South Dakota 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 assistants must meet the requirements of the speech-language pathology licensure law.

Statutory and Regulatory Requirements

Licensed speech-language pathology assistants must:

Hold an associate's degree in speech-language pathology assisting or a bachelor's degree with major emphasis in speech-language pathology or communication disorders from an accredited academic institution;
Complete a supervised clinical practicum of a minimum of one hundred clock hours as a speech-language pathology assistant while either on the job or during academic preparation; and
Have committed no act for which disciplinary action is justified.

To note:

A license may be issued for a speech-language pathology assistant if they hold a current, unrestricted license from a state with substantially equivalent licensure standards, or a current Certification in Speech-Language Pathology Assisting from ASHA.
An assistant must be supervised by a licensed speech-language pathologist (SLP) or an SLP with a limited license who has at least two years of experience as an SLP.
The supervising SLP may not supervise more than three speech-language pathology assistants at one time.
Paraprofessionals providing speech language pathology services, under the direct supervision of an SLP, with an SLP certificate from the Department of Education as of July 1, 2012, may be able to apply for a speech-language pathology assistant license. That person may continue to practice as a speech-language pathology assistant as long as they meet certain requirements including that they have continued to practice speech-language pathology services in the school district where they were employed at the time of initial application, with no break in employment.

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 these websites:

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.