaf education prepares students for certification. The undergraduate program in speech-language pathology provides excellent pre-professional preparation for graduate study in the field.

The graduate program (in addition to specified classes from the undergraduate program) includes all of the academic and clinical requirements for certification as a speech-language pathologist by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and as a speech-language specialist in the state of Missouri. The master's program is accredited in Speech-Language Pathology by the Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology.