The Professions Around the World: New Web-Based Directory Goes Global

You have accessThe ASHA LeaderWorld Beat1 Dec 2006The Professions Around the World: New Web-Based Directory Goes Global Kenneth M. Bleile, Lauren Ireland and Tricia Kiel Kenneth M. Bleile Google Scholar More articles by this author , Lauren Ireland Google Scholar More articles by this author and Tricia Kiel Google Scholar More articles by this author https://doi.org/10.1044/leader.WB.11172006.8 SectionsAbout ToolsAdd to favorites ShareFacebookTwitterLinked In Many speech-language pathologists and audiologists have interests that extend beyond their national borders. Some seek international connections for information exchange, discussion, and a sense of belonging to a large professional community. Some hope to visit, study, volunteer, or work abroad. Others are motivated by wanderlust, or the urge to “make a difference,” or by concerns about disparities in health care, educational opportunities, and social challenges faced by persons with communicative disorders in various places around the world. Many others wish to participate in international activities without leaving their home country—perhaps collecting books and supplies for professionals in a developing country, or simply reading about communication disorder services in professional journals. The recent quadrilateral agreement among the United States, Canada, England, and Australia both reflects and is likely to spur interest in international issues (Boswell, 2004). To judge by letters to international Web sites and frustrations voiced at professional meetings, far more clinicians seek international connections than obtain them. Often, professionals cite lack of readily accessible, reliable information as the single biggest stumbling block to obtaining international experiences. Those who would like an international experience sometimes feel they must “re-invent the wheel” to obtain one. As Caroline Bowen wrote in her Web site in response to a query asking how to obtain an international experience, “I get a lot of inquiries about this sort of thing, but as far as I know there is no central office that adventurous, globetrotting SLPs can turn to for advice.” Fortunately, a person who wants to develop a more international perspective on communication disorders need not re-invent the wheel. Great stores of information and advice already exist. The difficulty is that the information is spread across numerous places, including a multitude of Internet sites, books, articles, and discussion forums. An important step toward developing an international perspective was to pull this wealth of information together. The information that follows is based on the International Directory of Communication Disorders (IDCD), a free Internet resource (www.comdisinternational.com). The IDCD is a contribution to the attempt to facilitate international communication among persons in the professions. It required two years to complete and involved the efforts of many students and colleagues—including an advisory board that began as eight colleagues meeting in the author’s hotel room at the 2003 ASHA Convention and grew to include a diverse group of 27 clinicians, academics, and students from many places around the world. Tracking down information for the IDCD felt like detective work—following leads, interviewing in person and via e-mail, contacting colleagues of colleagues, visiting programs, collecting stories. Many more leads ended in dead-ends than in somewhere fruitful. Sometimes, though, patient labor was rewarded with a huge cache of information, or a single hard-to-find address, or a great, fascinating story from a colleague in a distant country. Six insights emerged from the effort to develop the IDCD: 1. The impact of a communication disorder varies depending on where a person lives. The amount of attention a country gives to communication disorders depends on its history, cultural views on language and disability, economics, and availability of services (Kotby, 2006; McLeod & Bleile, 2007). As a result, someone with a fluency disorder may lead a normal and productive life in one country, while in another may spend life shut away in the family home (St. Louis & Andrade, 2004). In many countries a developmental language disorder is considered a treatable problem; in others, it may prohibit an education. In some countries a person with a severe hearing impairment may elect to enter the Deaf community or receive a cochlear implant, while in others a severe hearing impairment effectively denies or limits access to education, health services, and community (Jewett, 2003). Challenges encountered by a person with a communication disorder may be aggravated in countries with more limited health and education resources. In an impoverished country, not all children may be permitted to attend school. As the World Bank’s Millennium Project (World Bank Group, 2005) emphasizes, child mortality rates are tied to poverty, lack of education, and limited access to health care. To illustrate, in the West African country of Mali, the mortality rate in poor, rural families is twice as high as that in wealthy urban families. Worldwide, 100 million primary-aged school children remain out of school, almost 60% of them girls. A disability that limits a person’s educational and vocational opportunities, including those in communication, contributes to poverty and, consequently, to higher childhood mortality. In recognition of the impact of education and disability on childhood mortality, the Millennium Project’s five-point agenda includes improving human development services by rapidly increasing the supply of skilled workers in health and education (World Bank Group, 2005). 