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Abstract: Ask that a February 2000 policy summary prepared by National Office personnel be reviewed and revised, and that it then be forwarded to Legislative Council for approval
RESOLVED, That the Executive Board direct appropriate personnel at the National Office to review the February, 2000 document "Policy Summary on the Role of Speech-Language Pathologists in Audiologic Screening" and work with the Audiology/Hearing Science Assembly to revise this document in accordance with present ASHA policy documents as well as the contents and conclusions of the subcommittee report presented to the A/HS Assembly in November, 2000, and further
RESOLVED, That the revised Policy Summary be forwarded to the Legislative Council for approval.
RATIONALE: Based on concerns expressed by ASHA members on the February, 2000 document "Policy Summary on the role of Speech-Language Pathologists in Audiologic Screening" prepared by National Office staff and disseminated to ASHA membership on request, a subcommittee of the Audiology/Hearing Science Assembly was appointed in March, 2000 to review all relevant policy documents and determine if this policy summary was consistent with them. This subcommittee orally reported its findings and recommendations to the A/HS Assembly in November, 2000. The written report was sent to all 2000 and 2001 members of the A/HS Assembly in January and will be discussed further at their March/April 2001 meeting. Because the extant policy summary and the conclusions of the subcommittee differ in one area covered by the policy summary, a reconciliation of these two interpretations is needed.
In keeping with LC 21-2000, the revised policy summary must be forwarded to Legislative Council for approval prior to dissemination to ASHA members or their extended constituencies.
OUTCOME(S): Policy summaries serve a vital function as concise statements of Association policy on specific issues. Members frequently ask National Office personnel for such statements rather than consulting the primary policy documents themselves (Scopes of Practice, Preferred Practice Patterns, Code of Ethics, Guidelines, Position Statements, etc.). As one example, the A/HS Assembly subcommittee evaluated 19 ASHA documents which related directly to this policy summary. The Legislative Council has the responsibility to approve policy summaries issued from November, 2000 on. In cases in which there are disagreements on the accuracy of policy documents issued prior to this time, it is in the interest of our members and the Association to review the documents of concern, revise them if indicated, and route them to Legislative Council for approval.
BUDGET IMPACT: It is assumed that all review and conferencing can be carried out by electronic means (email, fax or telephone) or snail mail thus expenses can be kept to a minimum.
PROGRAMMATIC IMPACT: Approval of this resolution will require the Legislative Council to be responsible for the accuracy of an important policy summary which is widely used by our members. Failure to approve this resolution will continue to require policy interpretation by National Office staff, in this case, a policy interpretion which is disputed.
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