MSLHA Newsletter

It's time for MSLHA's winter newsletter for 2024! Please let us know your thoughts and ideas about what to include in future publications by going to https://www.maineslp.org/ under "Contact Us" on the navigation menu.

Dear Members,

As the snow begins to melt and the promise of spring hangs in the air, I'm delighted to welcome you to the (almost) Spring edition of our newsletter. This year will be MSLHA’s 60th Anniversary and we celebrate our accomplishments, big and small, and reaffirm our commitment to serving those with communication disorders throughout Maine.

It’s the time of year where we typically have a changing of the guard in the Executive Council. We welcome Diane Norris and Julia MacKenzie who joined as co-chairs of the Professional Practice Committee and the Public Relations/Communication committee, respectively. We also say goodbye to a few long-time members of the EC. Michelle Rochester has been the MSLHA Treasurer for many years and has kept the organization financially afloat despite many challenges. Sharon Peabody has served on numerous committees and held the positions of President-Elect, President, and Past President. Sharon was again elected as MSLHA's President but is stepping down for personal reasons, so I will remain in the President position, and Alice Smith will return as Past President as well as co-chair of the Professional Practices committee. On behalf of the Executive Council and the entire Maine Speech Language Hearing Association, I extend our deepest gratitude for their dedicated service during their tenures on the EC. We wish them both the best!

In this newsletter, look for exciting updates on our Fall conference, our Legislative efforts on your behalf, and many more issues. We thank you for your continued support and invite you to reach out with questions, concerns and issues that affect you or other SLPs/AUDs in the State. Better yet, consider joining one of our committees and be part of the solution! Watch for updates on our Website, Facebook page and/or email us at mainespeechlanguagehearing@yahoo.com for more information.

Warm regards,

Beth Ellsworth

MSLHA President

In October of 1964, a handful of speech and hearing professionals started a state charter to help support and recruit fellow clinicians as well as bring to light issues related to the speech and hearing needs in Maine. When the Maine Speech and Hearing Association (the original name) was born, there were 12 members with President Sam Cheraso, Vice President Dick Holmes, and Treasurer/Secretary Roberta Hansen representing the first "Executive Council."

Since this year marks MSLHA's 60th anniversary, we want to celebrate and highlight some of the amazing things our organization has done over the years. Here are just a few:

• 1965: MSHA's first task was to work on certifying public school clinicians.

• 1969: MSHA helped establish the standards for hearing tests for school-age children in Maine.

• 1973: MSHA worked with the Department of Education and Cultural Services to pass a bill (L.D. 965) that allowed students who were deaf or hard of hearing to be in mainstream schools if their pupil evaluation team (including the parent) made this determination.

• 1976: MSHA helped create the state licensure board for SLPs and audiologists.

• 1980s: MSLHA (the late '70s was around the time the organization included "language" in the name) helped SLPs learn about the passage of what is now called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

• 1992: MSLHA established a task force for Pupil Evaluation Team (PET) guidelines for speech-language services.

• 2011: MSLHA fought for the passage of LD 129, “An Act to Eliminate Dual Certification Requirements for Speech-Language Pathologists." This allowed SLPs who held a license to work in Maine schools without the need of a 293 certification.

• 2015: MSLHA advocated for (and won!) equal pay for all private practice clinicians through MaineCare.

• 2020: MSLHA started assisting the state to make common sense changes to Chapter 9 rules for licensing speech-language pathology assistants (SLP-As). These guidelines were eventually passed after several revisions were made to the licensing requirements.

This year we will be sharing many more stories and the important contributions that our fellow speech, language, and hearing professionals have made over the last 60 years. If you would like to share a story and have it be included in the next newsletter and/or on one of our social media platforms, please email Katie Thibodeau at kcft10@gmail.com.

Katie Thibodeau

Membership Committee

We had another successful conference this past year! As you know, it was held a little bit earlier than usual (October instead of November) due to ASHA's annual conference scheduled that fall in Boston. And despite the (arguably) more challenging logistics, we returned to having participants choose two three-hour sessions a day, which some told us in their feedback was their preferred layout. Our speakers covered a wide range of topics, and we would like to thank all of them for the contributions they made. We also had our first DEI and Ethics sessions which are both now requirements to maintain your CCCs.

MSLHA would also like to extend a thank you to the outstanding group of vendors who generously provided participants with great information, products to purchase, and many freebies. You may have noticed six student volunteers as well who represented the University of Maine and New York University. They assisted both the speakers and the vendors (as well as fulfilled any other task asked of them!) throughout the conference.

MSLHA honored two scholarship award winners during our business meeting. Joseph Hitchcock was awarded the Mary K Brandt scholarship and Jenna O'Donnell was awarded the Dr. Jon Petit scholarship. Congratulations!

And finally, we would like to give a BIG shout out to our conference sponsors: Boothby Therapy Service, WPS, and Gray Consulting Services. Thank you for supporting your fellow speech, language, and hearing professionals!

