Speech-Language Institute Opens

The Speech-Language Institute (SLI), the clinical facility for the Department of Speech-Language Pathology (SLP), will open next month for patient care. Located on the Elkins Park campus, SLI is the University’s newest clinical facility, joining The Eye Institute and Pennsylvania Ear Institute.

SLI will provide comprehensive speech-language pathology services while serving as a clinical training site for Salus students, according to clinic director, Robert Serianni, MS, CCC-SLP.  The University is currently awaiting approval from the Council on Academic Accreditation of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (CAA/ASHA) to welcome an inaugural class of students onto campus. In the meantime, SLP program director, Dr. Carolyn Mayo and Mr. Serianni have been working diligently to get the clinic operational. The University expects to welcome eight new clinical educators beginning next month, who will provide additional clinical services and supervise the graduate students.

The state-of-the-art clinic offers full pediatric and adult assessments with individual and group intervention sessions and support groups for clients and parents/caregivers with deficits related to speech, language, feeding and swallowing, voice, stuttering, accent modification, social communication and interaction, and assistive technology.  For more information or to make an appointment, please call 215.780.3150 or email SLInstitute@salus.edu.

There will be no charge for services at this time, according to Mr. Serianni. “By opening now, the clinic can begin to build a patient base and earn a reputation in the community,” he said, explaining that this new clinical facility will evaluate clients to determine goals and may provide weekly treatments for a period of years, as determined by the individual client’s plan of care.