SLPA’s should have their own licensure with continuing education requirements. Qualifications for SLPA’s should include no less than a bachelor’s degree in communication disorders or graduation from an accredited SLPA program. Intensive master’s programs and supervised clinical experiences are the basic qualifications for SLPs and we should not be considering assistants without specific instruction in speech-related topics. Any less than those standards places far too much of a burden on the supervising SLP to instruct the SLPA in the many areas of speech pathology. In terms of scope of practice, SLPA’s should not have any part of the assessment process. The document also stated that SLPA’s could not tabulate or interpret results of feeding/swallowing assessments and I feel this should be for all assessments not just feeding/swallowing. There needs to be a more clear cut set of guidelines (i.e. licensure and governing board) to the responsibilities of the SLPA. The statement regarding that the SLP supervising an assistant shall be responsible for determining whether the abilities of the SLPA are sufficient to ensure competency to perform tasks should again not be on the burden of SLP. The adoption of SLPA’s in Virginia could be of great value only if executed and governed appropriately.