Christine McAuley, Continuing Education Committee

Katie Thibodeau, Membership Chair

The Continuing Education Committee has been hard at work reviewing your feedback and solidifying speakers for this year's conference. Save the date for November 7th and 8th in Portland at the Italian Heritage Center! Stay tuned for a hotel block booking option as well.

MSHLA will be celebrating our 60th Anniversary this year! Get ready to hear from some favorite speakers from previous conferences and some exciting new topics as we charge forward into an exciting 2024!

Christine McAuley

Continuing Education Committee

MSLHA’s Legislative Committee needs you! Medicare cuts, equal compensation for SLPs in the schools, and the growing shortage of SLPs… these are some of the pressing issues affecting Maine.

• Medicare cuts – Rate cuts of 2-5% starts are expected to go into effect in March (retroactive to Jan 1, 2024). Since MaineCare and CDS rates are based on Medicare, cuts are expected for these payer sources as well. With the SLP shortage, wait lists are becoming more common.These rate cuts likely will make this situation worse.
• How can you help now? Contact Rep. Pingree, Rep. Golden, Sen. King, and Sen. Collins and ask them to stop the MaineCare cuts.
• Look for updates and calls to action as we continue to look for avenues to minimize the effects of the Medicare rate cuts.

• Equal compensation – Teachers completing the National Board Certified Teacher program receive a stipend. SLPs are not eligible for this program or the stipend. MSLHA maintains that our rigorous certification process qualifies SLPs for this stipend.
• MSLHA is looking for a sponsor to introduce a bill during the next legislative session.
• Look for updates and calls to action once the legislative session begins in January 2025.

• SLP shortage – Maine has a shortage of SLPs, which is expected to worsen in the coming years as more SLPs retire than enter the workforce. Look for updates as MSLHA works to develop strategies to address this issue.

Get involved. Advocate. Join the committee.

We can’t do alone. If you are willing to help, contact me at kdavis1768@gmail.com.

Karen Davis

MSLHA Legislative Chair

State Advocates for Medicare Policy (StAMPs) are one of ASHA’s 3 state advocacy networking

programs. StAMPs represent their state speech pathologists and audiologists with guidance,

leadership, and support on topics related to Medicare coverage, reimbursement, and service

delivery. They help ASHA and state regions stay abreast of legislation and policy issues and act

as liaisons with their state associations.

If you would be interested in representing Maine’s Medicare and Policy issues as a StAMP,

please email us at mainespeechlanguagehearing@yahoo.com.

ASHA’s other advocacy volunteer programs include the SEALs (State Education Advocacy

Leaders) and STARs (State Advocates for Reimbursement for Medicaid and Private Practice

Reimbursement). Our SEAL representative is Meg Jackins, CCC-SLP (megjackins@gmail.com)

and our STAR representative is Mark Hammond (MHammond@hammondme.com).

Alice Smith

Professional Practice/MSLHA Past-President

MSLHA would like to invite everyone to nominate persons or organizations they feel should be

recognized at our 60th Anniversary Conference in November.

The following are descriptions of our current awards/recognitions from MSLHA’s bylaws. Please feel free to recommend the outstanding people and organizations in your community for consideration.

1. The Roberta Hansen Individual with Communication Impairment Achievement Award

may be given annually to a Maine resident who has demonstrated outstanding effort to

improve their communication ability and/or quality of life, according to established

policies administered by the Executive Council.

2. The Distinguished Public Service Recognition may be given to an individual or

organization for their contribution to public understanding of individuals with speech,

language, or hearing disabilities.

3. The Outstanding Contribution Recognition may be given to a person or organization for

their contribution to the development of public policy that positively influences persons

with speech, language, or hearing disabilities.

Please email your nominations to mainespeechlanguagehearing@yahoo.com.

Alice Smith

Professional Practice/MSLHA Past-President

The book club continues to meet online and new folks are encouraged to join us! Some titles we have discussed are: Still Alice, The King's Speech, Left Neglected, Brain on Fire, Stutterer Interrupted, Schuyler's Monster, Seeing Voices, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. At our last meeting, we discussed Betsey Field's new book, Meet Me Where I Am, which shared her captivating years of work with a young man with ASD and OCD needs.

We have selected John Green's Turtles All the Way Down for our next read. The meeting is set for Sunday, April 7th at 6:30 pm. This young adult page-turner covers the topic of OCD. You can find used, low cost copies on Amazon and thrift books.

Please consider joining us for a special time to meet new people in our field and to read / discuss books that relate to our profession. Contact mchilds@rsu18.org for the link and with any questions. We also love new book suggestions!

Margie Childs

MSLHA Secretary

Website: https://www.maineslp.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maineslha

Email: mainespeechlanguagehearing@yahoo.com
Website: https://www.maineslp.org/
Location: PO Box 7 China, ME 04358