FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ASHA supports Bill No. A05141 on behalf of Speech Therapists

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) submitted their letter in support of Bill No. A05141. ASHA is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for 182,000 members and affiliates who are audiologists; speech-language pathologists; speech, language, and hearing scientists; audiology and speech language pathology support personnel; and students. Over 16,000+ ASHA members reside in New York.

What does this mean for VR Consumers?

Job Coach specialists with New York ACCES-VR are not of a regulated profession. They only need  GED to service consumers.  The new bill changes the mandate to include a regulated profession only to deliver the service of Communication Support. Furthermore, these professions must be of those which train their credentialed members in social pragmatic language disorders.  Currently, these practitioners are Speech Therapists and Special Education teachers, and some psychologists. At this time, Social Workers are not trained in the nuances of these language disorders unless they subscribe for added training. It is important that services be provided in an appropriate manner consistent with the needs of the disability.

Additional Links:

• How To Support Bill A05141 – VR Communication Support for Autistic and other Consumer with language barriers
• Complete details about this bill
• Bill 5141 In the News: Press Coverage and Media Coverage
• hare this page to gather additional support 

Click the screen capture below to read ASHA’s letter of support in PDF format.