Maryland State Characteristics of Licensure Law

The information below is collected from state licensure boards or regulatory agencies responsible for regulating the professions of SLP and/or AUD. 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

Audiologists

1. Master's degree or equivalent from an institution approved by the Board and have completed the period of supervised postgraduate training or hold a doctoral degree from an educational institution that incorporates academic coursework and the minimum hours of supervised training
2. Passage of an examination (the Board may supplement the written examination with an oral examination)

Speech-Language Pathologists

1. Master's degree or equivalent
2. Supervised postgraduate professional practice
3. Passage of an examination

Note: For audiologists and speech-language pathologists, to qualify for an equivalency to a master's degree the applicant must:

• Have a bachelor's degree
• Show evidence of 36 post baccalaureate semester hours acceptable towards a master's degree, including 30 hours in speech-language pathology, audiology, or speech-language and hearing science, a minimum of 21 hours obtained from a single college or university, and not more than 6 semester hours for clinical practicum
• Show evidence that the applicant has met the Board's requirements for an academic clinical practicum at the time the coursework was taken

Exemptions

1. Federal employees
2. Students or trainees
3. Volunteers working in free speech and hearing screening programs
4. Hearing aid fitters
5. Physicians
6. Employees of public or state schools providing speech-language pathology services only

Reciprocity

1. The Board may waive any of the qualifications for licensure to an individual who holds the CCC.
2. The Board may waive the examination requirement to an applicant who meets the qualifications otherwise required by this title and is licensed in another state with equivalent standards.

Interim Practice/Temporary Licensure

1. The Board may allow an individual licensed in another state to practice in Maryland if the individual has recently become a Maryland resident and the individual has an application for license pending before the Board.
2. The Board may issue a limited license to individuals who meet the license requirements except for the examination and supervised postgraduate professional practice.

Continuing Education for License Renewal

20 CEUs per 2-year renewal cycle; continuing education credits may not be carried over from one renewal cycle to another; no more than 25% of the 20 CEUs may be obtained through self-study.

Hearing Aid Dispensing

Audiologists may dispense under an audiology license.

Support Personnel

1. A speech-language pathology assistant must have completed one of the following requirements within the past 5 years: (a) an associate's degree from an approved program for speech-language pathology assistants at an accredited institution; (b) an associate's degree in an allied health field from an accredited institution, with minimum coursework that includes at least 3 credit hours in each of the following areas-normal speech-language development, speech disorders, anatomy and physiology of speech systems, language disorders and phonology; (c) a baccalaureate degree in speech-language pathology or communication science disorders from an accredited institution.
2. A speech-language pathology assistant must demonstrate completion of at least 25 hours of clinical observation and 75 hours of clinical assisting experience obtained within an educational institution or in one of the educational institution's cooperating programs. If an applicant has not completed these hours, the applicant may file with the Board a written plan for an alternative method to obtain the hours.
3. A full-time supervising speech-language pathologist may not supervise more than the equivalent of two full-time speech-language pathology assistants. A part-time supervising speech-language pathologist may not supervise more than the equivalent of one full time speech-language pathology assistant. A supervising speech-language pathologist must have a minimum of 3 years of work experience and maintain ongoing contact with all clients seen by a speech-language assistant by participating in at least one in every five sessions, or not less than one in-person contact a month per client.
4. Speech-language pathology assistants must complete a minimum of 10 CEUs every 2 years to renew their license. Five of the CEUs must be in the area of clinical practice and five CEUs must be in work-related areas.

Note

• The abbreviation SLP or SP stands for Speech Language Pathology or Pathologist, as appropriate, the abbreviation AUD stands for Audiology or Audiologist, as appropriate, and the abbreviation HAD stands for Hearing Aid Dealer.
• All jurisdictions require applicants to achieve a passing score on a national exam, and all but Nevada, North Dakota, and Virginia require applicants to complete a post graduate professional experience requirement.
• The term "clinical fellow," used throughout, means a person completing the post graduate professional experience requirement.

Questions concerning data contained in this document can be addressed by calling 800-498-2071 and asking to speak to someone on the State Policy Team.