MMedSci Speech and Language Therapy pre-arrival Information

Congratulations on securing your place to study our Speech and Language Therapy masters with us this September. On this page you’ll find useful information and tasks to help make your transition to the University of Sheffield as smooth as possible.

We know this can be a busy time for you, and we want to make preparing to start your course as straightforward as possible. This pre-arrival page is for new MMedSci Speech and Language Therapy students starting in September 2026. Here you’ll find information and tasks to complete specific to you and your course/mode of study.

Complete your registration

Follow this link for a step-by-step outline of everything you need to do in order to complete your registration at the University.

Welcome

Welcome to the MMedSci in Speech and Language Therapy!

There are two routes through the MMedSci SLT programme, so it’s useful to be aware that you will be on either one or the other of these. The full time MMedSci is a two-year course, the part-time MMedSci is a three year course.

At the end, you will qualify with a Master of Medical Science (MMedSci) degree. This will allow you to register with the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) and the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as a Speech and Language Therapist to practise in the UK. You will study in the School of Allied Health Professionals, Pharmacy, Nursing and Midwifery (AHPNM).

Programme handbooks

We have separate programme handbooks for the full-time and part-time programmes, due to differences in when you take modules and have certain placements. Some of your courses will run together and some parts will be different. All this will become clear once you get started.

2026-27 full-time programme handbook

The 2026/27 part-time programme handbook is currently being updated. For now, you can have a look at the 2024-25 handbook here (but note that not all the information is correct for your year of study):

2024-25 part-time programme handbook

You will see that the handbooks have a lot of information in them - we are not expecting you to remember all this, it’s here for reference. We will go through the most important areas together when we meet in September. Some parts are only accessible once you have registered with the University. You have probably seen some of the information before on our prospectus page.

We are really looking forward to meeting you when you arrive. Please look at your Welcome Week schedule further on in this guide. There will be presentations and plenty of opportunities to ask questions and start to get to know each other. We will see you on Monday 21 September!

Welcome Week timetable

This year Welcome Week takes place week commencing 21 September.

Throughout the week there'll be lots of events to help you explore the campus and city, make friends, and find out how the university can support you. Information about University-wide activities will be shared with you directly in the run-up to Welcome Week.

During Welcome Week, we’ll also be holding important events specifically for the Speech and Language Therapy programme.

Monday 21 September

All students, The Wave, Seminar Room 1

10am - 10.15am

Introductions: Emma Gregory, Professional Lead for SLT and Lucy Dyson, Deputy Professional Lead for SLT Welcome

10.15am - 11.15am

Welcome meeting part one: Jon Smyth and Alex Zosimidou

11.15am - 11.30am

Comfort break

11.30am - 1pm

Current students (full and part time) welcome, activity and tour of Mushroom Lane

As needed

DBS checks at the School of Allied Health Professions, Pharmacy, Nursing and Midwifery if required (likely only for international students) - individual appointments will be confirmed

Part-time students

Complete mandatory pre-placement training in your own time.

Tuesday 22 September

All students, The Wave, Seminar Room 1

10am - 10.30am

Full time students - Welcome meeting part 2 with Jon Smyth

Part time students - Welcome meeting part 2 with Alex Zosimidou

10.30am - 10.45am

Introduction to the SLT Society

10.45am - 11am

Meet your academic tutors: Carla Rohde, Sarah Spencer and Alex Zosimidou

11am - 11.20am

Meet Poppy Turner, Student Experience Manager, and Gill Turner, Student Inclusion Officer

11.30am - 1pm

Placements and MySkills - Emma Gregory, Professional Lead, Shirley and Paddy, Placements Team

As needed

DBS checks at the School of Allied Health Professions, Pharmacy, Nursing and Midwifery if required (likely only for international students) - individual appointments will be confirmed

Part-time students

Complete mandatory pre-placement training in your own time.

Wednesday 23 September

Full-time students

Online activities to complete:

Pre placement mandatory training (look out for an email from the Placements Team about this)
Mandatory online training (information will be shared by the University)

Other activities scheduled by the University of Sheffield.

