Speech and Language Therapy

Professional committee - members

prof. PaedDr. Zsolt Cséfalvay, PhD.

doc. PaedDr. Jana Marková, PhD.

doc. Mgr. Svetlana Kapalková, PhD.

doc. PhDr. M. Groma, PhD.

prof. PaedDr. D. Kostrub, PhD.

doc. PaedDr. L. Koreňová, PhD.

prof. PhDr. E. Mistrík, PhD.

prof. PhDr. Mária Vajíčková, PhD.

doc. Mgr. Zlatica Zacharová, PhD.

prof. PaedDr. Katarína Žilková, PhD.

Study advisor:
PhDr. Dana Buntová, PhD., buntovafedu.uniba.sk

Coordinator for foreign mobility and Erasmus+: 
prof. PaedDr. Zsolt Cséfalvay, PhD., csefalvayfedu.uniba.sk

The goal of the education in the doctoral study program of Speech and Language Therapy is to prepare top experts in the specific field of human communication (with a special emphasis on its developmental aspects in the norm and pathology) and the whole range of communication disorders in children and adults. The aim of the education is for the graduate of the doctoral studies to be able to actively and independently apply scientific methods aimed at a deeper understanding of insufficiently known, or hitherto unrevealed patterns of interpersonal communication and its disorders.

STUDY PLAN - full-time form

STUDY PLAN - part-time form

Applicants for the study program:

• they must have completed the 2nd level of study in the field of Speech and Language Therapy (M.Sc.), Therapeutic Education, Psychology, or a single-subject study of the Slovak language.

• must successfully complete an entrance exam in which they demonstrate the depth and range of knowledge required for doctoral studies,

• submit a written project on the chosen topic of the dissertation,

• successfully pass an exam in one world language (or prove themselves in a state exam in this language)

The goal of the education in the doctoral study program of Speech and Laguage Therapy is to prepare top experts in the specific field of human communication (with a special emphasis on its developmental aspects in the norm and pathology) and the whole range of communication disorders in children and adults. The aim of the education is for the graduate of the doctoral studies to be able to actively and independently apply scientific methods aimed at a deeper understanding of insufficiently known, or hitherto unrevealed patterns of interpersonal communication and its disorders.

The goal is that the graduate of the third degree of the study program Speech and Language Therapy master the scientific methods of investigating the causes, symptoms, diagnosis and elimination of all kinds of impaired communication ability in children and adults and is able to reflect the need for an interdisciplinary approach in the mentioned areas of research.

Theoretical knowledge: a graduate of doctoral studies in the field of Speech and Language Therapy is able to scientifically research and come up with their own solutions in the field of impaired communication skills and communication in general. He is familiar with the latest scientific theories in the field of human communication and its disorders.

Additional knowledge, abilities and skills: the graduate has mastered the principles and methods of scientific research, scientific problem formulation, research objectives, hypotheses, research methods, presentation and interpretation of research results. He can present his results to the professional and lay public, develops the field of study and is an asset to speech therapy theory and practice. He can participate in research projects, collaborate with experts from various related disciplines (medical sciences, psychology, linguistics, pedagogy, special pedagogy, therapeutic education, etc.), plan research projects and lead an interdisciplinary research team whose research is focused on human communication and her disorders.

Note: The profile of a doctoral graduate fully meets the criteria even in an international context. The accredited study program for the doctoral study of Speech and Language Therapy at PdF UK in Bratislava is one of the few countries in the EU where it is possible to complete a third-level study in this field. In the near future, the Department of Speech and Language Therapy could become a PhD center for the study in the field of speech and language therapy in the region of Central Europe or for other countries in the EU.

On the labour market, a graduate of doctoral studies will be employed primarily as a university teacher and/or researcher at universities, colleges or other scientific workplaces (e.g. SAS - Slovak Academic Science). In addition to the academic sphere, graduates will also be employed in the health sector at workplaces where they are actively working on creating new diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in all areas of impaired communication in children and adults within the interdisciplinary team of doctors, psychologists, speech and language therapists, therapeutic educators, etc.

The department has long-term cooperation in the education of our students with several foreign workplaces as well as key researchers who work at these workplaces.

