Vocational Master Programme (1st level)

The master's degree aims to train speech therapists pertaining to operational units and/or services of public and private health care companies, who are able to adequately treat all problems related to deafness in developmental age, in light of the modern diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities offered by the spread of neonatal audiological screening programs, technological developments in the field of hearing aids and the cochlear implant procedure.

Specific learning objectives

• Gain knowledge about the basics of normal communication and the impact on communicative language development of childhood hearing loss.
• Deepen knowledge about the causes of onset of hearing loss and comorbid clinical conditions.
• Gain knowledge regarding modern newborn hearing screening and early detection procedures.
• Deepen knowledge regarding the technology of the most current prosthetic solutions for the recovery of hearing function (digital prostheses and cochlear implants).
• Provide an update on the current modalities of intervention in the habilitative/rehabilitation process in children with hearing loss.
• Develop skills to assess perceptual, communication and language skills in individuals with hearing loss, starting from the first months of life.
• Provide knowledge of the training procedures and techniques most appropriate to the needs of the person with hearing loss and associated disabilities.
• Provide the tools for effective caretaking within a multidisciplinary team and for counseling aimed at multidimensional habilitative-rehabilitative-compensatory intervention in the various social settings: school, family, etc.. 
• Provide knowledge and methods of use and utilization, also according to current regulations, of hearing prosthetic aids and augmented alternative communication tools so that they can be assigned.