Agenda

We are all living through a time of rapid societal change and challenges, in the United States and in the world. Technology innovations continue at a rapid pace. The population of the United States, including every state and most communities, is becoming more diverse. The recent economic downturn has impacted our workplaces as well as our personal lives. Our workplaces, organizations, and professions will need to understand and deal with these challenges in order to succeed.

This session will inform participants about important societal trends impacting our professions, organizations, and workplaces. Participants will discuss how these relate to their current professional situations. Burgeoning issues such as changes in service delivery models, outcome-based reimbursement, shortages, licensure changes, encroachment, and expanding scope of practice will be examined. ASHA resources that will inform you of and support you through the coming changes will be presented. Learning how to embrace change and make it work for you will be at the core of this presentation. Know your future! Shape your future!

LEARNER OUTCOMES: At the end of this session, participants will be able to…

1. Demonstrate understanding of key societal trends that impact our professions, workplaces, and organizations and identify one national and/or world trend that will affect us in the next year.
2. Demonstrate understanding of how these trends relate to current and future professional settings.
3. Identify two changes/issues facing our profession.
4. Identify how to use ASHA resources to support us in shaping our professional future.
5. Increase knowledge of how to shape the future of our work settings.
6. Demonstrate understanding of the future of outcomes based reimbursement in school, medical, and private work settings.
7. Demonstrate understanding of how to use workload vs. caseload to shape the school setting and work within the Response to Intervention (RTI) model to serve all children.
8. Learn how skills as an SLP make us indispensable members of the literacy team.

Activity: Find someone you don’t know well. Come away with one future point you hadn’t thought of and bring it back to your table.

This session will present professional practice issues in health care, private practice, and school settings. There will be time for audience members to participate by asking/answering questions and sharing ideas and resources.

LEARNER OUTCOMES: At the end of this session, participants will be able to…

1. Identify one professional practice issue that will impact you in the next year.
2. Identify one possible solution and/or resource for presented issue(s).

Speech-language pathology sessions can be facilitated though a telepractice setting with a very efficient and effective model. Currently, services are being provided to client schools with documented success in remediation of the communication disorder, ease of use of the online video program, and support of administration, teachers, and parents. Sessions are structured in a very similar manner to a face-to-face session, with documentation of the results of the session and a plan for subsequent sessions. Materials are easily adapted with the use of many CD or online programs, a document camera, and Smart Notebook software. Students readily engage in the session, giving full attention to the screen where they see the lesson presented, the therapist, and themselves. Online video sessions are supported by a site visit one or two times a month for follow-up activities and communication with the school staff and/or parents.

LEARNER OUTCOMES: At the end of this session, participants will be able to…

1. Identify the strategies and techniques used in speech pathology telepractice.
2. Become familiar with how to develop and set up a speech pathology telepractice.
3. Identify key players in a successful telepractice.

This panel session will present advocacy issues in speech-language pathology, public education, legislative issues, and the role of MSHA. Strategies, tools, and techniques for advocacy will also be discussed. There will be time for audience members to participate by asking/answering questions and to share ideas and resources for advocacy in speech-language pathology.

LEARNER OUTCOMES: At the end of this session, participants will be able to…

1. Identify at least two advocacy issues in speech-language pathology.
2. Identify at least one way in which to advocate for the profession over the next year.

“Every clinician has a culture, just like every client/patient has a culture. It is important to recognize our responsibilities for providing services to a client/patient whose cultural and/or linguistic background may vary from our own.” ASHA Website> Multicultural Resources> Practice Issues.

This session will review—in discussion-based format—seven modifications that speech-language pathologists need to make when working with culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) populations. Topics covered will include determining difference vs. disorder, gathering a case history, working with interpreters, use of non-standardized assessment techniques, and considerations for intervention with CLD populations.

LEARNER OUTCOMES: At the end of this session, participants will be able to…

1. Identify at least seven modifications to evaluation and intervention procedures in order to meet the needs of multicultural populations.
2. Identify at least two resources for working with culturally and linguistically diverse populations.