New Specialty Receives Stage 1 Approval
The Council for Clinical Specialty Recognition (CCSR) has approved the Stage 1 application for specialty recognition submitted by the Audiology Neurophysiological Intraoperative Monitoring Board.
Specialty recognition is a means by which audiologists or speech-language pathologists with advanced knowledge, skills, and experience beyond the Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC-A or CCC-SLP) can be recognized by consumers, colleagues, referral and payer sources, and the general public.
ASHA initiated the specialty recognition program in 1995. To date, three areas of clinical practice have established specialty boards and are available for application for specialty recognition: child language, fluency disorders, and swallowing and swallowing disorders.
The CCSR reviews and votes on petitions to establish specialty boards in specific areas of clinical practice. The Stage 1 application is the first step in obtaining recognition of an area of practice as a specialty area and in developing mechanisms to grant specialist status to qualified persons. The approved specialty board is then responsible for reviewing applications and conferring specialist status on qualified applicants. The CCSR monitors the specialty boards’ adherence to their approved programs.
The purpose of Stage 1 of the application process is to define clearly the specialty area, define the population of consumers, and demonstrate that the petitioning group is composed of practitioners who provide service in this area. Approval of this stage grants the petitioning group exclusive rights, for 18 months, to proceed with Stage 2 of the application, which details the plan for verifying that individuals meet the specified requirements for advanced knowledge, skills, and experience to be recognized as specialists in the proposed specialty area.
Comments from interested parties may be submitted between May 1 and June 1. Comments should be directed to the Council for Clinical Specialty Recognition at gmcmann@asha.org.
Read more information about establishing a specialty board in an area of practice.