Connecticut State Characteristics of Licensure Law

Last updated April 2008

The information below is collected from state licensure boards or regulatory agencies responsible for regulating the professions of Speech-Language Pathology and/or Audiology. It is intended for informational use only, and should not be construed as legal advice.

Contact the state's licensure board or regulatory agency for exact licensure, certification, or registration requirements in your jurisdiction.

Initial Licensure Requirements

Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology

Master's or doctorate degree in speech and language pathology or audiology from a program accredited, at the time of the applicant's graduation, by the educational standards board of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association or such successor organization as may be approved by the department or an integrated educational program which, at the time of the applicant's completion, satisfied the requirements for an award of a certificate of clinical competence
Completion of a Supervised Professional Experience: a minimum of 36 weeks and 1,080 hours of full-time or a minimum of 48 weeks and 1,440 hours of part-time employment under the supervision of a licensed speech-language pathologist or audiologist. The supervision period shall consist of 6 sessions of supervision per month providing a total of at least 4 hours of supervision/month. At least 2 sessions shall total 2 hours of direct on-site observation of services delivered by the candidate
Candidates for dual license must complete two separate and appropriate SPE's
Passage of a written NTE Specialty Area Test examination (scaled score 600).

Exemptions

Students, properly identified as either speech-language pathology or audiology trainees or interns, provided such activities constitute a part of his/her supervised course of study
Persons not licensed from consulting or sharing their research findings or offering lectures to the public for a fee
Nurses
Physicians
Other personnel engaged in screening and audiometric testing under the supervision of a physician or audiologist
Hearing aid dealers
The use of supervised support personnel to assist licensed speech-language pathologists with tasks that are (i) designed by the licensed speech-language pathologist being assisted; (ii) routine; and (iii) related to maintenance of assistive and prosthetic devices, recording, and charting or implementation of evaluation of intervention plans
A person who is licensed or certified as a speech pathologist or audiologist in another state, U.S. territory, or foreign province whose standards are equivalent to or higher than Connecticut requirements may offer their services in state for a total of not more than 30 days in any calendar year
A person from another state may offer speech-language pathology or audiology services provided such person meets requirements for state licensure and services are performed for no more than 5 days in any calendar year.

Reciprocity/Endorsement

The commissioner may waive the written examination for persons licensed in another state with equivalent requirements or for those individuals who hold a certificate from a national professional organization, approved by the commissioner, in speech pathology or audiology.
The department may accept equivalent supervised professional employment period undertaken in another state or may accept professional employment of equivalent duration in another state provided the applicant met the educational requirements and was licensed or held a certificate from a national professional organization at the time of employment.

Interim Practice/Temporary Licensure

N/A

Continuing Education for Licensure Renewal

N/A

Hearing Aid Dispensing

Audiologists who are not separately licensed as a hearing instrument specialist must present evidence of completion of 6 semester hours of coursework regarding the selection and fitting of hearing aids at an institution accredited by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association or such successor organization as may be approved by the department or have passed the written section of the examination required by this section for licensure as a hearing aid dealer.

Support Personnel

The licensed speech-language pathologist may not supervise more than three support personnel.
In-person communication between the licensed speech-language pathologist and support personnel must be available at all times.
The licensed speech-language pathologist must provide the support personnel with regularly scheduled direct observation, guidance, direction, and conferencing for not less than 30% of client contact time for the support personnel's first 90 workdays and not less than 20% of client contact time thereafter.