South Carolina 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

Speech-language pathology support personnel are not regulated in South Carolina schools.

Statutory and Regulatory Requirements

1. To qualify for a license, a speech-language pathology assistant must have a bachelor's degree in speech-language pathology from a regionally accredited institution, including a core curriculum of 36 semester hours and 100 clock hours of supervised clinical fieldwork.  
2. Applicants may submit an ASHA Speech-Language Pathology Assistant Certification as evidence of the 100 clinical clock hours. 
3. No speech-language pathology assistant may begin working in direct contact with clients without the Board's written approval of a supervisory agreement and on-the-job training plan.  
4. A licensee may supervise no more than two full time or three part-time assistants.  
5. Following on-the-job training, direct supervision of each assistant must consist of a minimum of one of every seven therapy sessions per patient of direct, visual supervision of client contact to include a sampling of each assigned service or task. This direct supervision must be on-site, in person, and documented in writing. This documentation must be maintained by the supervising speech-language pathologist for a period of four years and must be made available to the director or the designee upon request. Clients must be informed in writing when an assistant is providing direct services.  
6. Assistants must be clearly identified by a name tag.  
7. Speech-language pathology assistants must complete 8 hours of continuing education per license renewal period (biennial).  

Audiology

School Setting Requirements

Audiology support personnel are not regulated in school settings.

Statutory and Regulatory Requirements

Audiology support personnel are not regulated by statute.

Resources

For further information on laws and regulations for speech-language pathology and audiology support personnel in educational and other practice settings, please visit this website:

Laws and Regulations for Speech-Language Pathology Assistants
and Chapter 115 [PDF]

To see where your state stands on support personnel licensure trends, please view the trends charts which are updated annually:

• Support Personnel in Schools Settings [PDF]
• Support Personnel Excluding Schools Settings [PDF] 

Questions regarding state policy issues? Call ASHA at 800-498-2071 and ask for the State Advocacy Team.