Massachusetts 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.
Audiology
School Setting Requirements
No additional requirements.
Statutory and Regulatory Requirements
- Possess at minimum, an associate's degree in audiology from a training program approved by a national certifying body, or a bachelor's degree from a college with a audiology assistant certificate program, or a bachelors degree with a major in the area of audiology, or possess an associate, bachelor, or advanced degree and complete 18 credit hours in coursework in audiology, 6 of which must be in disorders of speech, language or hearing; other coursework as Board approved.
- Complete 20 hours of observation of clinical practice with a licensed audiologist.
- Patients must be informed when services are to be provided by an assistant.
- Each month 10% of services by assistants must be under direct supervision with an additional 10% supervised either directly or indirectly.
- Supervisors must be licensed and have been practicing for 2 years and may supervise a maximum of 3 assistants at any given time.
Speech-Language Pathology
School Setting Requirements
No additional requirements.
Statutory and Regulatory Requirements
- Possess at minimum, an associate's degree in speech-language pathology from a training program approved by a national certifying body, or a bachelor's degree with a major in speech-language pathology, or a bachelor's degree and a certificate from a board approved speech-language pathology assistant program, or possess an associate, bachelor, or advanced degree and complete 18 credit hours in coursework in speech-language pathology, 6 of which must be in disorders of speech, language or hearing; other coursework as Board of Registration in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology (Board) approved.
- Complete 20 hours of observation of clinical practice with a licensed speech language pathologist.
- Patients must be informed when services are to be provided by an assistant.
- Each month 10% of services by assistants must be under direct supervision with an additional 10% supervised either directly or indirectly.
- Supervisors must be licensed and have been practicing for 2 years and may supervise a maximum of 3 assistants at any given time
Resources
For further information on laws and regulations for speech-language pathology and audiology support personnel in educational and other practice settings, please visit:
To see where your state stands on support personnel licensure trends, please view the trends charts which are updated annually:
Questions regarding state advocacy issues? Call ASHA at 800-498-2071 and ask for the State Advocacy Team.
