Speak Out February 2021 DIGITAL EDITION

FAQs I’d like more information to help me understand the Standards relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. What do you suggest? Eddie Ong a speech pathologist and member of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Committee provides a helpful exploration of some of the new Professional Standards in his video discussion, and provides some practical suggestions for reflecting on and aligning our practice with the Professional Standards when working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

a particular client group, screen at-risk individuals or communities, offer various interventions to minimise impairment or increase participation, give a presentation to carers to support communication and swallowing needs, ensure health information is in an accessible format, or supervise a work experience student in order to promote the profession. These examples are just a small sample of activities that could be considered prevention and promotion. The breadth and diversity of speech pathology practice is one of the reasons why the Professional Standards are not prescriptive and why speech pathologists must be autonomous in their decisions regarding how they will meet the Standards in their context and role. Do I choose which standards apply to me or do they all apply? All the standards in the Professional Standards (SPA, 2020) apply to every speech pathology graduate, and to every practising speech pathologist as relevant to their work context and role. For example, Standard 2.7 ‘Contribute to the speech pathology evidence base’ applies to all speech pathologists; however, the elements that apply would likely be different for a research-only academic compared to a clinician working in a community health setting. In contrast, all of the elements described in Standard 1.2, ‘Comply with legislation, standards, policies and procedures' would apply to every practising speech pathologist as there would be no work context or role where these elements would not apply. There is no mention of complexity, advanced or extended scope of practice. Can you explain why? The Professional Standards (SPA, 2020) detail the minimum standards expected of all practising speech pathologists throughout their career. Complexity is multifaceted and may be defined differently by different speech pathologists, depending on factors including but not limited to context, role, responsibilities, experience and competency, client and environmental factors and supports and supervision available. Similarly, the terms advanced and extended scope of practice are not

How can I be sure I’m meeting the Professional Standards? The new Professional Standards (SPA, 2020) have no measures attached to them, so there are no measurable requirements at this time. The Professional Standards assume you are engaging in the standard/element, but what you do and how much or how frequently you do it will be informed by your role and context, as well as personal factors such as experience and competency. Can you provide an example regarding prevention and promotion? Prevention and promotion activities include an array of different areas of speech pathology practice. For example, some speech pathologists may volunteer their time at parent and babies expos or provide information to new parent groups about shared book reading or modelling language. Other speech pathologists might lobby their workplace for different eligibility criteria for

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Speak Out | February 2021