Speech-Language Pathologists Find Path for Growth with Online Certificate, Specialist Degree

Two speech-language pathologists saw a new, streamlined path toward earning an educational specialist degree, and they took it.

The University of Arkansas recently added a speech-language pathology concentration to its Educational Specialist in Curriculum and Instruction degree. That means students who completed a 15-credit-hour post-master's certificate in speech-language pathology can count those 15 credit hours toward a specialist degree, which requires 33 credit hours.

Elizabeth Marsden, a lifelong Arkansas resident, and Sarah Molnar, a lifelong Michigan resident, were the first to take this path. They earned their Educational Specialist degrees with concentrations in speech-language pathology in summer 2025. Marsden and Molnar are both school-based speech-language pathologists who earned their certificates first, then their educational specialist degrees.

The graduate certificate and educational specialist degree are delivered fully online by the U of A.

 

Motivation, Family Balance

Marsden, who has worked as a speech-language pathologist for 15 years, is in her fifth year with the Conway School District. She and her husband, Michael, have two daughters, 9 and 7.

"I planned from the beginning to get the certificate first," Marsden said. "I wanted to make sure that it was doable, me having been out of school so long and with two kind of young children. As long as the certificate went well, I wanted to continue to push through and do (the specialist degree).

"This gives me a leg up on leadership opportunities," she said.

Marsden recently joined a team in the district that evaluates children who may be on the autism spectrum.

 

Journey to U of A

Although Marsden's classmate, Molnar, has never been to Arkansas, she was a member of a professional Facebook group for speech-language pathologists and saw a post by Rachel Glade about the U of A offerings. Glade directs the Communication Sciences and Disorders program in the U of A's College of Education and Health Professions, is involved in multiple professional associations and serves on the board of directors of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Molnar was having trouble finding an educational specialist program because many of them require a teaching certificate, which she did not have. She wanted to gain more experience in her field.

"I also wanted to be able to move over a lane or two for my salary, and the only way to do that was to earn more credits," Molnar said about the salary structure set in her state of Michigan.

Molnar works half time at both a middle school and a high school in her district in Michigan. She and her husband, Charles, have two sons, 12 and 7.

 

Innovative Program Design

The post-master's certificate is the first of its kind in the country, said Glade, who is also a clinical professor.

"The scope of practice is very broad for speech-language pathologists," she said. "The Ed.S. program allows speech-language pathologists in school-based settings to gain exposure to experts in the topic areas that directly apply to the kids they'll be working with every day, without the full-scale dissertation of a Ph.D."

Speech-language pathologists work to prevent, assess, diagnose and treat speech, language, social communication, cognitive-communication and swallowing disorders in children and adults, according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

The education specialist program in curriculum and instruction at the U of A encompasses numerous topics and skills relevant to both school-based speech-language pathologists and educators, including theory, assessment and programming for students with disabilities, legal aspects of special education and teaching literacy skills to students with disabilities.

"Courses in our Ed.S. program give speech-language pathologists a new and much-needed opportunity for further education in emerging areas of study, such as inclusive practices for diverse populations," Glade said. "Legal aspects of special education, assessment and programming for students with disabilities, and professional and family partnerships are also critical courses for speech-language pathologists who want to grow in school-based settings."

 

Choosing a Profession

Marsden and Molnar both started out in college majoring in something other than speech-language pathology.

Marsden grew up helping her mother, a kindergarten teacher for 38 years, get her classroom ready at the start of each school year, but she knew she didn't want to be a teacher. She started college at Arkansas State University without a clear direction until a friend taking an introductory communication disorders class stopped her at lunch one day.

"She said, ‘I really think you would like this,'" Marsden said. 

Her friend shared the books with Marsden, and she loved the course.

"I could really see myself doing this; from then on, I never looked back," she said.

She earned her master's degree, which is required for licensure as a speech-language pathologist, from the University of Central Arkansas. She is interested in eventually teaching and supervising students there when her children are older.

 

Taking a Direction

Molnar, who lives in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, originally majored in special education, but was drawn to electives on normal language development and communication disorders in special populations. When it came time to apply to the education college at Central Michigan University, she changed course and switched to speech-pathology. 

She has been a speech-language pathologist for 18 years. She earned her master's degree from Michigan State University.

"It's fascinating to evaluate students and figure out what exactly what speech or language skill is lacking and how to target that, how to access the curriculum in schools through targeting those weak areas," she said. 

She reads research journal articles to stay current in the field but found learning from professors at the U of A especially helpful.

"I wanted to be sure to be up to date as much as possible," Molnar said.

For Molnar, learning about literacy instruction from a general reading perspective has been particularly useful.

"Combining the two fields of literacy and speech pathology gave me a lot more confidence I can support my students in literacy skills," she said.

 

Student Perspectives

Marsden said fellow students in the certificate program were all speech-language pathologists. However, her classmates in the specialist degree courses were mostly educators. She had some instructors who said they had never had a speech-language pathologist in class.

"I felt I could offer a little bit of a unique perspective," she said. "We interacted on discussion boards. It was interesting because we all had different backgrounds."

She advised others considering the programs not to worry if they have been out of college for years, as she had been.

"I was a great student back then, but I worried it was going to be really hard jumping back in," Marsden said. "I would tell somebody on the fence, it's like riding a bike, it comes back to you."

She believes she made an impression on her children.

 "Aside from me being glad I finished this, I have two young daughters who watched me do this and step a little out of my comfort zone; that's an important message for them to see," she said. "I've had to stay up late some nights, and they have noticed. I tried not to cut into family time and that makes for some early mornings and late nights studying."

"If it were not offered online, there is no way I could have done this," Marsden said.

Molnar found the two programs challenging at times but said overall the process was easy to follow.

"The coursework was relatively easy to keep up with if you planned ahead and made sure you were finishing things in a timely manner," she said. "If you have free time at lunch, read an article or a chapter. I also used times my kids were in swimming to do some coursework. I couldn't do anything else. That was helpful. I did a lot at lunch."

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