By Mitch Holt, Staff Writer
Two speech pathology students went to the state capital to lobby against Senate Bill 311, which passed unanimously in the Senate last week. The bill limits the amount of training a person must have to treat individuals in speech therapy.
The students lobbied because they were taking a class offered at the Texas Speech Language Hearing Association annual convention, which took place March 31 through April 3 in Austin.
Amber Cardot, senior communication sciences and disorders major from Abilene, and Kimberly Zamarripa, senior communication major from Harlingen, traveled to Austin with about 15 students to attend the TSHA convention. Cardot is president of the ACU chapter of the National Student Speech-Language Hearing Association.
The class focused on communication with senators, but the students’ cause was legitimate.
“There are over 8,000 master’s degree-licensed speech-language pathologists in the state with appropriate credentials to work with language disorders, but only 300 individuals refer to themselves as academic language teachers and therapists,” said D’Lyla Kirby, assistant professor and clinic director in the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department.
Senate Bill 311 does not give any stipulation for the credentials of the 300 individuals other than a limited number of contact hours in training and supervision after training, Kirby said.
While at the capital, Cardot and Zamarripa were able to meet with Rep. Bob Hunter, whose headquarters are on the university campus, and tell him why they oppose Senate Bill 311.
“Dr. Hunter was very impressed that we were undergraduate students there lobbying for our future profession,” said Cardot.
Cardot said Casey Kelly, Hunter’s chief of staff, guided the students to Hunter’s office and allowed them to explain their objection to the bill while he highlighted the main points on the handouts the students gave him.
Kelly was going to put the information into the computer so Hunter can look at how many people opposed the bill when it is time to vote again, Cardot said.
Cardot is glad she was able to experience the event at the capital.
“It is important for students to get involved in the politics that will eventually affect the futures of our professions,” said Cardot. “It is also important that our state and national leaders realize that, even as college students, we are aware of how we can make a difference while they are making decisions that affect our futures.”
