Southern Connecticut State University
DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION DISORDERS
501 Crescent Street Davis Hall 012
New Haven, Connecticut 06515
CMD 562: School-Based Speech-Language Pathology Practicum
Clinical Educator/Supervisor Guidelines
Practicum Instructor:
Sarah Moon, M.S. CCC-SLP
Southern Connecticut State University
Department Of Communication Disorders
Davis Hall 012
501 Crescent Street
New Haven CT 06515
[email protected]
Dear colleague,
Thank you for serving as a clinical educator/supervisor to our speech-language pathology
graduate student! Your time, and the effort spent in mentoring our graduate student clinician, is
greatly valued. As you begin this endeavor, please consider the following:
To assure that your student clinician is successful in acquiring the competencies expected during
his/her practicum, it is helpful if you:
• assign the graduate student clinician to sites served by the clinical educator/supervisor on
days when that person is in that location;
• provide written and oral feedback about the adequacy of therapy plans, effectiveness of
procedures and other aspects of clinical activities;
• consult with the graduate student clinician about special issues as they arise;
• suggest alternative procedures for achieving goals;
• approve and co-sign all diagnostic or treatment reports;
• demonstrate therapy techniques by working directly with the client;
• allow the graduate student clinician to participate in team meetings and client/family
counseling sessions;
• give the graduate student clinician support and direction while allowing the student
clinician independence to think and plan; and
• conduct supervisory conferences with the student clinician as necessary or appropriate.
Policies and Procedures:
Your graduate student clinician is to follow all policies and procedures of the off-campus facility
during the period of your assignment. Please review such policies and procedures with your
student at the start of his/her assignment.
Student Practicum Letter of Understanding: Prior to the start of the practicum experience, the
graduate student clinician and hosting clinical educator/supervisor must complete and sign a
Student Practicum Letter of Understanding identifying practicum expectations, including
attendance, assignments, and professional expectations. This letter must be faxed to
203.392.5968 or e-mailed to [email protected] by no later than one week after the
scheduled start of the practicum experience. A template for the Student Practicum Letter of
Understanding can be found on the department website.
Background Checks and Fingerprinting:
Your graduate student clinician(s) have been informed that their off-campus placement requires a
recent (within three years) fingerprinting and background check at a Regional Education Service
Center at least thirty days prior to the start of their off campus placement. Here are the links and
attachments with the pertinent information regarding this issue.
http://www.southernct.edu/education/fingerprintingandbackgroundcheck/
http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/cwp/view.asp?a=2613&q=321328
The graduate student clinicians are responsible for obtaining any of the above or any other
testing required for your school district at their own expense, and for asking where to send these
results during their interview.
Verification of ASHA Certification
Each supervisor must be able to verification of ASHA certification in Speech-language
pathology, current through the period in which he or she is supervising a graduate student
clinician. We will attempt to verify your ASHA certification and state licensure on line, but
please be prepared to fax us proof of your licensure and/or certification if requested. Your
student may not record clinical clock hours obtained under your supervision unless we have
verification of your ASHA certification status.
Attendance:
Your graduate student clinician will begin their practicum on the date identified by the school
and university and continue through to the end of the agreed-upon period. Your graduate student
clinician is to adhere to the schedule of the facility in which they are placed, which may be
different than University holiday and vacation periods. Please discuss and determine the exact
beginning and ending dates for the practicum with your graduate student clinician when
completing the School Practicum Letter of Understanding.
The student will participate in the practicum on a full-time basis. If your graduate student
clinician must be absent by reason of illness or other emergency, he/she should notify you as
early in the day as possible. If you must be absent by reason of illness or other emergency for an
extended period of time, notify your graduate student clinician and the practicum coordinator as
quickly as possible. Make-up time may be indicated for unusually frequent or extended absences.
Please contact the practicum coordinator immediately regarding any questions about attendance,
yours or the student’s.
Liability Insurance:
The University provides both general and professional liability insurance for its students involved in offcampus practica in the amount of $1,000,000 each occurrence/$10,000,000 aggregate. Verification of this
coverage is available upon request.
