District of Columbia Assistants (Support Personnel) Requirements

The following information includes audiology and speech-language pathology assistants and support personnel requirements in educational and other practice settings. The information is reviewed on an annual basis. Please be advised that regulations and policy may change at any time, so always check with your state for the most up-to-date information.

Speech Language Pathology

School Setting Requirements

Support personnel are not regulated in this setting.

Statutory and Regulatory Requirements

Speech-language pathology assistants must be registered and have graduated from an accredited college or university with at least an associate’s degree from a technical training program in speech-language pathology assisting or a bachelor’s degree in speech-language pathology.
To qualify for the renewal of a registration, speech-language pathology assistants must complete ten hours of approved continuing education during the two year period preceding the date the license expires, including one hour of ethics and two hours of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender nonconforming, and queer continuing education.
A speech-language pathologist supervising a speech-language pathology assistant must retain full professional and ethical responsibility for the professional conduct and performance of the speech-language pathology assistant and can delegate duties only as consistent with the training, experience, and ability of the speech-language pathology assistant.

Audiology

School Setting Requirements

Support personnel are not regulated in this setting.

Statutory and Regulatory Requirements

Audiology assistants must be registered and complete one of the following educational levels in audiology assisting, hearing sciences and disorders, communication sciences and disorders, or equivalent as determined by the Board:
1. Two (2) years of accredited college education, with a minimum of forty-eight (48) semester hours or seventy-two (72) quarter hours;
2. An associate’s degree from an accredited college; or
3. A technical school certification program.

The Board may waive the educational requirement of Chapter 17-10102.1 for an audiology assistant who:

Provides proof that they were employed as an audiology assistant under the direct supervision of an audiologist for a minimum of fifteen hours per week during three of the five years before February 5, 2014; and
Applies for registration no later than twelve months from the effective date of this section.

To be eligible for the registration renewal, audiology assistants must complete, during the two year period preceding the date the registration expires, ten hours of approved continuing education related to audiology, including one hour of ethics and two hours of continuing education on cultural competency or specialized clinical training focusing on patients or clients who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender nonconforming, queer, or question their sexual orientation or gender identity and expression.
A supervising audiologist must retain full professional and ethical responsibility for the professional conduct and performance of the audiology assistant and can delegate duties only as commensurate with the training, experience, and ability of the audiology assistant and within the scope of lawful practice.