LC SLP/SLS 12-2003

Abstract: Approve “Speech-Language Pathologists Training and Supervising Other Professionals in the Delivery of Services to Individuals With Swallowing and Feeding Disorders: Position Statement.”

RESOLVED, That “Speech-Language Pathologists Training and Supervising Other Professionals in the Delivery of Services to Individuals With Swallowing and Feeding Disorders: Position Statement” be approved as ASHA policy; and further

RESOLVED, That “Speech-Language Pathologists Training and Supervising Other Professionals in the Delivery of Services to Individuals With Swallowing and Feeding Disorders: Position Statement” be published in the next annual supplement to The ASHA Leader and that it be posted on the ASHA Web site, be made available upon request from the ASHA Action Center, and be included in the next revision of the ASHA Desk Reference.

Rationale: This position statement is part of an action plan approved by the Executive Board in 2002.  The action plan was developed in response to concerns raised by members of Special Interest Division 13, Swallowing and Swallowing Disorders (Dysphagia) and other speech-language pathologists (SLPs) that they were being asked to train or supervise other professionals in the delivery of dysphagia services.  SLPs had contacted members of the Division’s Steering Committee or ASHA staff asking for a policy that would guide them in dealing with such requests.  Members described situations in which they were being required by management to supervise or train non-SLP professionals who had received cursory inservice training in dysphagia before being expected to treat patients independently.  Members expressed ethical concerns about the well-being of the patient, as well as their own potential liability for the actions of individuals they had trained.  Although ASHA’s position statement on Multiskilled Personnel (1997) explicitly states that cross-training of professional skills is inappropriate, it was determined that a position statement supported by a technical report would help to further clarify and give additional weight to this specific area of intervention, given the inherent risks in working with this population.