ASHA Strategic Plan

Issue C

First Quarter Progress Report (January-March, 2006)

ISSUE C: A comprehensive scope of practice that includes all of the major components and new areas of practice in communication sciences and disorders enhances the visibility of the professions by consumers and stakeholders and their perceived value of the role of audiologists and speech-language pathologists.

1^st Quarter Highlights

Information was disseminated at the annual convention of the National Association of Elementary School Principals with emphasis on literacy, prevention, and workload.
A model brochure for distribution to other professionals that includes information related to ASHA's scope of practice and position statements has been developed. The model brochure is on ASHA's Position Statement on the Role of SLPs in Reading and Writing.
ASHA has reached an agreement with Energizer to sponsor a breakfast prior to one of the Audiology Keynote sessions at ASHA Convention in November 2006.
A new Let's Talk on emergent literacy has been developed.
Documents related to "under the direction of" were promoted to members via ASHA email lists and Web pages, Access Schools, and The ASHA Leader announcements and disseminated as part of the ASHA exhibit at the national convention of the National Association of Elementary School Principals.
Analysis of state licensing laws indicates that SLPs can provide early intervening services as indicated in IDEA under their scope of practice in all states. A few states can also assign such responsibility to minimally trained "early interventionists." State Advocacy and SLP Practices will update advocacy materials to assist members articulate why such a practice is inappropriate.
The DVD on Speech, Language, and Hearing Milestones: Birth to Age Five has been completed and is available for purchase by ASHA product Sales.
Emails have been sent to AG BELL, Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA), Deafness Research Foundation (DRF), Gallaudet, National Coalition on Auditory Processing Disorders (NCAPD) announcing the "Take Action" Web page on ASHA's Web site and discussing barriers to receiving financial assistance for hearing health care and the need to gain congress support for the hearing aid tax credit bill.
A survey on childhood hearing loss was conducted to determine why hearing aides available for children are underutilized. Survey data are being analyzed.
Four PowerPoint presentations have been developed on the role of the school-based speech-language pathologists and are posted on the Schools page of the ASHA Web site.
The Grant Program for Projects on Multicultural Activities funded the project "Talking Fotonovelas for Low Literacy Hispanic and African American Populations". Fotonovelas and print brochures related to the project have been disseminated.
Met with the president and lobbyist of the American Telemedicine Association to provide information on the role of the speech-language pathologist and audiologist related to telehealth/telepractice.
Submitted an article on telepractice related to speech-language pathology and audiology to the publication of the National Association on Home Care.
Articles about literacy partnerships were published in the January-March 2006 issue of Topics in Language Disorders.
ASHA was a sponsoring organization of the World Parkinson Conference and staffed an exhibit.