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(Rockville, MD-April 9, 2003) H.R.1350, the Improving Education Results for Children with Disabilities Act of 2003, creates a two-tiered system for related services professionals that would result in discrimination against children with disabilities, warns the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).
"I urge the committee to recognize the unintended consequences of this legislation on our nation’s schools and children with disabilities" stated Glenda Ochsner, President of ASHA.
"H.R. 1350, as amended, removes part of the current statute describing how states must maintain the "highest requirements" for personnel standards. We ask the committee to remedy this situation."
The state-defined and enforced standards actually describe the entry-level requirements for professionals and disciplines to practice in a state. Where health services are delivered under federal programs or agencies, such as Medicare, Medicaid, the Veterans Administration, or the Department of Defense (DoD), including DoD-operated schools, regulations would continue to require at minimum a graduate degree and may include additional specified professional education, hundreds of hours of supervised clinical practicum, and passage of a national examination.
In the nation’s schools, under H.R. 1350, children with special needs may receive services from personnel with temporary, provisional or emergency certification without specialized education, no practical experience and no clinical supervision.
In fact, local school districts may lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal Medicaid funds by switching to a lower personnel standard. This would further exacerbate the difficulties local school districts are experiencing, especially urban and rural districts. Since the federal government does not fully fund the 40% of its share of the costs of educating children with disabilities, the loss of Medicaid funds would be a devastating blow to local schools.
ASHA is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more than 109,000 audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists. Audiologists specialize in preventing and assessing hearing disorders as well as providing audiologic treatment including hearing aids. Speech-language pathologists identify, assess, and treat speech and language problems including swallowing disorders. For more information call Action Center at 1-800-638-8255.
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