I fully support the removal of the requirement to obtain the Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) issued by ASHA in order to be licensed in Virginia. However, I do have a concern about the requirement of a provisional license in order to be licensed in the state. Historically, SLPs have done a clinical fellowship year (CFY) following their graduation in order to obtain their CCCs. During the CFY, SLPs are supervised by another SLP who would be able to serve as a supervisor while the new SLP has their provisional license in order to be fully licensed. In audiology, students complete a year long clinical experience prior to graduating. Audiologists do NOT need to complete the CFY in order to earn their CCCs.

I do not believe that audiologists should have to obtain a provisional license and have a supervisor in order to be fully licensed. In several audiology settings, there is only one audiologist at a given practice location. The requirement of audiologists having a provisional license and supervised by another audiologist will significantly impact audiologists hired to work in several settings. Audiologists complete their supervised training as part of their year long clinical experience while still enrolled in school.