2. Titles, education levels, and responsibilities of professionals vary widely among nations. Clinicians in the U.S. professions of speech-language pathology and audiology have different names elsewhere—including speech and language therapists, logopedics, speech-language pathologists, speech pathologists, phonoatricans, phonoaudiologists, audiologists, and audiometricists. Differences go beyond name. A bachelor’s degree is required to practice in many countries; associate and master’s degree requirements are less common. Importantly, because university systems differ, a bachelor’s degree in one country may not be equivalent to the same degree in another. Responsibilities of professionals also differ: some countries blend speech-language pathology and audiology services, while in others the professions more closely resemble a branch of special education. 3. The professions of speech-language pathology and audiology are new or non-existent in many countries. Poverty may preclude a nation’s ability to train professionals (Ndigirwa, 2006). In less-affluent countries, communication services may not exist or may be provided by family members, volunteers, or members of another discipline, including nursing, psychology, or education. In Turkey, for example, the profession of speech-language pathology is newly established. As a result, 97% of speech-language pathology services are still performed by persons in other disciplines, including audiologists [Topbas S., & Özdemir, S. (2001)]. Formal education for such persons about communication disorders may be nonexistent or consist of a single course or seminar. 4. At least 55 nations or territories have national professional associations focusing on communication disorders. Approximately one-quarter of the world’s nations have national professional associations focusing on communication disorders (see Table 1). In countries in which the professions are well-developed, an increasingly typical pattern is to have two national associations, one focusing on speech-language pathology and the other on audiology. Some countries have more than two. For example, Germany has at least five national associations, and Argentina and Brazil each have four. Table 1 lists the largest national association in each country (in English when reliable translations are available); a maximum of two are listed for countries in which each of the professions has a national association. National professional organizations are well- established in Europe, throughout the Americas, and in parts of the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. In sub- Saharan Africa, national associations are found in South Africa and Nigeria. As of this writing, the newest national association is in Turkey. National associations in some countries comprise many thousands of members, while others consist of a few pioneers. Information on numbers of persons within these associations is not always available. 5. At least 24 international professional associations and groups focus primarily on communication disorders. These organizations differ enormously from one another in perspective and scope (see Table 2). For example, the International Affairs Association and Communication Therapy International share broad perspectives, with the former focusing on the entire world and the latter on supporting SLPs in countries with no or limited services for persons with communication impairments. The International Hearing Society, Humanitarian Audiology, the International Society of Audiology, and the International Association of Logopedics and Phonoatrics have missions nearly as broad—they have the entire world and either audiology or speech-language pathology within their purviews. Associations such as the International Stuttering Association, the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication, and International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association focus on a narrower range of disability. Still other types of associations concentrate on communication disorders as they occur in a specific world region, including the Asia Pacific Society for the Study of Speech, Language and Hearing and the Indo-International Society of Communication and Hearing Sciences. 