Section 1465.35  Supervision

a)         Pursuant to Section 3.5(a) of the Act, supervision of students in speech-language pathology and audiology programs means that the supervisor is either on-site (but not necessarily in the same room as the student) or available remotely using video-conference technology tools whenever the student is performing practices normally done by a licensed speech-language pathologist or audiologist.  Supervision of students requires that direct supervision must be done no less than 25% of the time for treatment and 25% of the time for diagnostics.  The supervisor is directly responsible to the client for all actions of that student.  For purposes of this Part, direct supervision means the student is on site and in view of the supervisor, or the supervisor remotely uses video-conference technology tools that are in view of the student.  This Part does not apply to students in speech-language pathology assistant programs.

b)         If a person has completed the academic and practicum work for a master's or doctoral degree in speech-language pathology and  the individual is in the process of completing the equivalent of 9 months of supervised professional experience for his/her initial license, or the individual has finished that experience and is waiting for his/her application for licensure to be processed, supervision shall meet the requirements set forth in Section 1465.30.

c)         Pursuant to Section 8.8 of the Act, a speech-language pathology assistant shall:

1)         Practice only under the supervision of a licensed speech-language pathologist who has at least 2 years' experience in addition to the supervised professional experience required under Section 8(f) of the Act.  A speech-language pathologist who supervises a speech-language pathology assistant must have completed at least 6 clock hours of training in supervision related to speech-language pathology and must complete at least 2 clock hours of continuing education in supervision related to speech-language pathology in each new licensing cycle after completion of the initial training required under Section 8(f) of the Act.

A)        The supervision training requirement shall be satisfied by completion of 10 hours of continuing education as defined in Section 1465.85(b).

B)        Documentation of prior supervisory experience may be submitted to the Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology (Board) with a request for its acceptance in lieu of the supervision training requirement.  The Board retains the discretion to approve or deny the request.

2)         Be under the direct supervision of a licensed speech-language pathologist at least 30% of the speech-language pathology assistant's actual patient or client contact time per patient or client on a weekly basis during the first 90 days of initial employment as a speech-language pathology assistant.  Thereafter, a speech-language pathology assistant must be under the direct supervision of a licensed speech-language pathologist at least 20% of the speech-language pathology assistant's actual patient or client contact time per patient or client on a weekly basis.  Supervision of a speech-language pathology assistant beyond the minimum requirements of this subsection (c)(2) may be imposed at the discretion of the supervising speech-language pathologist.  A supervising speech-language pathologist must be available to communicate with a speech-language pathology assistant whenever the assistant is in contact with a patient or client.

A)        A speech-language pathologist who supervises a speech-language pathology assistant must document direct supervision activities.  At a minimum, supervision documentation must provide:

i)          information regarding the quality of the speech-language pathology assistant's performance of assigned duties; and

ii)         verification that clinical activity is limited to duties specified in Section 8.7 of the Act.

B)        A full-time speech-language pathologist may supervise no more than 2 speech-language pathology assistants.  A speech-language pathologist who does not work full-time may supervise no more than one speech-language pathology assistant.

3)         For purposes of this subsection (c), "direct supervision" means on-site, in-view observation and guidance by a speech-language pathologist while an assigned activity is performed by the speech-language pathology assistant.

(Source:  Amended at 45 Ill. Reg. 1849, effective January 28, 2021)