This year's State Policy Workshop was held in Little Rock, Arkansas, May 17-18. State association leaders, administrative staff, and special education consultants from 34 states participated in one and a half days of meetings with ASHA leadership and staff. Topics in this year's agenda included: ASHA's Public Policy Agenda, reimbursement, early hearing detection and intervention, ASHA and membership, Medicaid funding, and a train-the-trainer session on grassroots advocacy. The Workshop concluded with the always popular roundtables. Roundtable topics this year were strategies for healthcare shortages in speech-language pathology, shortages and funding in university settings, and personnel issues in schools.
Immediately following the workshop was the Council of State Association Presidents meeting. During this meeting, the first Nancy McKinley Award was presented to Dr. Vicki Lord Larson of Wisconsin. This award was intended to recognize a member of a speech-language and hearing association for their exemplary contributions to their speech and hearing association. The award consists of a $1,000 check to the state speech and hearing association of the award recipient and a certificate or a plaque in acknowledgement of the award.
The 2008 State Policy Workshop will be held in Saratoga Springs, New York. For more information, please contact Eileen Crowe, ASHA's Director of State Association Relations, by e-mail at ecrowe@asha.org or by phone at 800-498-2071, ext. 4221.
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