Vaccinations/Medical Examinations /Drug Screening:
Your student clinician(s) have been informed that their off-campus placement most likely
requires a recent medical examination and certain vaccinations, including a TB screening, rubella
(German measles) titer test, and proof of Hepatitis B vaccination or vaccination waiver. In
addition, they have been notified that your facility may require screening for illegal drug use
prior to the start of their placement. They are responsible for obtaining any of the above or any
other testing or vaccinations required at their own expense.
Clinical Education/Supervision:
Supervision must be provided in accordance with current ASHA standards:
Standard V-E:
Supervision must be provided by individuals who hold the Certificate of Clinical
Competence in the appropriate profession. The amount of direct supervision must be
commensurate with the student's knowledge, skills and experience, must not be less
than 25% of the student’s total contact with each client/patient, and must take place
periodically throughout the practicum. Supervision must be sufficient to ensure the
welfare of the client/patient
Implementation:
Direct supervision must be in real time. A supervisor must be available to consult
with a student providing clinical services to the supervisor’s client. Supervision of
clinical practicum is intended to provide guidance and feedback to facilitate the
student’s acquisition of essential clinical skills. The 25% supervision standard is a
minimum requirement and must be adjusted upward whenever the student’s level of
knowledge, skills, and experience warrants.
Standard V-F:
Supervised practicum must include experience with client/patient populations across
the life span and from culturally/linguistically diverse backgrounds. Practicum must
include experience with client/patient populations with various types and severities of
communication and/or related disorders, differences, and disabilities.
Implementation:
The applicant must demonstrate direct client/patient clinical experiences in both
assessment and intervention with both children and adults from the range of
disorders and differences named in Standard IV-C.
Retrieved 12-24-15 from http://www.asha.org/Certification/2014-Speech-Language-Pathology-Certification-Standards
An ASHA certified clinical educator/supervisor should be present on-site whenever a
graduate student clinician is engaged in client/student contact. Should the clinical
educator/supervisor be called away from the site on an emergency, graduate student clinicians
may continue to see clients, if judged appropriate by the clinical instructor, as long as there is a
responsible person on site who is familiar with the clients’/students’ needs. Interns should not
work on days when the clinical educator/supervisor has planned absences.
In those instances in which there is more than one clinical educator/supervisor working with the
graduate student clinician, one will become the clinical educator/supervisor or record, and will
confer regularly with the other clinical educator/supervisor to assure adequate support is
provided to the student. All clinical educator/supervisors must be ASHA certified and hold a
current State of CT license in Speech-Language Pathology.
The Continuum Model of Supervision:
The Department of Communication Disorders supports a clinical education plan that, while
meeting or exceeding current ASHA minimum requirements, is customized to the particular
learning needs of the individual graduate student clinician. We encourage use of a Continuum
Model of Supervision (Anderson, 1988; McCrea & Brasseur, 2003), where the graduate student
clinician and supervisor work towards a level of peer collaboration, as permitted by the emerging
skill set of the graduate student clinician. You may expect your graduate student clinician to
actively engage in this process, with varying levels of independence determined by the
circumstances of your setting and caseload. Please feel free to contact us at any point regarding
the Clinical instruction/supervisory process.
Anderson, J. (1988) The Supervisory Process in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology. Boston : College Hill Press
McCrea, E.S. & Brasseur, J.A. (2003). The Supervisory Process in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology. Boston: Allyn and
Bacon
Competency Review:
Formative Assessment: Graduate student clinicians will receive ongoing assessment of
their progress in meeting course requirements, clinical growth, efficiency, independence,
flexibility and professionalism from on-site clinical educator/supervisor on a schedule and in a
manner appropriate to the individual practicum setting. A mid-term review of a student’s clinical
performance will be completed no later than midterm using the Competency-Based Evaluation
for Clinical Practica. Each student will work with his/her clinical educator/supervisor to
establish and document personal learning objectives and strategies to achieve these objectives.
Please document these goals on the appropriate section of the competency evaluation form.