Part-time students

Non-university day

Thursday 24 September

9.30am - 10.30am, The Wave, Lecture Theatre 4

Introduction to IT. Please bring your laptop if possible.

11am - 12pm, The Wave, Workroom 1/Foyer A (outside Workroom 1 and Lecture Theatre 3)

Welcome event for all new Speech and Language Therapy students.

8.45am - 4pm, Sheffield Occupational Health Services

Immunisations at Sheffield Occupational Health Services, 10 Claremont Crescent, S10 2TB. Please check your emails for the details of your individual immunisation appointment.

Friday 25 September

Full-time students:

Smart cards for placements - individual appointments set by the School of Allied Health Professions, Pharmacy, Nursing and Midwifery.

Other activities scheduled by the University of Sheffield.

Part-time students:

Non-university day.

Any changes to your Welcome Week timetable will be communicated to you by the Speech and Language Therapy team.

Your timetable for the remainder of the course will be available via the iSheffield app.

Draft Semester 1 timetable

Below you'll find copies of our draft timetable for semester one. There's one timetable for full time students and one for part time students.

Please note: these are draft versions and are subject to change. Any changes to the below will be communicated to you by the Speech and Language Therapy team.

Full time semester 1 draft timetable 2026/27

We are currently preparing the part time semester one timetable. Please bookmark this page and come back in September to download this.

Occupational Health and DBS Clearance

You will have received an email explaining these processes. It is important that you complete these tasks as soon as possible to make your placements run smoothly. Please follow the links in the email.

Can’t find the email? Please email ahpnm@sheffield.ac.uk.

Recommended reading

We use a wide range of texts during the Speech and Language Therapy course and support you by providing multiple copies of key texts and/or electronic copies where possible. These will be available via the University library once you have registered on the course.

There is no requirement to do any reading before you start the course or to purchase any books before or during the course. However, some students prefer to have some information in advance should they wish to do some background reading before arriving.

Please note if you do want to buy books:

Most of the texts are available to purchase online
Students sometimes agree to share more expensive books between them, so its sensible to wait and discuss this with your fellow students when you arrive.

If you have any feedback on this list, or suggestions for future students, please do get in touch with Caroline Haw, the Programme Lead, and let us know. We are always looking for new ideas!

Basic Background and Reference

Crystal, D. (2010). The Cambridge encyclopaedia of language. 3^rd Ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

A useful overview of various aspects of communication, and good for reference if you don’t have a linguistics background, but not essential. Earlier editions may be found in second hand bookshops or online.

Impact of communication difficulties

A good place to start your reading can be from the perspective of the person with the communication difficulty, their families and other texts focusing on the functional impact on their daily life.

Acquired communication difficulties

Books

Bauby, John- Dominique (2008). The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. London: Harper Perennial.
Hale, S. (2002). The Man Who Lost His Language. London: Allen Lane, The Penguin Books Ltd.
Parr, S., Byng, S., Gilpin, S. and Ireland, C. (1997). Talking About Aphasia: Living with Loss of Language After Stroke. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Parr, S., Duchan, J. and Pound, C. (2003). Aphasia Inside Out: reflections on Communication Disability. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Maxwell, G. (2010). Falling and Laughing: The Restoration of Edwyn Collins. Random House.
McCrum, R. (1999). My year off: rediscovering life after a stroke. London: Picador.

Websites

The Stroke Association: Effects of Aphasia: https://www.stroke.org.uk/what-is-aphasia/aphasia-and-its-effects
Reconnecting with life: stories of life after stroke: http://www.patientvoices.org.uk/naoconn.htm
Stories from the Isle of Wight Stroke Club: http://www.patientvoices.org.uk/iowsc.htm (recommended stories: Vicious circles; The longest night; The most wonderful husband in the world)

Developmental communication difficulties

Books

Higashida, N. (2013). The Reason I Jump. London: Sceptre.
Pelman, C. (2014). Joshy Finds His Voice - A Story About Speech and Silence. Grovesnor House Publishing.
Silberman, S. (2015). NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think Differently. NSW, Australia: Allen & Unwin.

