Guide to Clinical Clock Hours

Clinical clock hours refer to the hours of supervised clinical experience acquired by graduate students in speech-language pathology. All clinical clock hours must be verified by the signatures of the supervising clinicians. The supervising clinician must hold a current Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC). The three professional qualifications that the SFSU CD Program prepares their master's level students to obtain - ASHA Certification, California Licensure, and SLP Services Credential - each has its own (but very similar) set of clock hour requirements. It is important for you to understand and keep accurate records of your clinical clock hours. This will help you monitor your progress toward degree completion, certification, and licensure.

How many and what types of clock hours am I supposed to obtain?

As you move through the program, you will gain clock hour experiences that collectively satisfy ASHA, California License, and California Credential requirements. To help you keep track of these hours, we have created a Clock Hours Tracking Spreadsheet for you to download and use . When you enter your clock hours in blue cells of the spreadsheet, they are automatically tallied and compared against the requirements you are expected to meet.

» Download the CD Program Clock Hours Tracking Spreadsheet

  • ASHA Certification requires a total of 400 clinical clock hours across a variety of ages and disorders. They do not specify the breakdown of those hours, except for stating that 375 out of the 400 hours must be direct client contact (rather than clinical observation). Also, 325 out of the 400 hours must be obtained at the graduate level (rather than undergraduate).
  • California Licensing requires a total of 300 clinical clock hours (100 fewer than ASHA) in three (3) different clinical settings. Twenty-five (25) hours of the required clinical experience may be in audiology.
  • SLP Services Credential requires that the candidate complete all of the requirements for the M.S. Degree in CD at SFSU; school internship in an approved educational setting; and a Two-Year Preliminary Credential and Clear Credential.( A preliminary credential is the first credential issued after an individual meets basic credential requirements. A clear credential is issued when all credential requirements have been completed.) These requirements are met as follows:
Credential Type Requirement 1 Requirement 2 Requirement 3
Two-Year Preliminary Credential Meet all of the requirements for the M.S. Degree in CD Completed Live Scan Receipt (form 41-LS) N/A
Clear Credential Obtain a passing score of 600 on the SLP Praxis 36 Week, FT RPE/CF Application (form 41-4) and processing fee

 

How do I accrue clinical clock hours?

You will acquire clinical hours across three major settings: 1) on-campus clinics (two child, one adult, and one diagnostic), 2) school/pediatric internship, 3) medical/adult internship. Other sources of clinical clock hours may be observation hours (up to 25), audiometry, undergraduate clinical work (up to 75).

If you took CD 654: Audiometry as a conditional graduate or undergraduate student at SFSU or a similar course at another university, you may have already earned some or all of your hearing-related clinical clock hours. If not, you will need to work with your clinical instructors and/or internship supervisors to make sure you have the opportunity to get these hours.

The "on-campus" clinics are those operated by the SFSU CD Clinic (including a clinic at the Mission Head Start, which is not actually located on the SFSU campus). You will be placed in a total of three on-campus clinics ? two for children (CD880/CD711-C1 and CD880/CD713-C2) and one for adults (CD880/CD713-A). We offer specialty clinics for adults and both general and specialty clinics for children. Most students acquire between 35-50 child hours and 15-25 adult hours after completing on-campus clinics.
» Read the guide to on-campus clinical practica

 

The school/pediatric internships involve placements in local school (CD715+CD725+CD712) or pediatric settings (CD881+CD880+CD712). Most students acquire 125+ direct contact hours with children during the school internship. The medical/adult internships (CD882) involvement placements in local medical or adult settings. Most students acquire 50+ hours during the medical internship.
» Read the guide to off-campus clinical practica