Professional Development Requirements for Certification Maintenance of the ASHA CCC-A and CCC-SLP

For maintenance of the ASHA Certificate of Clinical Competence in Audiology (CCC-A) and Speech-Language Pathology (CCC-SLP), the Council for Certification in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (CFCC) has established professional development requirements under the 2020 audiology and speech-language pathology certification standards to foster lifelong learning in topics that go beyond the core academic knowledge requirements to enhance person-centered care. These requirements reflect the importance of remaining engaged with current topics and considerations that enhance professional practice within the field of communication sciences and disorders (CSD); they are not intended to infer that CSD professionals lack these knowledge and skills, but instead to show that ASHA professionals are committed to enhancing these skills throughout their career.

Cultural Competence, Cultural Humility, Culturally Responsive Practice, and/or Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (CC/DEI)

Effective: January 1, 2023

Who? All individuals who hold the CCC-A and/or CCC-SLP.

What? At least 2 of 30 required professional development hours for certification maintenance must be in CC/DEI.

When? Every certification maintenance interval beginning with certificate holders in the January 1, 2023–December 31, 2025, interval.

Why? The CFCC acknowledges the importance of lifelong learning about diverse cultures for ASHA-certified practicing clinicials. This learning includes ongoing training in cultural sensitivity for the purpose of best care for individuals with a variety of backgrounds, and for improved professional collaboration with students and colleagues from a variety of backgrounds and lived experiences. The broad scope of acceptable CC/DEI topics accommodates the needs of the clients/patients/students served and allows certificate holders to determine what topic areas will allow for the most impactful growth in their day-to-day practice.

Cultural competence: The knowledge and skill needed to address language and culture; this knowledge and skill evolves over time and spans lifelong learning.

Cultural humility: A lifelong commitment to engaging in self-evaluation and self-critique and to remedying the power imbalance implicit to clinical interactions.

Culturally responsive practice: Responding to and serving individuals within the context of their cultural background—and the ability to learn from and relate respectfully with people of other cultures.

Approved Course Content for CC/DEI

(Topics updated October 2024)

The CFCC has created a list of approved professional development course topics/content that meets the professional development requirements. The list of approved CC/DEI course content serves as a guide; however, there may be additional topics that fall within the topic area and count toward certification maintenance. The learner may determine if a professional development activity falls within acceptable topic areas and applies to their professional interactions and practice setting.

  • Accommodations/adaptions
  • Administrative and regulatory issues and considerations related to
    • multicultural clients, caregivers, and colleagues
    • cross-linguistic clients, caregivers, and colleagues
    • diversity among clients, caregivers, and colleagues
    • neurodiversity among clients, caregivers, and colleagues
  • Cultural competence, awareness, and responsiveness
  • Communication differences among clients, caregivers, and colleagues
  • Communication disorders within communication differences
  • Development and assessment of nonbiased assessment tools and treatment programs
  • Generational diversity
  • Impact of religious diets
  • International populations
  • Inclusive practices
  • Linguistic competence
  • Microaggressions within the workplace
  • Multilingual and multi-dialectal assessment and treatment issues
  • Neurodivergent individuals, including considerations for clinicians, clients, caregivers, and colleagues
  • Ongoing reflection and lifelong learning
  • Recruitment, retention, graduation, and career placement of diverse faculty and students in the professions of audiology and speech-language pathology
  • Religious awareness and sensitivity, including considerations for clinicians, clients, caregivers, and colleagues
  • Second-language or second-dialect acquisition
  • Transgender and gender-diverse populations
  • Unconscious bias
  • Understanding the potential impact of cultural differences on service delivery
    • age
    • ethnicity
    • gender, including gender identity and gender expression
    • intentional inclusion
    • religion, including considerations for working with individuals who are traditionally marginalized based on their faith
    • sexual orientation
    • socioeconomic status
    • working with cultural mediators, translators, and interpreters
  • Veteran's health, including but not limited to
    • awareness of support services to inform appropriate referrals to allied health
    • mental health awareness
    • test and treatment adaptations
    • caregiver support

Ethics

Effective: January 1, 2020

Who? All individuals who hold the CCC-A and/or CCC-SLP.

What? At least 1 of 30 required professional development hours for certification maintenance must be in the area of ethics.

When? Every certification maintenance interval beginning with certificate holders in the January 1, 2020–December 31, 2022, interval.

Approved Course Content for Ethics and Ethical Decision-Making

The CFCC has created a list of approved professional development course topics/content that meets the professional development requirements. The list of approved ethics course content serves as a guide; however, there may be additional topics that fall within the topic area and count toward certification maintenance. The learner may determine if a professional development activity falls within acceptable topic areas and applies to their professional interactions and practice setting.