6. At least 51 nations and territories have post-secondary school programs that educate students in either speech-language pathology or audiology. Addresses for education programs in these countries are best accessed through national and international associations (see Table 3). This list overlaps extensively with, but is not identical to, the list of countries and territories with national associations. Student education programs are found primarily in Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and parts of Asia and the Middle East. A single sub-Saharan African country—South Africa—has student education programs. The newest student education programs (as of this 2006 writing) are in Kuwait and Bangladesh. In total, at least 672 student education programs exist worldwide. In countries and territories with student education programs, the number of programs available to a student varies tremendously. To illustrate, two large populous countries—the United States and Brazil—have approximately 300 and 100 student education programs, respectively. However, an even larger and more populous country, China, has one such program—the University of Hong Kong Speech and Hearing Services. The International Perspective In countries with more limited resources, a disability that restricts a person’s educational and vocational opportunities contributes to poverty and, consequently, to higher childhood mortality. Education programs for students and national associations help protect the public through advocacy and education, and by establishing and maintaining standards of care. International associations facilitate interactions among groups with similar professional interests. A person seeking an international perspective on communication disorders may be surprised to learn how much international work already is taking place. A quarter of the world’s countries and territories have professionals who provide communication services to their citizens—a vast increase in service provision and a shining accomplishment for professions that existed in only a handful of countries 50 years ago. The professions are largely absent in three-quarters of the world’s countries and territories, many of which are also the most impoverished. In such countries, communication services may not exist or may be provided by volunteers or members of another discipline, including nursing, psychology, or education. Fortunately, a professional seeking a more international perspective on communication disorders has many resources upon which to draw. Whether the motivation is simple curiosity, armchair traveling, fundraising, or the desire to study, volunteer, or work abroad, great stores of information and resources already exist. The challenge is to learn where these resources are and how to tap into them. By the Numbers Countries with national associations: At least 55 Country with the newest national association: Turkey Number of international professional associations and groups: At least 24 Newest international association: Asia Pacific Society for the Study of Speech, Language and Hearing Number of countries with student education programs: At least 51 Region with fewest student education programs: Sub-Saharan Africa Countries developing student education programs: Iceland and Singapore Number of student education programs worldwide: Approximately 672 Country with the newest student program: Bangladesh Resource The International Directory of Communications Disorders (ICDC) can be found at www.comdisinternational.com. This free Internet resource for SLPs and audiologists includes comprehensive listings of: National speech-language-hearing and audiology associations in countries and territories throughout the world, with descriptions and addresses International organizations for professionals who care for persons with communication disorders Countries and territories with student education programs Agencies that offer study, volunteer, or work abroad opportunities The site also includes health and travel guides and first-person accounts of international experiences. Countries with National Associations Argentina Asociacion Argentina de Logopedia www.asalfa.org Asociacion Argentina de logopedia Foniatria y Audiologia (ASALFA) www.afafonoaudiologica.com.ar Australia Speech Pathology Australia www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au Audiological Society of Australia (ASA) www.audiology.asn.au/ Austria Bundesverband Diplomierte Logopädinnen Österreich http://www.logopaedieaustria.at/de/welcome.htm Oesterreichische Gesellschaft für Logopädie www.hno.at Belgium Union Professionnelle des Logopèdes Francophones (UPLF) www.uplf.be Vlaamse Verening voor Logopedisten www.vvl.be Brazil Conselho Regional de Fonoaudiologia www.cefac.br The Regional Council of Speech-language Pathology (São Paulo) www.fonosp.org.br Canada Canadian Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (CASLPA) www.caslpa.ca Canadian Academy of Audiology www.canadianaudiology.ca Chile Colegio de Fonoaudiólogos de Chile E-mail: [email protected] China The Hong Kong Association of Speech Therapists (HKAST) www.speechtherapy.org.hk Columbia Asociación Colombiana de Fonoaudiología y Terapia del Lenguaje (ACFTL) www.asofono.org/ Costa Rica Asociación Costarricense de Terapeutas del Lenguaje (ACOTEL) E-mail: [email protected] Cuba Asociacion de Linguistas de Cuba No Web site Cyprus Cyprus SLT-SLP Association www2.cytanet.com.cy/speechtherapy Czech Republic The Association of Clinical Logopedics No Web site Denmark Danish Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ALF) Audiologopaedisk Forening www.alf.dk Egypt Egyptian Society of Phoniatrics and Logopedics E-mail: [email protected] Estonia