Rhode Island Code of Regulations
Title 216 - Department of health
Chapter 40 - Professional licensing and facility regulation
Subchapter 05 - Professional Licensing
Part 33 - Speech Pathologists and Audiologists (216-RICR-40-05-33)
Section 216-RICR-40-05-33.8 - Support Personnel

Universal Citation: 216 RI Code of Rules 40 05 33.8

Current through September 18, 2024

A. Support personnel for speech language pathologists shall meet the following requirements:

1. Hold a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university and have successfully completed no less than eighteen (18) hours of graduate credit in the areas of speech language pathology to include the following:
a. Normal processes in speech, language and hearing (3 hours);

b. Disorders of speech, language and hearing (9 hours);

c. Equipment, materials, procedures and data collection used in assessment and/or management of speech, language and hearing disorders (6 hours); and

d. Completion of twenty-five percent (25%) of those practicum hours required for professional personnel by the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA).

B. Support personnel for audiologists (audiometric aide) must meet the following requirements:

1. Hold a high school diploma;

2. Receive intensive on-the-job training in accordance with American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) or American Academy of Audiology (AAA) guidelines for support personnel by the supervising licensed audiologist prior to providing services. (Any subsequent supervising licensed audiologist may require retraining of an audiometric aide under his/her supervision).

C. Supervision and Responsibility: A supervising professional must be licensed under the Act who has been actively working in the field for twenty-four (24) months after completion of the postgraduate professional experience, and must be responsible for the acts and performances, patient screening, and specific tasks assigned by the licensee to the speech language pathologist/audiometric aide.

1. A licensee who supervises support personnel must:
a. Utilize the services of only those who meet the minimum requirements enumerated under § 33.8 of this Part;

b. Ensure that the support personnel are assigned only those duties and responsibilities for which the person has been specifically trained and which the assistant is qualified to perform;

c. Ensure that persons who will be receiving services from support personnel, or the person's legal representative, are informed that services are being rendered by support personnel;

d. Provide supervision of the support personnel (other than newborn hearing screeners and school hearing screeners):
(1) A speech/language pathologist supervisor may only supervise one (1) full- time equivalent speech language support personnel and an audiologist supervisor may only supervise three (3) full-time equivalent audiometric aides, unless otherwise approved by the Board;

(2) Observations of support audiometric aides must be completed and documented as to date, amount of time, and accuracy and efficacy of service according to the following:
(AA) Direct on-site observations of the first ten (10) hours of direct client contact; and five percent (5%) of all clinical sessions after the first ten hours for every forty (40) consecutive hours worked; and

(BB) Indirect supervision (e.g. Phone, interactive television, audio/video review or patient record review) of five percent (5%) of each forty (40) consecutive hours worked.

(3) Observations of speech language pathology support personnel must be completed and documented as to date, amount of time, and accuracy and efficacy of service according to the following:
(AA) Direct on-site observations of the first ten (10) hours of direct client contact; and ten percent (10%) of clinical sessions after the first ten (10) hours of each forty (40) consecutive hours worked; and

(BB) (Indirect supervision (e.g. phone, interactive television, audio/video review) of ten percent (10%) of each forty (40) consecutive hours worked.

e. Provide supervision of the support personnel (newborn hearing screeners and school hearing screeners):
(1) Hospital-based newborn hearing screeners and school-based hearing screeners shall be trained by a licensed audiologist working in the newborn hearing or school screening program according to training guidelines established by the programs.

(2) Supervision will include a method of evaluation and documenting the competency of each screener upon completion of the initial training and at least annually thereafter by a licensed audiologist working in the newborn hearing or school screening program.

f. Observe all provisions of the ASHA policy regarding support personnel unless a specific policy is addressed in this Part, including but not limited to, that the licensee must maintain records which document the frequency and type of supervision of support personnel, such records to be available for audit upon request by the Board.

Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. Rhode Island may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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