About Us

Speech-Language Pathology at U of T

The discipline of Speech-Language Pathology began at the University of Toronto in 1958 through the establishment of a two-year postgraduate diploma program, the first English-speaking program in Canada. This program was developed because of an acute shortage of speech-language pathologists in Ontario and other provinces. Its planning and implementation were the result of collaboration between faculty members in several basic and clinical science departments within the Faculty of Medicine, in association with speech-language pathologists from several teaching hospitals. Major support for the program’s development was provided by the Department of Psychiatry and the Division of Rehabilitation Medicine, the latter which administered the program for two decades until 1978, when a Master of Health Science (MHSc) degree program was established within the School of Graduate Studies, to replace the diploma program. The development of this degree, the establishment of an independent Department of Speech-Language Pathology in 1992, and the subsequent introduction of MSc and PhD programs (in 1995 and 1996 respectively), have made this University a leader in professional education and research in the discipline of Speech-Language Pathology.