In an effort to attract more clinicians to its program, the Specialty Board on Fluency Disorders (SBFD) has streamlined the process for obtaining specialty recognition.
There are 3 million people who stutter in the United States, but most speech-language pathologists see few of them and have little opportunity to gain experience in fluency. Even though the specialty remains small—around 200 clinicians—specialized expertise is having an impact on stuttering treatment. A recent National Stuttering Association survey of people who stutter (NSA, 2009) showed that adults and children who worked with a board-recognized specialist were significantly more likely to consider their treatment successful. Children whose clinicians were specialists were less likely to avoid speaking situations and feel embarrassed about their stuttering.
Despite these positive results, however, most stuttering treatment is delivered by SLPs who have little training in fluency disorders. A 2007 survey of school-based SLPs found that 40% had not attended a workshop on stuttering since graduating from college and nearly half were not comfortable working with children who stutter. The majority of those surveyed were unfamiliar with current stuttering treatments and did not know how to contact a fluency specialist or stuttering support group (Tellis, Bressler, & Emerick, 2008).
Board-recognized specialists in fluency disorders (BRS-FD) have advanced training and clinical expertise. In addition to ASHA's Certificate of Clinical Competence, specialists must have:
At least two years of full-time clinical experience
100 hours of continuing education in fluency disorders
25 hours of observation
75 hours of supervised clinical practice with persons who stutter
A portfolio of clinical work to submit for approval by the specialty board.
To maintain their status, clinicians must earn 45 hours of continuing education in the area of fluency over a three-year period and maintain an active clinical practice in stuttering.
Nearly half of board-recognized specialists spend much of their time treating other speech and language disorders. An online SBFD survey of board-certified fluency specialists last year showed that specialists also serve as resources: nearly half teach at the university level, 78% help other SLPs with fluency issues, 68% present workshops or in-service training, and one-third are involved in research.
Streamlined Process
ASHA is reviewing the Clinical Specialty Recognition (CSR) program with the goal of enhancing the the CSR model in the discipline. In the interim, the SBFD has streamlined and clarified the requirements for recognition without diminishing the high standards required of specialists.
The streamlined approach features a new packet to help mentors guide candidates more effectively. In addition, candidates must submit only three five-minute clips to illustrate their treatment case studies and they may use videoconferencing to supplement live observations of more treatment sessions by experienced clinicians. The national written examination has been eliminated, and an online forum provides answers to questions from candidates in the specialty recognition process.
For more information, visit the Specialty Board on Fluency Disorders online.