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A Process for Identifying ASHA Priorities
- Members of the Legislative Council will be elected by the American Speech- Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) members in each state.
- Each member of the Legislative Council will identify him or herself as an audiologist/ hearing scientist or as a speech-language pathologist/speech or language scientist enabling each to vote in either the Audiology/Hearing Science Assembly or the Speech- Language Pathology/Speech or Language Science Assembly on issues specific to the practice of that professional area. The number of Legislative Council members in each Assembly will be determined by the number of audiologists/hearing scientists and speech-language pathologists/speech or language scientists elected to the Legislative Council who self-select the Assembly with which they want to be affiliated. Clearly, the Audiology/Hearing Science Assembly will be smaller than the Speech-Language Pathology/Speech or Language Science Assembly.
- Each Assembly will elect a Coordinator and an Associate Coordinator for that Assembly.
- The leadership of the Legislative Council (Chair of Council, Assembly Coordinators and Associate Coordinators, and the floor managers) would, via National Office (NO) staff assigned to work with the Legislative Council, send a formal request to the members via an ASHA communication vehicle and to each of the special interest divisions, ASHA committees and boards, state associations, Allied and Related Professional Organizations, and any other advisory groups that may be established asking them to identify critical member needs in audiology; speech-language pathology; speech, language, or hearing science; and issues related to the Association in general that need to be considered for action by ASHA. Members of the Council would be responsible for obtaining information on member needs from their ASHA members in their state.
- Responses would be returned to National Office staff, who will prepare comprehensive reports, one in audiology/hearing science, one in speech-language pathology/speech or language science, and one on Association issues related to membership needs and indicating the area of the discipline it related to, the segment of the membership affected, and other cross references as determined by the Legislative Council. The reports would be submitted to the Council for discussion.
- During the face-to-face meeting, members of the Legislative Council may decide to establish a caucus to discuss issues related to identified needs. For example, Council members interested in science and research issues, employed in the public schools, concerned about multicultural issues, or engaged in private practice may get together to discuss needs related to their specific areas of concern. Ideas, decisions, or recommendations from these caucuses would be presented to the entire Legislative Council or to the respective Assemblies.
- Following deliberative discussion of the needs specific to the professions, each Assembly will prepare a list of priorities for ASHA action that would be presented for consideration by all members of the Legislative Council.
- All members of the Legislative Council will enter into deliberative discussion on the list of priorities presented by each Assembly and on issues related to the Association in general. All members of the Council will vote on a final list of ranked priorities representing member needs and Association issues that will be submitted to the Executive Board for consideration.
- Upon receipt of the ranked priorities from the Legislative Council, the Executive Board will review the list and, based on the funds and other resources available, will derive the annual and multiyear priorities that will be acted on during a 1 to 3-year period. The final list of priorities selected by the Board will be shared with the Council.
NOTE: Ongoing Association programs, services, and operations carried out by the National Office such as maintaining the certification and accreditation program, lobbying on issues of importance to members, producing the Association's journals, providing professional practice consultation, and other infrastructure activities do not need to be identified as a priority unless there is something about the activity that elevates it beyond the day-to-day implementation.
- The Executive Board will forward the list of annual and multiyear priorities along with any recommendations for specific outcomes and implementation strategies, to the Executive Director. The Executive Director would have staff develop a work plan for each of the priorities that will include the specific strategies that will be implemented by staff to achieve the desired outcome. Each strategy will indicate when the activity will be completed, who will do it, the criterion or indicator for success, the evaluation procedure to determine progress made on completing the activity, and the budget and resources needed to complete the strategy. Each priority/outcome may have several strategies carried out by a variety of National Office staff, a special interest division, a committee or board, or a combination of entities internal and external to ASHA.
- The work plans for the priorities will be submitted to the Executive Board for review and the Executive Director will ensure that strategies included in the work plans are implemented.
- The Executive Director and the National Office staff will be responsible for making periodic progress reports to the Executive Board, and the Executive Board will be responsible for providing progress reports to the Legislative Council. The Council will be responsible for reporting to the members regarding accomplishments related to the priorities based on member needs.
- If the Executive Board determines that adequate progress is not being made in achieving the priority outcomes, the situation is discussed with the Executive Director. If the Legislative Council has concerns about progress being made on achieving the outcomes, Council members discuss the situation with the Executive Board.
Emergency Priorities
If the Legislative Council or Executive Board identifies an issue that needs immediate attention, the issue is considered by the Board, and, if action is to be taken, the Board informs the Council of the action to be taken and the rationale for dealing with the issue immediately. The Executive Director will have a work plan developed, and resources will be committed to implement the recommended strategies.
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