24.222.520    SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY SCOPE OF PRACTICE

(1) The scope of practice of speech-language pathology includes but is not limited to:

(a) screening, identification, assessment, treatment, intervention, and provision of follow-up services for disorders of:

(i) speech, including articulation, phonology, fluency, and voice;

(ii) language, including morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and disorders of receptive and expressive communication in oral, written, graphic, and manual modalities;

(iii) oral and pharyngeal functions, including disorders of swallowing and feeding;

(iv) cognitive aspects of communication; and

(v) social aspects of communication;

(b) determination of the need for augmentative communications systems and provision of training in the use of these systems;

(c) planning, directing, and conducting or supervising programs that render or offer to render a service in speech-language pathology;

(d) provision of nondiagnostic pure-tone testing, tympanometry, and acoustic reflex screening, limited to a pass/fail determination;

(e) aural rehabilitation, including services and procedures for facilitating adequate receptive and expressive communication in individuals with hearing impairments;

(f) oral motor rehabilitation, including services and procedures for evaluating and facilitating face, lip, jaw, and tongue mobility and control;

(g) cognitive retraining, including services and procedures for evaluating and facilitating memory, attention, reasoning, processing, judgment, and other related areas in individuals with language impairment resulting from head injury, stroke, or other insult;

(h) dysphagia therapy, including services and procedures for evaluating and facilitating swallowing and feeding in those individuals with swallowing disorders;

(i) consultation to educators, parents, and related service providers as members of interdisciplinary teams about communication management and educational implications of speech/language disorders;

(j) education to the general public as a means of prevention;

(k) designing and conducting basic and applied speech-language pathology research, and the dissemination of research findings to other professionals and to the public, to:

(i) increase the knowledge base;

(ii) develop new methods and programs; and

(iii) determine the efficacy of assessment and treatment paradigms;

(l) education and administration in speech-language pathology (communication disorders) graduate and professional education programs; and

(m) administration and supervision of professional and technical personnel who provide support functions to the practice of speech-language pathology.

History: 37-1-131, 37-15-202, MCA; IMP, 37-15-102, MCA; NEW, 2006 MAR p. 2413, Eff. 10/6/06.