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As speech and language pathologists our scope of practice can feel large - treating everything from feeding and swallowing disorders to receptive / expressive language deficits. Our scope of practice documents describe the wide range of clinical presentations we are qualified to treat, as well as a wide variety of services we are are qualified to provide and settings we are qualified to work in. And yet, most SLPs don’t work in all areas of the field. Most of us only practice in some. So what happens when we are in a position where we are expected to provide treatment in an area where we don’t feel competent?

Being competent in our clinical work is crucial - and it’s a matter of ethics. The ASHA Code of Ethics is explicit in telling us that we are obligated to operate within our scope of competence, even though there is so much individual variability in what “competent” means.

Join us in this episode as we review the literature out there on competence, try to outline how to assess your own scope of competence, and reflect on the ASHA Code of Ethics.

Learning Outcomes

1. Define scope of competence and list at least 2 ethical underpinnings associated with scope of competence

2. Describe the relationship between scope of competence, evidence based practice, and ethics

3. Identify at least two ways in which a clinician can evaluate their scope of competence and two ways in which a clinician can improve their scope of competence in a particular clinical area

References

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2007). Scope of Practice in Speech-Language Pathology [Scope of Practice]. Available from www.asha.org/policy.

Mustain, W. (2003). The Ethics of Competence. The ASHA Leader, 8(12), 14-14.doi:10.1044/leader.otp2.08122003.14

Online Resources

ASHA’s EBP Portal: https://www.asha.org/Research/EBP/Evidence-Based-Practice/

ASHA Journals Academy: https://academy.pubs.asha.org/2019/04/from-triangle-to-diamond-recognizing-and-using-data-to-inform-our-evidence-based-practice/

Disclosures:

Financial: Kate Grandbois is the owner / founder of Grandbois Therapy + Consulting, LLC and co-founder of SLP Nerdcast. Amy Wonkka is an employee of a public school system and co-founder of SLP Nerdcast.

Non-financial: Kate and Amy are both members of ASHA, SIG 12, and both serve on the AAC Advisory Group for Massachusetts Advocates for Children. Kate is a member of the Berkshire Association for Behavior Analysis and Therapy (BABAT), MassABA, the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) and the corresponding Speech Pathology and Applied Behavior Analysis SIG.

Time Ordered Agenda:

10 minutes: Introduction, Disclaimers and Disclosures

20 minutes: Descriptions of scope of competence and ethical underpinnings associated with scope of competence

15 minutes: Descriptions of the relationship between scope of competence, evidence based practice, and ethics

10 minutes: Describe the ways a clinician can evaluate their scope of competence and ways to improve their scope of competence in a particular clinical area

5 minutes: Summary and Closing

Disclaimer

The contents of this episode are not meant to replace clinical advice. SLP Nerdcast, its hosts and guests do not represent or endorse specific products or procedures mentioned during our episodes unless otherwise stated. We are NOT PhDs, but we do research our material. We do our best to provide a thorough review and fair representation of each topic that we tackle. That being said, it is always likely that there is an article we’ve missed, or another perspective that isn’t shared. If you have something to add to the conversation, please email us! Wed love to hear from you!

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