Thank you to all providers, families and friends who have signed and shared the petition for SLPAs to return to work to support the speech needs of children in Early Intervention.
 
I have been emailing directly with  the Executive Director of ISHA.  ISHA is very supportive of SLPAs returning to work.
 
It was clarified that the issue resides with the language in the practice act in reference to supervision  It states that SLPA supervision will be 
"On Site" and "In View".  It was determined that Live Video Visits do not currently meet that standard.
 
SLP Master's Program Students had this same restriction and they were granted a variance by IDFPR on April 6th that was based on the Gubernatorial Disaster Proclamation issued on March 9, 2020 that expanded Telehealth practice in Illinois.
 
ISHA had a meeting with IDFPR this past week.  A formal request for a variance for SLPA supervision has been made to IDFPR from ISHA.  It was determined that it may be based off of the same Gubernatorial Disaster Proclamation and there does not need to be another executive order from the Governor, which is good news because that would have taken much longer.
 
We do not have an exact time frame for when the variance may be approved, but it is helpful to know that ISHA is behind SLPAs and that immediate action has been taken to improve the current situation.
 
If you would like to see information about the previously issued variance or review the 225 ILCS 110/) Illinois Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Practice Act they are both at this link:  https://www.ishail.org/telepractice  (225 ILCS 110/8.7)
 
*As a note: in this practice act, SLPAs are specifically not allowed to do any consultations.  So the option to do consult calls in Early Intervention will not be reinstated for SLPAs because it is specified to be out of our scope of practice.  However, Live Video Visits fall within our scope of practice.
 
If you continue to advocate, please reach out to IDFPR and respectfully ask them to approve our variance.  We should reserve thanks for ISHA as they are advocating for us to have the variance.

Also please keep sharing this petition, since it also is directed to Mr. Miller.

Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology

Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation
Contact: Jerry Miller, Board Liaison
Phone: 217-785-0820
E-mail: jerry.r.miller@illinois.gov

Thank you for your support!