The council on Professional Standards in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology of the American Speech-Language Association (ASHA) has developed new standards for clinical certification that became effective January 1, 2005. If you would like to read these changes you can visit the ASHA website at http://www.asha.org. These changes were made in response to modifications made to the scope of practice in order to protect consumers and support quality services.

California State University, Northridge has had a very strong clinical program for many years so there are not many significant changes. The practicum experiences must encompass the breadth of the current scope of practice with both adults and children resulting in a minimum of 400 clock hours of supervised practicum, of which at least 375 hours must be in direct client/patient contact and 25 in clinical observation.

You will accumulate these mandatory hours through your 5 clinics while in our program. The new ASHA guidelines for clinical practice specify that you must have experience "across the lifespan"; CSUN is interpreting that to mean that you will need experience with different age groups. The age groups that you will having experience with are divided as follows: 0-5, 5-11, 11-17 and adult.

Clinical Sites

Before you start your first clinic, you must first complete and return a clinical privileges form to the distance learning department. This form will be sent to you before you start your first clinic. The form will confirm that you do indeed have permission to start your clinical experience.

If you want a California License, you will need three different clinical sites of 50 hours per site. Each of the three clinical sites will provide a different population with different preparation and an accumulation of 50 hours per site. If you do clinic at an elementary school (K-5 ) in Central Unified and an elementary school (K-5) in West Unified, that will be the same site. If you do clinic at an elementary school in Central Unified and a middle school or high school in Central Unified, this will be 2 sites. This is because you have now had experience with two different populations with different preparation. If have worked ,for example, in an elementary school, an autistic program or a head trauma program in Central Unified and an adult care facility, you have now had experience in three clinical sites. The most common sites for clinic are one or two populations from the pediatric clinical sites and your externship. You may also have many more than 3 sites during your clinical experience in order to generate your hours.

The five clinics you are to accumulate your hours in are as follows:

1. CD 465: Clinical practice in speech pathology. You will have a supervised clinical experience in the diagnosis of and therapy for speech and hearing handicapped children.
2. CD 566: Clinical practice in Speech Pathology II. This is the second pediatric clinic. This work is performed at a clinical site with field supervision and university support.
3. CD 567: Clinical practice in Speech Pathology III. This is the third pediatric clinic. This work is performed at a clinical site with field supervision and university support. In this clinic, diagnosis and evaluation will be emphasized.
4. CD 672 A: Supervised clinical experience in diagnostic and therapeutic procedures with speech and language handicapped adults in hospitals, nursing homes and clinics.
5. CD 672 B: Supervised clinical experience in diagnosis and therapeutic procedures with adults or children based on what hours and competencies you still need to fulfill.

We will go into much more detail about the Knowledge and Skills Acquisition (KASA) summary forms for certification in Speech-Language Pathology in another tutorial. In short, these forms must be submitted from students in a CAA-accredited program (which you are) when applying for certification. It is in essence a record that particular knowledge or skill has been acquired during your clinical experiences.

Supervision

During your clinical practicum you must be supervised by a Speech -Language Pathologist with CCC/SLP and current ASHA membership. Being supervised by an individual who has obtained his/her clinical competencies assures that the work you do will later be recognized by ASHA. Your supervisor is mandated to observe 25% of the time for face to face clock hours. The supervisor is also asked to allow time (1/2 hour) to give you feedback.

Record of Clinical Hours

While completing your clinical hours, you will also be held responsible for keeping track of them. You will be keeping a daily log, which you will find a template for on the blackboard advisement site. It will list the date you saw your client, length of session, client's name and age, ethnicity, and whether it was an assessment or treatment and saw the client for. Once your clinic is over, you will be transferring this information to your Record of Clinical Hours and to the Record of Diversity.

You will be transferring the information you've accumulated from your clinic to two original Record of Clinical Hours forms (you will always keep one and one will be put in your permanent file when you graduate). When you send in a copy of the clinical hours form each semester, we return a spreadsheet to you via email which gives you an update on your hours. You can access directions for these procedures on the "Clinical Hours" tutorial.

There are three main reasons why you need to complete your hours. The first is to obtain certification to become a CCC/SLP. Secondly, you need them to receive California state licensure. The last reason to complete your hours is to earn your California state teaching credential if you wish to do so.

What's expected of you in Clinic

As mentioned earlier, you will be taking five clinics to obtain the mandatory hours needed for certification. The first three clinics, CD 465, CD 566 and CD 567 are the pediatric clinics. You will be responsible for turning in the following items:

1. Clinical site contract- It will be sent to you, to be filled out by your clinical site, before your actual clinic starts. You will email or fax this to the distance learning department.
2. Supervisor Nomination Form - You fill this form out before each clinic starts and email or fax it to the distance learning department.
3. Daily lesson Plans- A format that will allow you to plan out what you would like to accomplish while working with your client. You will submit this to your supervisor.
4. Initial Reports- This report gives the status of your client before you have had therapy with him/her. You will submit this to your supervisor.
5. Final Reports- This report gives the status of your client after you have had therapy with him/her. You will submit this to your supervisor.
6. Chart notes - documenting every time you see a client. This would include, but not be limited to, therapy sessions; parent contacts; telephone calls to parents or others regarding the client; and IEP or other meetings. You will submit this to your supervisor.
7. Portfolio - This is representative of the work completed in clinic. It will be turned into your professor after s/he specifies the clinical forms required.
8. Test forms and field notes
9. Reflection Essays- These essays are necessary to assist you in evaluating your clinical experience. You will submit this to your professor in your portfolio.
10. Record of Clinical Hours - You will fill these out from the information you gathered on your daily log. You will email or fax this to the distance learning department at the end of the semester. This form must be turned in with your Record of Diversity, Disorders, and Procedures form.
11. Record of Diversity, Disorders, and Procedures as Part of Clinical Practicum -You will fill this out at the end of your clinic after you've gathered it from your daily log. You will email or fax this to the distance learning department at the end of the semester. This form must be turned in with your Record of Clinical Hours form.
12. KASA Competencies - At the end of the semester, your supervisor will be asked to check off which competencies you achieved during your clinical experience.

The last two clinics CD 672 A and 672 B will require some different items. A clinical site contract will be obtained for you to practice at the site by the distance learning department. You will be responsible for the following:

1. Interviewing at the site
2. Paperwork required by site - Insurance, TB, CPR, and other facility requirements.
3. Externship Supervisor Nomination Form - You have this filled out before placement and you will email or fax this to the distance learning department.
4. Record of Clinical Hours - You will fill these out from the information you gathered on your daily log. You will email or fax this to the distance learning department at the end of the semester. This form must be turned in with your Record of Diversity, Disorders, and Procedures form.
5. Record of Diversity, Disorders, and Procedures as Part of Clinical Practicum -You will fill this out at the end of your clinic after you've gathered it from your daily log. You will email or fax this to the distance learning department at the end of the semester. This form must be turned in with your Record of Clinical Hours form.
6. Evaluation of Site Supervisor- This is located in the manual and you will fax this to the department at the end of your experience.
7. Evaluation of the University coordinator- This form is found on the 672 A/B website.
8. Supervisor KASA Form- This form needs to be filled out and sent to the University by your Supervisor in order for you to complete you KASA competencies.