Supervision was recognized as a distinct area of practice with ASHA's adoption of a 1985 position statement, Clinical Supervision in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology. This position statement provided a detailed list of tasks and competencies for supervisors; although the competencies have not been validated, this list offered a base for future exploration into the intricacies of supervision (McCrea & Brasseur, 2003).
New Position Statement
Due to the increasing data from studies on supervision, advances in technology, and a greater understanding of the interpersonal factors in the supervisory process, an ad hoc Committee on Supervision was formed in 2007 to review the 1985 position statement and develop new documents on supervision in speech-language pathology.
The new position statement, Clinical Supervision in Speech-Language Pathology (ASHA, 2008a), affirms the role of supervision within the profession and reaffirms that supervision is a distinct area of practice in the profession. The companion document, Knowledge and Skills Needed by Speech-Language Pathologists Providing Clinical Supervision (ASHA, 2008c), delineates areas of competence necessary to provide quality supervision.
Technical Report
The technical report (ASHA, 2008b) that accompanies both of these documents highlights key principles and issues that reflect the importance and the highly skilled nature of providing exemplary supervision. This report addresses supervision across the spectrum of supervisees; supervision of support personnel is covered in a separate position statement, guidelines, and knowledge and skills document on this topic (ASHA, 2002, 2004a, 2004b).
Although the principles of supervision are common to both speech-language pathology and audiology, the updated documents address only speech-language pathology because of differences in pre-service education and practice between the two professions. All of these supervision documents are available at ASHA's Practice Policy.
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