Continuing education speech pathology build a foundation for graduate programs in the speech pathology field.

Continuing education speech pathology is the extra certification or qualification done to qualify individuals for the profession. These are programs that run for two years and are equivalent to the first two years of the main bachelor's degree in speech pathology. Speech pathology is an area of communications expertise where language pathologists diagnose, evaluate and develop treatment plans for people with hearing, speech or other communication disorders. Associate or continuing education speech pathology programs lead to graduate programs and certifications.

Speech language pathologists evaluate and diagnose the needs of individuals with communication disorders to come up with treatment plans and education programs. Many universities require an individual to present a current CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation) certificate, and the completion of various health forms. Additional information or certification should be available in individual university degree program brochures and outlines.

A degree program should provide hands on experience to students in working in professional environments including rehabilitation centers, hospitals, schools and nursing facilities. Universities having good research facilities which specialize in language or voice, speech, augmentative and alternative communication methods should be highly recommended for specialized studies.

Bachelor's degree and associate degree programs are designed to be prior to profession degrees that are intended to create a foundation that is required for further specialization in a graduate degree program. Associate programs are a mere version of a popular speech pathology for an assistant program, which lead to an associate in applied science in speech language pathology assistance. This associate program should pave way to many other certifications.

Bachelor's degree programs expand on their research knowledge upon training received in associate's degree programs in speech training, preparing students for graduate degree programs. In the speech pathology field every student has to pursue a master's degree for employment in most non assistant positions. Therefore bachelor's degree programs build on the foundation laid down by the associate programs by incorporating classes in audiology, language development, voice disorders and rehabilitation and the anatomy and physiology of speech and hearing. The master's degree program in speech pathology should therefore lead to the clinical certification covering the required standards as per the institution. More often, the degree programs are credited by the American Speech- Language Hearing Association.

An Associate in Applied Science in speech pathology degree should entail courses in phonetics, audiology and the anatomy or physiology of speech and hearing. Other additional courses e.g. developmental psychology, basic sign language public speaking, , ethics and standards of speech pathology assistants is a plus to the experience given to the program.