Websites

Raising awareness of Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) website: https://radld.org/ and YouTube channel has videos you can watch to learn about DLD: https://www.youtube.com/user/RALLIcampaign
I CAN is the children’s communication charity: https://ican.org.uk
The National Autistic Society is the UK's leading charity for people on the autism spectrum and their families: https://www.autism.org.uk

Participation and Society

You can explore the resources on this page to develop your understanding of health inequalities and Speech and Language Therapy, which you will learn more about in the module 'Participation and Society’: https://www.rcslt.org/learning/diversity-inclusion-and-anti-racism/addressing-health-inequalities/

You can watch this video to find out about the social model of disability. You will learn about the models of disability in the module 'Participation and Society' and it is important for understanding approaches to clinical practice which you will learn about in your clinical modules: https://www.scope.org.uk/about-us/social-model-of-disability

Core Texts for First Year Modules

For those students who do prefer to carry out some reading in advance, here is a little about core texts related to the first modules you will be taking. If you do want to start looking at texts, we suggest you single out ones for topics that are new to you or less familiar. Some students have reported that reading about Anatomy and Physiology, and specifically an SLT focused text, was useful prior to the course.

Remember: you will not need to buy these, and copies of all texts listed are in the library as physical books or electronic copies which will be available to you once you have enrolled on the course.

Anatomy and Physiology

Atkinson, M. & McHanwell, S. (2018) 2^nd Edition. Basic medical science for speech and language therapy students. London: Whurr.

The book is co-written by Martin Atkinson, who previously taught Biomedical Science to our students for many years, and so demonstrates an understanding of SLT student needs. This is the book that students often report they would like to have familiarised themselves with prior to the course.

Other useful texts:

Seikel, A., Drumright, D.G, and Seikel, P. (2013). Essentials of anatomy and physiology for communication Disorders. Clifton Parr, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning.
Crossman, A. and Neary, D. (2010). Neuroanatomy: an illustrated colour text. Churchill Livingstone Elsevier.

Acquired speech and language difficulties

Papathanasiou, I., Coppens, P., & Potagas, C. (2013). Aphasia and related neurogenic communication disorders. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Speech and Hearing Science

Ball, M., & Muller, N. (2005). Phonetics for communication disorders. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum.
- You may wish to look at chapters 1-9 alongside your learning on your Speech and Hearing Science module, particularly if you have never studied linguistics before.
Maltby, M. T., & Knight, P. (2000). Audiology: an introduction for teachers and other professionals. London: David Fulton.

Child Language/Lifespan and Language Development

Berk, L (2005). Child development. 7^th ed. Boston, Mass.: Allyn & Bacon

OR:

Bee, H., & Boyd, D. (2010). The developing child. 12^th ed. Boston, Mass.; London: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

Either of these books will be good for reference. Both provide detailed information about child development, useful throughout the course and clinical practice. Earlier editions are still useful, if you do find a second hand copy.

Other useful references

Martin, G. N. and Carlson, Neil R. (2019) Psychology. Sixth edition. Harlow, England: Pearson.
- This is an excellent contemporary overview which you will find especially useful if you have not studied A level psychology, specifically chapters 5-12.
Pinker, S. (2000). The language instinct. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
- A broad-based discussion of theories of language development, by a famous psychologist.

Key documents for SLTs

You may wish to familiarise yourself with some key documents for SLTs. We don’t recommend that you read these in detail, but it would be useful for you to recognise the importance of these, and know where to find them.

The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) regulate our profession and provide us with standards to work by:

Health and Care Professions Council (2023) Standards of Proficiency - Speech and Language Therapists. London: HCPC Speech and language therapists

Health and Care Professions Council (2016) Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics. London: HCPC HCPC Revised Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics

Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists membership

We would strongly encourage you to join the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists as a student member on starting your course. This is our professional body, representing us as SLTs. As a student, you will find lots of very useful information and it will help you to feel a part of this wonderful profession!

Membership for students is now free. You can find out more in the RCSLT membership pages