Starting with the 2024-2025 calendar, the Linguistics PCD concentration is now officially known as “Psycholinguistics and Communication Differences.” This replaces the previous name “Psycholinguistics and Communication Disorders.”
Tamara Sorenson Duncan, coordinator of the SLP practicum and instructor of Communication Differences and Disabilities I & II, explains the reason behind this change:
“For many members of the Neurodiversity and Deaf communities, communication differences are understood as differences and not disabilities. Further, advocates clearly teach us that these differences are considered fundamentally part of an individual’s identity. Following from this, we have updated the name of our program to better reflect our continued commitment to respectful consideration of topics in the field of communication differences.”
Students who enrolled in the concentration under the previous name can change to the new name by submitting a Change of Program Elements (COPE) in Carleton Central, and selecting the Honours B.A. or B.Sc. in Linguistics with a Concentration in Psycholinguistics and Communication Differences. The required courses are unchanged.
New students will automatically be enrolled in the concentration using the new name. If you might be interested, check out the requirements here.
Questions about the concentration should be directed to the undergraduate advisor (Karen Jesney at karen.jesney@carleton.ca) or the undergraduate administrator (Kimberley Seguin at kimberley.seguin@carleton.ca).