Blog Post: Speech Pathologists Needed In Arizona

 Arizona is looking for speech pathologists to work with our students. Do you know how to qualify in Arizona? Below is listed the steps you need to take to qualify for this important career. 

Arizona has two levels of certificates for speech therapists: Speech-Language Pathologist, for master's-level speech pathologists, and Speech-Language Technician, for Bachelor's-level speech therapists.  The Speech-Language Technician certificate requires a Bachelor's degree in speech-hearing sciences, speech pathology, or communication disorders. The Speech Pathologist certificate requires a Master's degree in speech pathology or communication disorders. 

There is no "course-by-course" option to qualify for an Arizona certificate.  An individual must have the required degree.

What would a prospective speech teacher need to do to start working toward certification?

The Speech-Language Pathologist certificate requires:

      *A Master's or more advanced degree, from an accredited institution, in speech pathology or communication disorders.

      *A minimum of 250 clinical clock hours supervised by a university or a speech-language pathologist with a certificate of clinical competence. 

      *A certificate of clinical competence, OR a passing score on the national exam, OR a passing score on the Speech and Language Impaired Special Education portion of the Arizona Educator Proficiency Assessment (AEPA). 

      *A valid fingerprint clearance card issued by the Arizona Department of Public Safety.  

 

The Speech-Language Technician certificate requires:

      *A Bachelor's degree from an accredited program in Speech-Language Pathology, Speech-Hearing Sciences, or Communication Disorders

      *A minimum of 50 hours of university supervised observation. 

      *A minimum of 150 university clinical clock hours, OR 150 clock hours supervised by a Master's level licensed speech-language pathologist, OR two years experience as a school speech-language therapist or technician.

      *A passing score on the Speech and Language Impaired Special Education portion of the Arizona Educator Proficiency Assessment (AEPA).

      *A valid fingerprint clearance card issued by the Arizona Department of Public Safety.  

 

Speech pathologists and technicians are also required to be licensed through the Department of Health Services (DHS).  Speech technicians receive a limited license as a speech pathologist from DHS (the license is limited to working in the schools).

Who is ready to come on to Arizona and work with our great kids? Let us know and we will help you become certified as a speech pathologist.