State Association Leaders Gather in Oregon for Policy Workshop, State President’s Meeting

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You have accessThe ASHA LeaderASHA News1 Jul 2006State Association Leaders Gather in Oregon for Policy Workshop, State President’s Meeting Eileen Crowe Eileen Crowe Google Scholar More articles by this author https://doi.org/10.1044/leader.AN1.11092006.4 SectionsAbout ToolsAdd to favorites ShareFacebookTwitterLinked In State association leaders traveled to Portland, OR, for the ASHA’s annual State Policy Workshop. Now in its 22nd year, the ASHA workshop provides state and federal updates to participants and opportunities for networking with state association leaders. Presenters included ASHA President Alex Johnson and Vice President for Governmental and Social Policies De Anne Owre. Attendees participated in a role-playing session to explore solutions to personnel vacancies in the schools and came up with a number of suggestions: using promotional brochures to provide information on the professions to high school students via guidance counselors attending guidance counselor conventions having colleges and universities host focused career fairs promoting speech-language pathology assistants at the university level as an employment option after four years providing better treatment facilities examining workload as part of retention including articles in The ASHA Leader on job sharing offering distance education programs for those with bachelor’s degrees to obtain their master’s degree As in past years, participants had the opportunity to explore in greater detail issues they identified as priorities in their states. Recruitment and retention of SLPs and audiologists in schools, shortages/funding in university settings, reimbursement, and personnel issues in health care topped the list of topics selected for workshop roundtable sessions. CSAP Meets The State Policy Workshop was followed by the spring meeting of the Council of State Association Presidents (CSAP). At this meeting, states have the opportunity to share successes and challenges during the popular “Bring, Brag, and Moan” session. During this session, CSAP members reported on numerous activities in their states associations including the following: Arizona has increased attendance of audiologists at their convention. Arkansas is working on acquiring funding for salary supplement legislation. Florida is concerned that Medicaid reform will threaten to restrict access or eliminate speech, language, and hearing services to children. Georgia has seen a significant increase in student membership. Idaho is planning a joint conference in the fall of 2007 with the Montana, Wyoming, and Utah state speech-language-hearing associations. Illinois has established a foundation to provide scholarship and research grants. Maryland succeeded in passing a bill for licensure reimbursement for all school-based SLPs working in the state, and they had their first “Swap & Shop” where you could display gently used items for $10 a table. Minnesota worked on the passage of a telepractice policy and is working with the Department of Education to establish guidelines for a pilot project. Nebraska hosted a successful legislative breakfast which half of all state senators attended. New Hampshire is developing a public relations campaign aimed at educating consumers so they are able to make informed decisions about speech-language services. New York has been invited by the state licensure board to serve on a committee that is conducting a study of personnel shortages. Ohio celebrated its 60 years as a state association. Pennsylvania’s past president is now on the state licensure board. Texas celebrated 50 years as a state association and has made the continuing education application process available online. Next year’s State Policy Workshop will be held in Little Rock, AR, May 17–18, 2007. Author Notes Eileen Crowe, is the director of state association relations. for more information contact her at [email protected] or at 800-498-2071, ext. 4221. Advertising Disclaimer | Advertise With Us Advertising Disclaimer | Advertise With Us Additional Resources FiguresSourcesRelatedDetails Volume 11Issue 9July 2006 Get Permissions Add to your Mendeley library History Published in print: Jul 1, 2006 Metrics Current downloads: 60 Topicsasha-topicsleader_do_tagasha-article-typesleader-topicsCopyright & Permissions© 2006 American Speech-Language-Hearing AssociationLoading ...