State Board of Education Testimony on
Licensure Code Amendments for Speech Language Specialists
September 21, 2005

Presented by Dr. Robert Andrews
Superintendent, Salem County Special Services School District
Woodstown, NJ 08098
856-769-5181
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In addition, we provide a wide range of contract services to local districts in our region, such as speech, physical and occupational therapy, coordinated transportation, child study team services, and home instruction. The ability to hire full-time, well-trained staff enables us to provide a cost-effective solution for local schools that must address the specialized needs of a few students. It is a win-win situation for students, school districts, and staff.

I am here today to alert you to a problem that my district and many others are experiencing when we need to hire certified individuals to provide speech therapy services. For some time, New Jersey has faced a shortage of certified speech language specialists. Despite extremely high demand for individuals in this field, there are very few university programs where individuals can earn the required master’s degree in speech pathology. As a result, there are simply not enough "seats" in these programs to meet the demand for certified speech language specialists.

The problem is already acute, and it is about to get worse for two reasons. First, many current practitioners have emergency certificates that cannot be renewed beyond next year (2006-07). These candidates want to earn full certification, but there are nowhere near enough seats in the approved training programs to accommodate them. Even though they are well-qualified, they cannot matriculate in the programs needed to earn full certification.

Second, there is a large group of individuals certified under prior rules who are nearing retirement age. While the code permits these certified "speech correctionists" to continue to practice if they complete an approved retraining program, we are concerned that many will hasten retirement rather than undergo additional training at the end of their careers. This will further exacerbate the shortage.

The proposed amendments to the licensure code seek to address this problem by making students who are currently matriculated in speech pathology programs eligible for the emergency certificate. However, this amendment alone will not address the current and future shortage of speech language specialists because very few students can matriculate in these graduate level training programs.

The Joint Council of County Special Services School Districts respectfully offers several suggestions to help address the critical shortage of certified speech language specialists.

In the short term, the state should extend the current emergency certificate for speech language specialists to provide at least two additional years for candidates to become certified.

Make candidates who are taking coursework towards the master’s degree, but unable to fully matriculate, eligible for an emergency certificate.

Permit current holders of the speech correctionist certificate to continue in their positions.

The Department of Education should develop definitive data regarding the number of approved university programs for speech pathologists in NJ and neighboring states and the number of candidates they accept each year. If these are deemed insufficient to meet long-term needs, the Department should work with the higher education community to expand training opportunities.

The Department of Education should consider creating a second certificate for speech language assistants authorized to provide many routine services (under supervision of a certified specialist) without the requirement for a master’s degree. This would free the highly trained speech language specialists to address the most difficult needs. This model is already being used with certified occupational therapy and physical therapy assistants.

Each of the eight county special services school districts provides extensive speech therapy services, both to students with severe disabilities who are directly enrolled in our programs, and to local district students with a broad range of needs. If local districts and regional providers cannot hire enough certified professionals, students will begin to suffer. Districts will be forced to cut back on the time or frequency of speech therapy services, and they may ultimately refer fewer students for speech services.

While we recognize the need to maintain high standards for this important profession, the State must be proactive in addressing the shortage of speech language specialists. On behalf of the Joint Council of County Special Services School Districts, I ask that you amend the Licensure Code to extend the emergency certificate for speech language specialists. This will provide time to develop a long-term plan to correct the imbalance between the large demand for speech language specialists and the very limited availability of training.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I would be happy to respond to any questions you may have.