05: The Patchwork Profession

Across the United States, speech-language pathology licensure looks wildly different from state to state. It's a patchwork of rules shaped not by a single national authority but by thousands of individual decisions over decades. This episode traces how school systems, state agencies, and clinician-run boards created a maze of inconsistent standards. And it reveals the surprising truth at the center of it all: The people regulating SLPs… are SLPs.Contact Megan: therapyinsights.com/insideslpPACT Survey: pactsurvey.comSources:New Jersey statutesUtah — Speech Language TechniciansIdaho public school requirementsNorth Dakota licensing rules and satutesMalone, R. (1999). The first 75 years: An oral history of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.