  • Ethical/moral development
  • Ethical theories and models
  • Values, character, morals and ethics
  • Professionalism, Interprofessional professionalism
  • Interprofessional collaboration and ethics
  • Codes of ethics, interpretation, application
  • Understanding codes of ethics; preventing ethical violations; reporting violations, whistle-blowing
  • Ethical decision-making; models and methods of ethical decision-making
  • Reflection and ethical decision-making
  • Ethics and patient/student care
  • Ethics and relationships with patients/students and family members
  • Ethics and research, human subjects
  • Managing your practice in an ethical way; ethics and practice management (HIPAA, etc.)
  • Ethics related to multicultural issues, cultural competence, diversity
  • Ethical issues related to business, administration, leadership, supervision, student/faculty relationships
  • Representation of services, competency
  • Confidentiality, conflicts of interest, competition, competence, boundary issues
  • Ethics related to advertising; marketing; social media
  • Ethics related to technology platforms for client/patient records and security
  • Ethical considerations and decision-making as it applies to a specific disorder or treatment
  • The integration of professional ethics, business ethics, and the ASHA Code of Ethics in professional practice settings
  • Multicultural and/or cross-linguistic issues related to ethics and ethical decision making
  • Interprofessional education and interprofessional practice related ethics and ethical decision making

Supervision

Effective: January 1, 2020

Who? All clinical supervisor and clinical fellowship (CF) mentors providing supervision/clinical instruction for students and/or Clinical Fellows for purposes of ASHA certification.

What? Complete a minimum of 2 hours of professional development in the area of supervision/clinical instruction.

When? After being awarded the CCC-A or CCC-SLP.

How Often? One time.

Approved Course Content for Supervision of Staff/Clinical Education of Students/CF Mentors

The CFCC has created a list of approved professional development course topics/content that meets the professional development requirements. The list of approved supervision course content serves as a guide; however, there may be additional topics that fall within the topic area. The learner may determine if a professional development activity falls within acceptable topic areas and applies to their professional interactions and practice setting.

  • Knowledge and skills specific to clinical educators of undergraduates, graduate students, preceptors of audiology externs, mentors of clinical fellow in speech-language pathology, supervisors of support personnel, and supervisors of individuals transitioning to a new area of practice or reentering the profession
  • Ethical issues related to clinical education and supervision, supervisor/staff and clinical instructor/student relationships
  • Supervisory processes and clinical education including collaborative models of supervision and instruction, adult learning styles, teaching techniques, roles and responsibilities of clinical educator and student
  • Research/evidence-based practice in clinical education Relationship development and communication skills related to working with staff and students including developing a supportive and trusting relationship between supervisor and supervisee or mentor and mentee
  • Educating students and staff about management and clinical instruction processes including defining expectations, goal setting, and requirements of the relationship including ways to respond to legal and ethical issues
  • Use of techniques to demonstrate recognition of and access to appropriate accommodations for staff and students with disabilities
  • Demonstrating the use of technology, when appropriate, for remote supervision and clinical instruction and the use of case simulations
  • Demonstrating the use of technology, when appropriate, for supervision of remote service provision, i.e., telepractice
  • The role of the clinical educator in the use of alternative clinical experiences, i.e. case simulations and standardized patients
  • Establishment/implementation of goals including developing goals/objectives with the student that allow for growth in critical thinking and problem solving; setting personal goals to enhance teaching skills
  • Observation techniques, collecting and interpreting session data with the supervisee or student
  • Providing supervisee or student objective feedback to motivate and improve performance; adjusting supervisory and teaching style based on level and needs of supervisee or student
  • Analysis and evaluation related to clinical instruction including how to examine collected data and observation notes to identify patterns of behavior and targets for improvement
  • Clinical and performance decisions including how to model/guide the supervisee or student to respond to ethical dilemmas, apply regulatory guidance in service delivery, access payment/reimbursement for services, and use reflective practice techniques to modify performance
  • Creating and implementing plans for improvement
  • Multicultural and/or cross-linguistic issues related to supervision and clinical education including but not limited to defining and demonstrating evidence of cultural competence and appropriate responses to different communication styles of the supervisee or student
  • Interprofessional education and interprofessional practice related to supervision and clinical education, including but not limited to defining and demonstrating expectations for interpersonal and modes of communication

Questions?

If you have any questions, or have additional topics/content that you feel should be added to the list, please contact the ASHA Certification Team at certification@asha.org.

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