Universytet Warszawski (University of Warsaw) - Faculty of Psychology represented by prof. Ewa Haman and Dr. Magdalena Luniewská, has been intensively cooperating with the Department of Speech and Language Therapy PdF UK for a long time on several international and national research projects (e.g. COST ISO804: Language Impairment in a Multilingual Society: Linguistic Patterns and the Road to Assessment, International Visegrad Fund Bilingual assessment of child lexical knowledge: new method for Polish, Czech, Slovak and Hungarian, APVV 20-0126 Vocabulary as an indicator of the developmental language level of monolingual and bilingual children in preschool age). External doctoral student, Mgr. Terézia Horská has already collaborated on the development of the LITMUS - CLT diagnostic test during their master's studies. Their outputs are included on the international site of the CLT test: https://multilada.pl/en/projects/clt/. At the same time, exchange study stays for our doctoral students at the University of Warsaw are planned in the coming years as part of the APVV project. Official documents were also signed between the two universities (attached) on mutual cooperation in the field of creation and publishing as well as the use of the new LITMUS CLT sk diagnostic tool (more about the project at: https://labdetskarec.fedu.uniba.sk).

The Leibniz-Zentrum Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft (ZAS) Berlin, represented by Professor Natalie Gagarina, cooperates intensively with the Department of Speech and Language Therapy in the field of assessment of narrative skills in preschool and younger school age. Cooperation was also implemented within the framework of grant cooperation (e.g. COST ISO804: Language Impairment in a Multilingual Society: Linguistic Patterns and the Road or UK Grant: 186/2019 Proposal of a picture test for the assessment of narrative abilities of preschool children. Natalia Gagarina is the main author of the newly developed evaluation tool LITMUS-MAIN, which assesses the production as well as the comprehension of narratives in children from the age of 3 to adulthood (https://main.leibniz-zas.de/en/worldwide-network/). This Slovak material is made available after completing the license on the ZAS website for other researchers from around the world (currently the Slovak online version is used in several other countries (UK - UCL University, Malta - University of Malta, India - The English and Foreign Languages ​​University, etc.). Mgr. Monika Nemcová also participated in the preparation and presentation of the Slovak version of the MAIN online test at the invitation of Prof. Natalie Gagarina (ZAS). The presentation as well as the abstract is published in and the Text & Tee page of organizers Natalie Gagarina and colleagues from ZAS (Germany) as a platform for regular meeting and informing of doctoral students as well as young scientists about the topic of the MAIN tool in the world (https://sites.google.com/view/text-tea/meetings).

City University London, represented by Shula Chiat, collaborates with students at the Department of Speech and Language Therapy in the adaptation of the ESB (Early Sociocognitive Battery) assessment tool. In the coming years, we will continue the established cooperation through the work of PhD students, where the students will assess the differential diagnostic possibilities of the tool as well as its use in children in a marginalized environment - which brings a new quality to the original research of Professors Shula Chiat and Penny Roy.

• ESLA (European Speech and Language Therapy Association)

• ELTE, Logopédiai és Fonetikai Tanszék, Budapest

• University of Warsaw, Faculty of Psychology

• SAL (Slovak Association of Speech-Language Pathologists)

• Chamber of school speech therapists

• SKIZP (Slovak Chamber of Other Health Care Workers), Section of Clinical Speech and Language Therapy

• Institute of Children's Speech, Bratislava

• Center for children's speech, Trnava

• 2nd Neurological Clinic of LFUK Bratislava

• Department of Phoniatrics, University Hospital Bratislava

• Clinic of plastic surgery LFUK and UNB

• LEVITA, Neurorehabilitation Hospital in Lehnice.

• SANOM, a specialized hospital in the field of physiatry, balneology and medical rehabilitation.

• 3rd Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague

• Speech and language therapy clinics throughout the Slovak Republic

• Special schools for children with impaired communication skills throughout Slovakia

• OSP_106103_LOGOP_phd_e_aj_PdF.docx
• OSP_106104_LOGOP_phd_d_aj_PdF.docx
• Csefalvay_VTC_EN.pdf
• Csefalvay_VUPCH_EN.pdf
• Fabry_Lucka_VTC_SK.pdf
• Fabry_Lucka_VUPCH_SK.pdf
• Hornakova_VTC_SK.pdf
• Hornakova_VUPCH_EN.pdf
• Markova_VTC_SK.pdf
• Markova_VUPCH_EN.pdf
• Kapalkova_VTC_EN.pdf
• Kapalkova_VUPCH_EN.pdf