Estonian Logopedists Union No Web site Finland Suomen Puheterapeuttiliitto www.puheterapeuttiliitto.fi France Federation Nationale des Orthophonistes www.orthophonistes.fr Union Nationale pour le Développement de la Recherche et de l’Évaluation en Orthophonie www.unadreo.org Germany Deutscher Bundesverband für Logopädie e.V. www.dbl-ev.de Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Phoniatrie und Padaudiologie e.V. Abt fur Audiologie und Phoniatrie www.dgpp.de/ Greece Panhellenios Syllogos Logopedikon www.logopedists.gr Hungary Ungarishe Gesellschaft fur Phonetik, Phoniatrie und Logopadie (Ungarishe Society for Phonetics, Phoniatrie und Logopadie) No Web site Iceland The Icelandic Association of Speech Therapists and Speech-language Pathologists No Web site India Indian Speech and Hearing Association http://ishaindia.org.in/ Indonesia Indonesian Speech Therapist Association E-mail: [email protected] Ireland Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists www.rcslt.org/ I.A.S.L.T. (Irish Association for Speech and Language Therapists) E-mail: [email protected] Israel Israeli Speech, Hearing and Language Association (ISHLA) http://www.ishla.org.il/ Italy Federazione Logopedisti Italiani (FLI) www.fli.it Japan Japanese Association of Speech Language-Hearing Therapists (JAS) www.jaslht.gr.jp/ Japan Audiological Society www.audiology-japan.jp Luxembourg Association Luxembourgeoise des Orthophonistes www.alo.lu Malaysia Malaysian Association of Speech-Language and Hearing (MASH) www.mash.org.my/ Malta The Association of Speech Therapists No Web site Mexico Sociedad Mexicana de Audiologia y Foniatria No Web site The Netherlands Nederlandse Verening voor Logopedie en Foniatria (NVLF) www.nvlf.nl New Zealand New Zealand Speech-Language Therapists Association (NZSTA) www.nzsta-speech.org.nz New Zealand Audiological Society (NZAS) www.audiology.org.nz/ Nigeria Nigerian Speech and Hearing Association No Web site Norway The Norwegian Association of Speech and Language Therapists www.norsk-logopedlag.no The Norwegian Association of Audiologists No Web site Panama Colegio Nacional de Fonoaudiólogos de Panamá E-mail: [email protected] Philippines Philippine Association of Speech Pathologists E-mail: [email protected] Poland Polish Logopaedic Society www.logopedia.umcs.lublin.pl Phoniatric Section of the Polish ENT Society E-mail: [email protected] Portugal Associação Portuguesa Terapeutas da Fala www.aptf.org Puerto Rico Organización Puertorriqueña de Patología del Habla, Lenguaje y Audiología (OPPHLA) E-mail: [email protected] Russia Association of Phoniatricians and Speech Therapists E-mail: [email protected] Saudi Arabia Saudi speech Pathology and Audiology Association No Web site Singapore Speech Language Hearing Association, Singapore (SHAS) www.shas.org.sg/ South Africa South African Speech Language Hearing Association (SASLHA) www.saslha.co.za South Korea Korean Academy of Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology www.kasla.or.kr/ Spain Asociación de Diplomados Universitarios en Logopedia www.adul-logopedia.org Association Espanola de Logopedia Foniatria y Audiologia (AELFA) www.aelfa.org/ Sweden The Swedish Association of Logopedists (SLOF) http://www.dik.se/logoped Swedish Association of Phoniatrics and Logopedics (SFFL) No Web site Switzerland Conference des Associations Professionnelles Suisses des Logopedistes - C/APSL Schlössli 62 CH- 2512 Tüscherz-Alfermée Switzerland www.logopaedie.ch Schweizerische Arbeitsgemeinschaft fürLogopädie (SAL) www.salogopaedie.ch Taiwan The Speech-Language-Hearing Association of the Republic of China www.slh.org.tw/ Thailand Thai Speech and Hearing Association E-mail: [email protected] Turkey Association of Speech and Language Pathologists (DKBUD) www.dkbud.org Association of Audiology, Speech and Voice Pathologists No Web site United Kingdom Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) www.rcslt.org/ British Academy of Audiology www.baaudiology.org/ United States of America American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) www.asha.org/ American Academy of Audiology (AAA) www.audiology.org Uruguay Asociación de Fonoaudiología del Uruguay (A.deF.U.) E-mail: [email protected] Venezuela Asociación Fonoaudiólogos Venezuela No Web site International Associations Afasic http://www.afasic.org.uk/ Asia Pacific Society for the Study of Speech, Language and Hearing www.shrs.uq.edu.au/asiapacific Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders www.capcsd.org/ Caroline Bowen’s Website http://www.speech-language-therapy.com Comité Permanent de Liaison des Orthophonistes / Logopedes de l’Union Européenne (CPLOL) www.cplol.org/default_.htm Communication Therapy International (CTI) No Web site DGSS (Deutsche Gesellschaft f. Phoniatrie u. Pädaudiologie e.V.) www.dgss-ev.org Disability Resource Directory www.disability-resource.com Humanitarian Audiology http://www.isa-audiology.org/human.html Indo-International Society of Communication and Hearing Sciences www.iischs.com The International Association of Logopedics and Phonatrics (IALP) http://www.ialp.info/ International Association of Orofacial Myology (IAOM) www.iaom.com/ International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association (ICPLA) http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~mjb0372/ICPLA.html International Fluency Association (IFA) www.theifa.org International Hearing Society (IHS) www.ihsinfo.org International Society of Audiology (ISA) www.isa-audiology.org International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC) http://www.isaac-online.org/en/about/index.html International Stuttering Association (ISA) http://www.stutterisa.org/ PanAmerican Society of Audiology www.pasaudi.org The Overseas Association of Communication Sciences (OSACS) E-mail: [email protected] Talking Point http://www.talkingpoint.org.uk/ Union of the European Phoniatrics http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~uep/ World Federation of the Deaf http://www.hearinglossweb.com/res/hlorg/wfd.htm Nations and Territories with Student Education Programs Algeria, Japan Argentina, Jordan Australia, Kuwait Austria, Latvia Bangladesh, Malaysia Belgium, Mexico Brazil, Netherlands Canada, New Zealand Chile, Norway China, Peru Columbia, Philippines Costa Rica, Portugal Cuba, Puerto Rico Denmark, Russia Dominican Republic, Singapore* Egypt, Slovak Republic Finland, South Africa France, South Korea Germany, Spain Greece, Sri Lanka Iceland*, Sweden India, Taiwan Indonesia, Thailand Iran, United Kingdom Ireland, Turkey Israel, Uruguay Italy * Development of a program is under discussion A Quick Tour Around the World If you want a quick Internet tour of the professions of communication disorders around the world, the following opinionated list may provide a to American Academy of Audiology (AAA) www.audiology.org An with information about audiology from an international American Speech-Language-Hearing Association www.asha.org/ Website of the world’s largest national association of communication the site has resources both on the professions in the United States and on international Asia Pacific Society for the Study of Speech, Language and Hearing www.shrs.uq.edu.au/asiapacific The newest international association focusing on communication its focus is the Asia Pacific a vast vast disparities in health care and education. Conselho Regional de Fonoaudiologia Council of www.cefac.br A complete focusing on Brazil, the country with the world’s largest number of student education programs in communication disorders. of the is in are also in Caroline Bowen’s Website A international the is the best on the Internet to disorders from an international for and If you to travel in where health this is the site to Comité Permanent de Liaison des Orthophonistes / Logopedes de l’Union Européenne (CPLOL) and Language Therapy in European www.cplol.org/default_.htm This is the best Internet resource for information on the professions in Humanitarian Audiology http://www.isa-audiology.org/human.html A for audiologists, American to improving the care of hearing disorders worldwide. Indo-International Society of Communication and Hearing Sciences www.iischs.com A great site with information about the professions in A new of the site is an The International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics (IALP) http://www.ialp.info/ This is the of the international association focusing on communication disorders. Malaysian Association of Speech-Language and Hearing (MASH) www.mash.org.my/ This is a great to out on in a country with an community of speech-language pathologists and New Zealand Speech-Language Therapists Association (NZSTA) www.nzsta-speech.org.nz This is a site that an perspective on the professions in New Speech Language Hearing Association, Singapore (SHAS) www.shas.org.sg/ Singapore has a professional but for of numbers with and The is an to learn more about the professions in an of the world. South African Speech Language Hearing Association (SASLHA) www.saslha.co.za This is the of the best established professional association in sub-Saharan South Africa is where African students go for in communication disorders. If the of communication disorders has a in sub-Saharan Africa, it in South United States This of countries. World Website of the international health care the site is not always to but the information it is the and S. International agreement recognition of ASHA Google Scholar Bowen Google Scholar A labor of in ASHA Scholar M. of ASHA Scholar McLeod S. & Bleile Speech A McLeod The International Perspective on Speech New Google Scholar A from The International Directory of Communication Google Scholar Louis & de toward and other human in & M. of the World on Fluency Disorders The University Google Scholar S., & S. An profession in Speech and language of International Education Turkey. Google Scholar World Bank Google Scholar Kenneth M. Bleile, is a in the of Disorders at the University of is the author of including The and of and at [email Lauren Ireland, from the University of with a master’s degree in language has as an in Chile, and Tricia from the University of with a master’s degree in speech-language has interests in international issues persons with communication disorders. of the ASHA the of Speech-Language International and 2006 to in Dec 2006 & 2006 American Speech-Language-Hearing

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