License Requirements & Scope of Practice

The goal of an SLP is to “optimize an individuals’ ability to communicate and swallow, thereby improving quality of life”. SLPs work in various settings/locations (e.g., schools, universities, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, behavioral/mental facilities, research facilities, corporate and industrial). We graduate with the knowledge to work with varying aspects of communication and swallowing:

• speech sound production (i.e., Apraxia, Dysarthria)
• resonance (i.e., respiration, nasality)
• voice (i.e., pitch, loudness)
• fluency (i.e., stuttering)
• language (i.e., understanding, expression, reading, writing)
• cognition (i.e., attention, memory, sequencing, problem solving)
• feeding and swallowing

We engage in clinical services, prevention, advocacy, education, administration, and research in the areas of communication and swallowing across the life span from infancy through geriatrics.

Some well known causes of communication and swallowing disorders are:

• Premature births, low birth weight, fetal exposure to substance (Neonatal problems)
• Developmental disabilities (e.g., autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder)
• Genetic disorders (e.g., Down syndrome, fragile X syndrome, Rett syndrome)
• Hearing loss or deafness
• Neurological disease/dysfunction (e.g., traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, cerebral vascular accident also known as a stroke, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• Psychiatric disorder (e.g., psychosis, schizophrenia)
• Oral anomalies (e.g., cleft lip/palate, macroglossia, oral-motor dysfunction)

Qualifications required for a license and certification: a master’s, pass the Praxis, and complete a Clinical Fellowship under the supervision of a certified SLP. In order to maintain our license and certification we are required to continue our education through professional development (i.e., workshops, courses). In some instances additional certification is required. For example, as I have mentioned in my other blogs, I will be working with bilingual clients. Therefore, I am required to complete specific coursework and work experience in that area. SLPs that work in schools and hospitals also are required to have additional coursework and experience. New York State requires that school based SLPs also hold a teacher’s license.

Information obtained and cited from: ASHA on Sept. 17, 2012