Prerequisite Courses for Assistants Certification

The following courses are mandatory for assistants who are applying for ASHA assistants certification.

1-hour course in ethics
1-hour course in universal safety precautions
1-hour course in patient confidentiality
ASHA’s online education modules for assistants, if required in your pathway option

The three 1-hour courses in ethics, universal safety precautions, and patient confidentiality are available from a variety of providers; you don’t have to take any specific course, nor does the course have to be from ASHA or an ASHA-approved provider. Many employers offer these courses as part of in-service training or professional development. Courses must have been completed no more than two years before you apply for the C-AA or C-SLPA.

Applicants may complete and submit an Assistants Verification of Attendance form [PDF] if they are not provided a certificate of completion. Certificates of completion must (1) include the name of the course, (2) include the date of completion, and (3) be at least one hour in length. Documentation may be e-mailed to assistants@asha.org.

Ethics

Coursework should cover one or more of the topic areas listed below.

Codes of ethics: interpretation, application, preventing and reporting violations
Professionalism and inter-professionalism
Ethical decision making
Confidentiality and conflicts of interest
Ethics and advertising, marketing, and social media
Client/patient records and technology platforms, security
Misrepresentation of services, competency
Ethics and research, human participants
Cultural competence, diversity, and multicultural issues

Universal Safety Precautions

Coursework should cover the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) definition as the approach to infection control to treat all human blood and body fluids as if they contain blood borne pathogens. Coursework may also cover COVID-19 protocols, including the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and masks, respiratory hygiene, handwashing, and cleaning and disinfection.

Patient Confidentiality

Coursework may cover patient confidentiality in administrative, physical, and technical aspects of maintaining patient/client/student records, social media, and other areas. Coursework may also cover the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

ASHA Online Education Modules for Assistants

In addition to completing the three mandatory prerequisite courses above, applicants who have not had specific academic training in the roles and responsibilities of working as an assistant must also complete ASHA's online education modules for assistants, or an equivalent academic course. If necessary, verification of equivalent coursework will be confirmed by transcript and course descriptions.

Register for Modules

Select "My Account" on the top right of any ASHA website page.
If you have an ASHA account, sign in with your username and password.
If you don’t have an ASHA account, select "create a new account" and choose a username (your email address) and password.

Purchase Modules

The module sets are available in the ASHA Store for $49. The set for audiology assistants is made up of 10 modules and will take about 3½ hours to complete. The set for SLP assistants is made up of 6 modules and will take about 3 hours to complete.

Login to your ASHA account and select "ASHA Store" at the top of the page.
Select "CE Courses" on the banner underneath the ASHA Store logo, then "Assistants" on the left side of the page.
Add the module to your cart and check out.

Access and Complete Modules

Login to your ASHA account.
Select "Access Your ASHA Courses."
On the "My Dashboard" page, select the course to get started.
After you complete the course, your account will be updated automatically. If you like, you can print out a certificate of completion from the My Dashboard section by selecting the course link under "Courses You’ve Completed."
Do not send this certificate to ASHA; it is for your records only. When your application is reviewed, we will confirm that you have met this requirement by reviewing the list of completed courses in your account.