CFCC Guidance Regarding Distance Supervision

In this difficult time, the Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Association (TSHA) is responding to concerns addressing telepractice and what we can and cannot do. Below is one question and answer.

Question: Can a clinical educator (CE) and student clinician be logged on in different locations as long as the CE is supervising 100 percent of the time? For example, in a Zoom meeting, the CE, student, and client are all live in the meeting, but the student and CE are not physically together.

Answer: Texas licensure doesn't apply to supervision of students, so we only need to follow American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) rules. The Council for Clinical Certification (CFCC) has clarified that side-by-side supervision is not required. Here's the wording about having the CE, student, and client/patient all in different locations: “(1) Graduate student clinicians enrolled in Council on Academic Accreditation (CAA)-accredited programs can engage in service delivery through telepractice when the clinical educator provides 100-percent direct supervision of the sessions in real time, either side-by-side with the student or with the student, the clinical educator, and the client/patient in different locations. This allowance is for both audiology and speech-language pathology programs.” Answer is provided by Sherry Sancibrian.