2026 Resolutions and Motions

RESOLVED, That the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Board of Directors (BOD) approve the formation of a task force to review and update the Scope of Practice in Speech-Language Pathology (hereafter, SLP Scope of Practice). This task force will be charged with (a) reviewing the current scope of practice to identify areas that need updating, revision, clarification, or deletion; (b) seeking feedback from members, certificate holders, and related professionals about possible changes to the SLP Scope of Practice; and (c) considering the impact of information obtained from multiple ASHA and external resources to inform trends related to the SLP Scope of Practice; and further

RESOLVED, That this proposed newly formed SLP Scope of Practice Task Force (hereafter, “Task Force”) comprise ASHA member volunteers who have been selected from a pool of self-nominations—including one Chair and 12 members appointed by the Committee on Committees representing (a) major practice settings (schools, health care, and private practice) and (b) general and specialized speech-language pathology areas (e.g., dysphagia, child language, fluency, voice), and further

RESOLVED, That the Task Force members serve a 2-year term, starting January 1, 2026, and extending through December 31, 2027; and further

RESOLVED, That two individuals—the ASHA Vice President for Speech-Language Pathology Practice and the ASHA Vice President for Standards and Ethics in Speech-Language Pathology—serve as BOD liaisons; and further

RESOLVED, That the staff members of the Task Force, including the ex officio, be appointed by the Chief Executive Officer; and further

RESOLVED, That ASHA provide for travel and per diem expenses for the Task Force appointees to support their attendance at two 2-day, in-person meetings at the ASHA National Office (one in 2026 and one in 2027) to establish and implement a work plan, which includes roles and responsibilities and scope of work to accomplish the aims of the Task Force, and that the Task Force hold regular meetings virtually; and further

RESOLVED, That the Task Force completes its work and submits the revised SLP Scope of Practice to the BOD no later than December 31, 2027

Approved: 11–0

RESOLVED, That BOD 38-2016 be rescinded; and further

RESOLVED, That the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Board of Directors (BOD) approve the revision of the composition of the Financial Planning Board (FPB) as indicated below (deletions indicated by strikeout; additions in red):

RESOLVED, That the Financial Planning Board (FPB) comprise eight (8) voting ASHA members appointed by the Committee on Committees (CoC), one (1) non-voting Vice President for Finance National Student Speech Language Hearing Association (National NSSLHA) member to be appointed by the NSSLHA Executive Council for a term designated by the NSSLHA council, and one voting public member appointed by the CoC. Additionally, the ASHA BOD President, Vice President for Finance, Vice President for Planning, President Elect, and CEO shall be non-voting members.

Approved: 12–0

RESOLVED, That ASHA-certified assistants be added to the following committees for a 2-year pilot period beginning on 1/1/2027:

• Committee of Ambassadors (2 Certified Audiology Assistants [C-AA] and 2 Certified Speech-Language Pathology Assistants [C-SLPA])
• Government Affairs and Public Policy Board (1 C-AA and 1 C-SLPA)
• Multicultural Issues Board (1 C-AA and 1 C-SLPA)
• School Finance Committee (1 C-AA and 1 C-SLPA)
• Speech-Language Pathology School Issues Advisory Board (1 C-SLPA);

RESOLVED, That funding be provided to support their full participation in these committee activities; and further

RESOLVED, That in the last 3 months of the 2-year pilot committee, chairs and ex-officios will (a) evaluate the effectiveness and value of assistants’ contributions to their committee charge and (b) recommend if their committee’s composition should be modified to include certified assistants as standing positions and further

RESOLVED, That during the pilot program, assistants would not be eligible for officer positions on the respective committees

Approved: 10–0

MOVED, That the Board of Directors appoint Dr. James Henry, PhD and Dr. Tricia Scaglione, AuD, MBA, CCC-A, DFAAA, FNAP, ABAC, CH-TM, CH-AP to represent ASHA in the external peer review of the AAO-HNS Clinical Practice Guideline on Tinnitus prior to publication.

Approved: 13–0

MOVED, That the Board of Directors nominates Dr. Theresa Schulz, PhD, CCC-A to represent ASHA for participation with AAO-HNS as an audiologist expert in the development of a consensus statement related to noise-induced hearing loss.

Approved: 10–0

MOVED, That the Board of Directors nominates Dr. Lucy Woerfel Reising, AuD, CCC-A to represent ASHA for participation with AAO-HNS as an audiologist expert in the development of a new Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) focused on Pediatric Hearing Loss.

Approved: 9–0

MOVED, That the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s Board of Directors rescind the following practice policy documents and retain them in ASHA’s archives.

Approved: 12–0