Support should be provided to achieve these skills throughout the remainder of the practicum.
Summative Assessment: At the end of the semester, the student and clinical
educator/supervisor will review midterm learning objectives and overall development of clinical
skills and professionalism, using the Competency-Based Evaluation for Clinical Practica. This
form must be completed electronically (not by hand) and returned to the SCSU practicum
coordinator directly by the clinical educator/supervisor at the end of the semester, via e-mail to
[email protected]. Transmission through your direct e-mail account will serve as your
authorized signature. Final practicum grades will be assigned by the SCSU practicum
coordinator, based in part on the feedback provided on this form, as well as on other related
considerations, including reports and observations of overall student competence,
professionalism and performance, as well as reflective journal reviews.
Syllabus:
A copy of the course syllabus for this practicum is available on our departmental website. This
provides you with further information regarding course objectives, learner outcomes, and general
performance expectations for graduate student clinicians.
Clinical Writing:
Writing is a skill that all of our graduate students are continuously working to refine. The
technical details of clinical writing have been covered in many of the academic courses and
clinical practica already completed by the student clinician. We have given graduate student
clinicians report outlines, sample reports, and samples of other clinical documents appropriate
for their university-based practica. They are informed that their practicum clinical
educator/supervisors will differ in the report formats they prefer, and that the requirements of
medical documentation and the use of electronic medical record systems will differ. Please
provide your graduate student clinician with templates for and examples of reports and other
clinical documents, as appropriate, for your setting, and hold them to the highest standards
regarding the quality of their writing.
Clinical Reflective Journals:
Our graduate students are required to maintain a clinical reflective journal during each of their
practica. This is an introspective analysis of their development as a clinician, as well as
documentation of the literature review they are doing in relation to their clinical work. The
entries should include evidence of critical thinking/analysis; clinical insights; and meaningful
goals for self-improvement. We would ask that you have your students e-mail you their journal
submissions. Your comments/feedback are optional but highly valued and instructive.
Equipment and Therapy Materials:
Graduate student clinicians learn about professional practice by using equipment and therapy
materials available at each site. Often these materials are different than those available at the
university. Please let your student know what tests, materials, or equipment they are likely to
use, so that they may review these prior to their use. Your generosity in sharing the use of these
materials is appreciated. The graduate student clinician, of course, is responsible for proper use
and care of all materials.
University Coordinator’s Responsibility:
The university Practicum Coordinator is responsible for arranging for all off-site practicum
placements, and serves as a liaison between the assigned student clinician and hosting
supervisor. The Practicum Coordinator will be in regular contact with hosting clinical
educator/supervisors throughout the term, either electronically or in person. Clinical
educator/supervisors should contact the university coordinator immediately if any difficulty
arises during the student’s placement. .
Clock Hours:
Each graduate student clinician is responsible for keeping a daily log of the actual clinical clock
hours earned. According to current ASHA certification standards, Students must demonstrate
competency in the evaluation and treatment of articulation, fluency, voice and resonance,
receptive and expressive language disorders, hearing, swallowing disorders, other
communication modalities (AAC or non-verbal communication), cognitive aspects of
communication, and social aspects of communication. When determining how to code your
student’s clock hours, we encourage you to think of the types of supports offered to the client or
patient, rather than the diagnostic label that may be assigned to that individual. By doing this,
your student will be able to capture clinical clock hours in more of these nine areas. At the end
of the term, hours should be listed on the summary sheet with the signature of the on-site
supervisor and their ASHA account number. This form is available on the department website.
Please be reminded that a supervisor’s signature on the clinical clock hour form is verification
that the number of hours shown have been completed satisfactorily by the graduate student
clinician. Clock hours include only that time in direct management of a client/student.
Therefore, time spent in preparation, reviewing records, test scoring or data analysis, report
writing, or supervisory conferences, while essential to good practice, may not be counted as
clinical clock hours.
Once again, we thank you sincerely for your generous gift of time and expertise as you mentor
our graduate student clinicians!
Rev 12-24-15