Policies

On Friday, August 26, 2022, the Board voted to withdraw the proposed rule requiring audiometric screenings as part of all speech-language evaluations. It was determined that unintentional barriers to care would be created with enacting this rule. Moving forward the Board will work to create educational reminders for licensees of best practices with regard to hearing screenings that are in line with the intended purpose of the rule. These will be posted on the Board’s website in the near future. The Board appreciates the feedback that was received during the rule making process from numerous licensees who work in various practice settings. The announcement about this can be viewed here.

The Board interprets the word “supervision” used in G.S. 90-295(3) to require that the supervision must be performed by a person who holds either a valid license under this Article or a Certificate of Clinical Competence of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, in the area for which supervised credit is sought. As a minimum standard of supervision, clinical supervisors who are physically present in the same facility and accessible to the student during the performance of the practicum must directly observe at least 50 percent of each evaluation session, including screening and identification activities, and at least 25 percent of each student’s total contact time with each client. As a minimum standard of supervision of students through telesupervision, the supervisor must be simultaneously virtually available by virtual session and accessible to the student 100 percent of the time for each evaluation session and must directly observe at least 50 percent of each evaluation session, including screening and identification activities, and at least 25 percent of each student’s total contact time with each client.

In addition to the current pathways to be registered as a Speech Language Pathology Assistant the Board will now offer a temporary registration option for those completing 100 hours of supervised Clinical Fieldwork for applicants meeting degree and coursework requirements. The applicant will need to take and pass the Jurisprudence Exam, complete the Speech Language Pathology Assistant Application, submit their official transcript conferring their degree, and submit a temporary registration packet with their potential supervisor. Upon receipt and approval of these items the applicant will be issued a temporary registration under the license of the supervising licensed speech language pathologist for up to 120 days. The 100 hours of Clinical Field work hours may not include observation hours and should be comprised of at least 80% direct patient/client services, with the remaining hours to be indirect patient/ client services. All Clinical field work is to be supervised by the temporary registrant’s primary supervisor. The 120-day registration may not be extended. Once the applicant has provided the Board with proof of completion of their Clinical field work requirement and a passing score on one of the Board approved Speech Language Pathology Assistant Exams the applicant is eligible to be registered as a Speech Language Pathology Assistant.

The policy requiring that supervisors be within 50 miles of the SLP-Assistant during the workday was/is temporarily relaxed during the period of the COVID-19 crisis. Effective April 10, 2020.

On May 14, 2021, the Board voted to repeal the previous policy requiring supervisors to be within 50 miles of the SLP-Assistant during the workday.