The use of language to communicate is a uniquely human capability. Language is part of our cultural identities and can be expressed through many modalities such as speech, sign and writing. Disorders of communication have profound effects on an individual's ability to function and impact family, friends, learning and professional choices. It has been said that "life without communication is scarcely better than death." This course provides an overview of human communication disorders across the life span. The course includes information about the various types of communication disorders and how they are diagnosed and treated.

This course is a continuation of ASL I with an emphasis on the advanced linguistic principles of ASL including vocabulary, grammar, the non-manual signals of ASL such as facial expression and shoulder shifting. Improvement of speed and accuracy in receptive and expressive skills are stressed. Assignments in and outside the classroom assist the student in learning about the Deaf community and culture. This course is taught in a language-immersion environment and taught primarily in ASL. One-hour lab required per week in conjunction with this course. For the online version of this course the lab component is completed on-line.. 4 credits and meets the language requirement for some majors. Prereq: COMM 401.

This course will allow students to develop an understanding of evidence-based practice in the modern health care arena. This course offers a unique opportunity to learn critical thinking skills, evaluate scientific inquiry and discern information that has evidence from that with no support. The ability to evaluate ideas, and in particular, distinguishing scientific evidence from fiction is critical to success in any scholarly discipline, different ideas, such as perpetual motion machines, cold fusion, homeopathy, the role of media in spreading voodoo and scientific misconduct will be explored. Many of these have started out as sincere attempts to understand various phenomena, but at some point were found to not be supported by evidence. Unfortunately, these ideas continued to be promoted for a variety of reasons including financial gain, professional name, or social prominence and as such became fraudulent. As part of this course, we will study evidence-based practice in health care in relation to Voodoo Science.

Research, testing, and clinical procedures of auditory perception, applied to the communicatively impaired. Prereq: COMM 704 or permission.