|
The ACE (Award for Continuing Education) was set up to recognize professionals who hold ASHA's Certificate of Clinical Competence, or are ASHA members, and who demonstrate a commitment to lifelong learning by earning 7.0 ASHA CEUs within a 36-month period. The voluntary program offers several benefits, including the purchase of an optional ACE certificate, a listing of the recipient's name on the ASHA web site, and notification to the appropriate state association for publication. ACE recipients are eligible for a discount on their malpractice insurance through ASHA. Some individuals have received the ACE as many as 24 times. To date, 18,529 individuals have received 38,192 ACE Awards. Two ACE recipients, Virginia Berry and Anita Halper, are highlighted below.
Virginia Berry, who served as a member of the Continuing Education Board from 2001-2003, is a longtime user of the ASHA CE Registry. She received her masters in audiology from Vanderbilt University and currently serves as assistant professor of audiology at the University of Southern Mississippi-Hattiesburg. In addition, she co-teaches educational rehabilitative audiology to undergraduate and graduate students for the only Deaf Education program in Mississippi. Berry also supervises graduate students in their practicum.
Berry, who has been awarded 11 ACE Awards, attributes her pursuit of continuing education to the drastic changes in the scope of practice in audiology. Tremendous growth in the technology used in the field has occurred during her tenure. Berry said the area of computerized assessment of children birth to age 3 is her current interest.
Anita Halper, a 2002 recipient of the ASHA Honors, has received 22 ACE Awards. As senior education program manager at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago Academy (RIOC), she develops and implements continuing education courses for SLPs, as well as interdisciplinary courses targeted to include physicians, nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, and social workers.
Halper's duties include overseeing RIOC's Observership Program, books and publications, and distance learning courses. She is currently involved in research in the area of aphasia. Halper says she is highly motivated to further her learning, especially in the area of neurogenic communication disorders, including theory, diagnosis, interventions and cutting edge research, so that she may better perform her various jobs.
|