SLHS Faculty Discuss Current SLP Issues at Boston Meeting

Dr. Judy Wingate, Director of Clinical Education, and Betsy Vinson, Program Director and Graduate Coordinator for the SLP program, attended the “Consensus Conference on the Clinical/Professional Doctorate in SLP” at the MGH Institute for Health Professions in Boston, MA from June 21-23, 2012. 

The intention of the conference was to bring together representatives from ASHA, CAPCSD, academic programs, and other stakeholders across the country to discuss “key issues, pros/cons, obstacles, and aspirations” with regard to a clinical/professional doctorate in Speech Language Pathology.  Various entry points for the degree were discussed, including whether the clinical doctorate would be a post MA/MS degree as an optional advanced degree, whether it would be general or a specialization degree, or whether it would follow the style of the AuD and gradually become the entry degree.  Considerations about the clinical and academic content of a clinical doctorate degree were discussed, as well as the need for standards and/or accreditation of programs offering the clinical doctorate.

One of the desired outcomes of the conference was to develop a mechanism to have more widespread discussion of the clinical doctorate across academic programs and current practitioners, and to provide a focus for those discussions. 

Judy and Betsy welcome comments on this topic, and will be leading discussions about the clinical doctorate at the SLHS faculty retreat on August 17 and at faculty meetings during the 2012-2013 academic year.  If you have questions or comments, please email them to Judy (wingate@ufl.edu) and/or Betsy (bvinson@ufl.edu).