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Headlines | Featured Question | Maintaining ASHA Certification
Earn CEUs | Shop Online

Access Schools addresses the specific needs of school-based speech-language pathologists. We hope this bimonthly update during the school year is informative, practical, and easy to use. This e-newsletter is designed to inform you of upcoming events and current trends to help you succeed in the schools. ASHA...working to keep you connected.

Headlines

• Breaking News -IDEA Reauthorized!
  On December 3, 2004, President Bush signed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004. School-based speech-language pathologists and audiologists will be particularly interested in provisions related to personnel qualifications, paperwork reduction, modifications to Individualized Education Programs (IEP), changes to the identification of children with specific learning disabilities, and new early intervening services. ASHA is conducting a comprehensive review of the Act which will be made available to members as soon as possible. Get a brief analysis of the new provisions and significant changes.

• New Secretary of Education Nominated
  President Bush has nominated Margaret Spellings to be the next Secretary of Education. If confirmed, she will succeed Education Secretary Rod Paige who resigned on November 15, 2004. Spellings currently serves as the White House chief domestic officer and was one of six authors of the education law, the No Child Left Behind Act. Prior to her White House appointment, Ms. Spellings worked for six years as Governor George W. Bush's senior advisor with responsibility for developing and implementing the Governor's education policy.
  

• Schools Forum Success in Philadelphia!
  More than 400 school-based members attended the Schools Forum at the ASHA Convention. Presentations featured ASHA's Executive Board speaking about ASHA's 2004 and 2005 Focused Initiatives, key issues for school-based members, and updates on IDEA reauthorization, and workload successes, as well as other key issues. In addition, former ASHA President, Nancy Creaghead described ASHA's literacy resources and initiatives. Round table discussions followed. Workload, eligibility, IDEA and services for adolescents were among the most popular table topics.

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Featured Question - When should I use a translator and how do I effectively work with them?

ASHA's position statement, Clinical Management of Communicatively Handicapped Minority Language Populations: 1984 (members only) [PDF] discusses appropriate use of translators and interpreters. Read this document to learn more about working with bilingual students who are limited in both languages.

Related Resources:

• Speech-Language Pathology in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Populations - learn about assessment and intervention with culturally and linguistically diverse students.
• Serving Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Populations - There are a wide variety of culturally and linguistically diverse populations in the United States. Speech-language pathologists and audiologists are expected to be skilled in working with all of these populations. It is important to be aware of the cultural/linguistic background of your client in order to provide appropriate services.
• Communication Difference vs. Disorder – In the school setting proper diagnosis and identification are essential for students who have communication differences vs. those who have a disorder.
• Acquiring English as a Second Language: What's Normal and What's Not - Find out more about the typical patterns of second language learning and how that may influence the child in the classroom.
• Are you culturally competent? - Use this self-help tool to determine your level of cultural competence.
• Are you looking for a great parent resource? - Check out a new bilingual Web site in Spanish and English. It has a host of downloadable tip sheets and other material, especially developed for parents whose first language is Spanish, to help them support the literacy development of their children. Colorin Colorado is a service of the Reading Rockets project from WETA in Washington, D.C. WETA is a literacy partner of ASHA.

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Maintaining ASHA Certification

Beginning in 2005, speech-language pathologists will be required to earn 30 hours of professional development every 3 years. Read ASHA's Certification Maintenance Guidelines.

Not an ASHA Member? Find out about the benefits of membership enjoyed by over 115,000 Communication Sciences Disorder professionals, and consider applying today.

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Earn CEUs

Live and self-study programs offered in a wide variety of formats and subject matter.

Online Learning

Self Study

• Working With Interpreters to Serve Bilingual Children and Families
  2 hour videotape and manual. Earn 0.2 ASHA CEUs (expire 10/2005).
• Toward an Understanding of Literacy Issues in Multicultural School-Age Populations
  Reprint from LSHSS, January 2003. Earn 0.5 ASHA CEUs. (expire 8/2005).
• African American English: Structure and Clinical Implications
  Interactive CD-ROM and manual. Earn 0.4 ASHA CEUs (expire 5/2006).
• Assessment of Bilingual Learners: Language Difference or Disorder?
  3.5 hour videotape and manual. Earn 0.3 ASHA CEUs (expire 10/2006).
• Assessment and Treatment of Narrative Skills: What's the Story?
  4 hour video tape and manual Earn 0.4 ASHA CEUs.
• Phonological Awareness and Literacy Acquisition: Preschool to Adolescence
  3 hour video tape and manual Earn 0.3 ASHA CEUs.
• The Role of the Speech-Language Pathologist in Facilitating Emergent Literacy Skills
  2 hour audiotape and manual Earn 0.2 CEUs.
• Therapy Services in the Classroom: Creating Student Success (Web enhanced)
  Earn 0.2 CEUs.
• No Child Left Behind: What it Means for SLPs
  Instant replay of a recent telephone seminar Earn 0.2 CEUs.

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Shop Online

Browse and buy online, or call ASHA Product Sales at 1-888-498-6699.

• Accent Modification - Communication is a part of our everyday life and often accents prevent effective communication. This brochure provides an overview of accents and offers alternatives for accent modification or reduction.
  English - Item #0210348
• Learning Two Languages - Provides information on how children can learn to be bilingual, how to teach children more than one language, and what to expect as young children learn a new language. Includes guidelines for resources to help children be bilingual.
  English - Item #0112544
  Spanish - Item #0112545
• How Does Your Child Hear and Talk? - This chart shows how to evaluate a child's speech, language and hearing skills and helps to determine if professional help should be sought.
  English – Item #0210106
  Spanish – Item #0210107
  Chinese – Item #0210108
• Getting Ready for Reading and Writing – milestone chart for birth through age 5.
  Item #0112547 $9 members/$13 non-members
• Literacy and Communication: Expectations from Kindergarten through Fifth Grade
  Item #210339 Booklet pricing: 10/$6.00
• Accent Modification Manual, Materials and Activities – the strategies in this text provide the framework for the life-long process of modifying an accent.
  Item #0112641 ASHA member $60/non-member $70.95

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Next issue of Access Schools coming in January 2005!

Address comments and suggestions for future topics, information or resources to AccessSchools@asha.org.

ASHA Take Action | SLPs in Schools (a Member Benefit) | ASHA Online Journals | DIV 1 - Language Learning & Education | DIV 16 - School-Based Issues