Francis Eppes Professor of Communication Disorders
Adjunct Faculty, College of Medicine
Associate Faculty, Program in Neuroscience
Florida State University
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Medical Speech-Language Pathology

On Friday, March 23rd, 150 ASHA leaders visited their Senators and Representatives on Capitol Hill to lobby for Medicare supplier status for SLPs and other legislative priorities. Last year's visits by ASHA leadership resulted in over 110 co-sponsors for legislation important to ASHA members. This year, Senators Ensign (R-NV) and Landrieu (D-LA) had introduced supplier status legislation (S. 45). One immediate result of the leadership's Capitol Hill visits was the introduction of companion legislation in the House of Representatives, H.R. 1774, on March 29th. On Monday, April 2nd, another 40 ASHA members, who were attending the annual ASHA SLP conference on health care, visited their Senators and Representatives and asked them to cosponsor H.R.1774 and S.45.

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) has changed our Standards for the Certificate of Clinical Competence in Audiology and would like to inform previous CCC holders of this change.

Beginning the last week in April and for several weeks in May, more than 16 million weekly listeners of National Public Radio's (NPR) Morning Edition and Talk Of The Nation, will hear spots that mention ASHA, May's Better Hearing and Speech Month, and ASHA's web site. ASHA will also be featured prominently on the NPR Web site.

To prepare for the upcoming promotion, a special "landing page" on the ASHA Web site was developed. The page will provide easy access to information about the speech-language pathology and audiology professions, and topics related to the communication science.

The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), U.S. Department of Education (ED), has clarified a number of issues of importance to ASHA members who work in school settings. This will further aid members in the interpretation of the 2006 IDEA Part B final regulations that implement changes in the newly reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA 2004). This is in response to ASHA's November 2, 2006 letter to the U.S. Department of Education seeking clarification on the following topics:

The Maryland legislature unanimously approved SB340 and HB326 which require Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists to hold state licensure regardless of practice setting. The bills have not yet been signed by Governor O’Malley. ASHA strongly supports efforts by states to update their practice acts to reflect this emerging trend.  Currently, 12 states require school practitioners to comply with state licensure requirements and other states are pursuing similar legislation during the 2007 legislative sessions.  

The ASHA Legislative Council (LC) just finished their successful spring meeting held March 23-25, 2007 in Bethesda, MD. A special thank you goes to Julie Noel, Speaker of the Council and the Legislative Council Governing Board (LCGB) who planned the meeting. During its meeting, the Legislative Council adopted a new ASHA governance structure and process. The new governance model provides designated representation for audiologists and speech-language pathologists on a new Board of Directors and establishes an Audiology Advisory Council and a Speech-Language Pathology Advisory Council that will include 53 members in each Council. You will be hearing more about this change that will have an impact on ASHA’s future and how you can get involved. After the LC meeting, the Executive Board (EB) held a meeting. Following is a summary of the meeting.  Please let me know if you have any comments or questions. Have a great spring!!

Interested in raising money for a good cause?  Then mark your calendars for this important event!  This is a Sertoma Fundraiser.  The Sertoma Club raises money to support speech and hearing clinics with a special interest in children.  The Ear Foundation is one of our main contributors.