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I started an eight-semester University of Virginia (UVA) M.Ed. program in fall 2003. ASHA's new (January 2006) standards resulted in three major changes in my class's program of study. In spring 2005 I completed my academic and UVA Clinical courses. My clinical placements would have taken me beyond the December 2005 old standards deadline.
In August 2005 the UVA speech-language pathology education staff obstructed my progress toward the SLP master's degree because "it was too much work" to figure out how to negotiate the new standards. The ASHA's standards' change appears to be a career-ending event.
I took comfort in the unalterable program of study of my first UVA degree and find shortening of a program while underway despicable. Not having a transition between standards is unprofessional and destructive.
Frank Scribner
Alexandria, VA
Editor's note: ASHA provided specific guidance on the new certification standards to academic programs throughout the transition period beginning in the late 1990s. The programs are responsible for making whatever curricular changes are needed to enable their students to meet state and national credentialing requirements and for informing their students of those changes and how they will impact student progress.
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