THE TEACHING OF PSYCHOLOGY ON THE SPEECH AND LANGUAGE THERAPY GRADUATION

Abstract

The National Curricular Directives of the Undergraduate Speech Therapy Course consider contents in the area of Psychology to be among the essential topics for the training of these professionals. Psychology plays an important role in the training of speech professionals, permitting the understanding of behavioral and psychic phenomena and of the relations among human beings and their developmental contexts. Thus, it expands the understanding of healthy or pathological communication processes and complements the clinical training of these professionals based on knowledge about techniques of patient management. However, a survey of the curricular variety of Speech Therapy courses reveals that the number and content of Psychology disciplines taught in these courses are quite diverse. As teachers of undergraduate courses in a specialty different from ours and as administrator of the Department, we have been concerned about elaborating programs that will articulate knowledge and will satisfy the needs of training professionals, preparing them to carry out their activities in an autonomous manner. With the recent implantation of the Speech Therapy course at the Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, we are conducting studies aiming at the refinement of the disciplines proposed, especially in the area of Psychology, in order to satisfy the professional needs of speech therapists and the demands of the work market.