Your 30 ASHA professional development hours: what counts, and what to keep.

What ASHA asks of certified SLPs

30 hours every three years. ASHA says holders "must accumulate 30 professional development hours (PDHs) during each 3-year certification maintenance interval." One PDH is 60 minutes.

Two required content areas. The 30 hours must include 1 PDH in Content Area 1 and 2 PDHs in Content Area 2. Check ASHA's page for what each area covers. We do not claim that either course meets Content Area 1 or Content Area 2 requirements.

No prior approval. You "don't need prior approval from ASHA for the activities you choose." Courses offered by other organizations can count when their content relates to the science or contemporary practices in ASHA's Scope of Practice for SLPs. You decide whether a course fits, one course at a time.

Keep your records. Keep certificates showing your name, the course title, the sponsoring organization, attendance or completion dates, and hours earned. Your attendance must also be verifiable by a third party, such as the sponsoring organization.

Your state license is separate. State licensing boards set their own renewal rules, and some accept only certain providers. Check with your board.

Read ASHA's own pages before you plan your hours: Maintaining your CCC · PDHs for ASHA certification

Does an online autism course from Special Learning count toward my ASHA certification maintenance hours?

It can, if you decide its content relates to the science or contemporary practices in ASHA's Scope of Practice for SLPs. ASHA says you don't need prior approval from ASHA for the activities you choose, and you decide whether each course fits, one course at a time. These are not ASHA CEUs, and Special Learning is not an ASHA Approved CE Provider. We do not claim that any course meets Content Area 1 or Content Area 2. Your state license may have its own rules, so check with your board.

Two collaboration courses for SLPs: communication and school IEP teamwork

Each recorded course is 2 hours and costs $39, paid once, with a downloadable slide deck and a certificate of completion after you pass its quiz. The certificate shows Special Learning as the sponsoring organization, your name, the course title, start, completion and issue dates, and duration in hours. Choose each course according to its fit with the SLP Scope of Practice and your own learning needs. These are not ASHA CEUs, and Special Learning is not an ASHA Approved CE Provider.

Shared clients

SLP & ABA Collaboration: Working Across Disciplines to Support Communication

Melanie Olson Giles, Jennifer Rumfola and Noor Syed show how SLPs and BCBAs see language differently: shared terms (requesting and manding, labeling and tacting), comparing assessments, writing shared goals, and shaping a closer speech sound while taking data.

See the course, $39

School teams

Collaboration Series Module 1: IEP Team Multidisciplinary Collaboration

Ann Beirne and Jennifer Rumfola look at overlapping responsibilities on an IEP team: team roles, shared goals and disagreements between disciplines, collaboration models, parent participation, social validity and evidence-based practice in school teams.

See the course, $39

Other professions

Occupational therapists, psychologists, school psychologists, counselors and social workers: find your profession's course and board rule. Questions about a course? Contact us.