Continuing Education FAQ

Once you’ve accumulated 30 Certification Maintenance Hours (CMHs) during your three-year maintenance interval, you need to submit only one form, the Certification Maintenance Compliance form [PDF]. You’ll only need to provide documentation of attendance if you’re selected for the audit, and there are exemptions if you’re retired or have extenuating circumstances.

• A CMH is 60 minutes spent in a professional development activity as a learner and participant.
• CMHs are accumulated through participation in non-ASHA CEU activities for the purpose of maintaining your CCCs.
• If you choose to use CMHs, you will be responsible for obtaining and keeping documentation verifying completion of the activity.
• CMHs are not considered to be approved by ASHA for any purpose other than meeting the professional development requirement for maintaining the CCCs.
• You may accumulate all 30 of your required CMHs through participation in non-ASHA CEU activities but they will not be documented on the ASHA CE Registry.

ASHA CEUs are awarded by ASHA’s Continuing Education Board for activities registered with ASHA by approved CE providers and are documented through the ASHA CE Registry. The CEU is a nationally recognized standard unit of measurement for participation in continuing education (CE) activities that are not offered for academic credit. A professional development contact hour is 60 minutes of interaction between a learner and instructor or between learner and materials that have been prepared to facilitate learning.

You may use a variety of activities that are not registered for ASHA CEUs, such as employer-sponsored in-services, other professional organizations’ continuing education activities, college or university course work, or courses authorized by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) at http://www.iacet.org. The benefit of using ASHA CEUs to maintain your CCC is that you won’t have to keep records of your activities. If you’re selected for audit, you won’t have to report your activities or submit verification of attendance. Your Continuing Education (CE) Registry Transcript will be your verification of attendance.

You may combine ASHA CEUs, academic credit, and employer-sponsored or other CMHs to meet the requirement as follows:

• 3.0 CEU = 30 CMHs
• 1.0 CEU = 10 CMHs
• 0.1 CEU = 1 CMH
• 1 quarter hour of academic course work = 10 CMHs
• 1 semester of academic course work = 15 CMHs

Your activities will be accepted as long as they:

1. Occur during your three-year maintenance interval
2. Meet the definition of professional development

When choosing non-ASHA activities, ask yourself this question: Would my clients, peers, allied health professional colleagues, employer, and professional Code of Ethics recognize this activity as appropriate professional development that enhances the knowledge and skills necessary in my practice setting and in my area of practice? If the answer is no, you should not use the activity to maintain your CCC.

You will receive notification of your first three-year maintenance interval. When you receive your annual ASHA Identification Card, the letter will include your current three-year maintenance interval. You can request a one-time, permanent change to your interval.

All certificate holders are required to submit a Certification Maintenance Compliance form [PDF] after accumulating all 30 CMHs during each three-year maintenance interval. Individuals are randomly selected for the audit and will be notified after ASHA receives the Certification Maintenance Compliance form. Please don’t send attendance documentation unless you receive an audit notice. Documentation sent prior to a Compliance Form will be discarded.

If you use CMHs, you will be required to submit a Certification Maintenance Record Keeping form [PDF] which summarizes the activities you completed, as well as the documentation that verifies your attendance at each activity listed. If you use ASHA CEUs and your CE Registry Transcript includes 3.0 ASHA CEUs during the three-year maintenance interval, you will not be required to submit any additional forms or documentation. If you use a combination of ASHA CEUs and CMHs you’ll submit a Certification Maintenance Record Keeping form and documentation verifying attendance for CMH activities. You will not be required to report or document any activities on your CE Registry transcript.

Examples of acceptable documentation are certificates of attendance, transcripts of activities from state associations, copies of college transcripts, letters of verification from your employer, etc. Copies are acceptable and signatures are not required.

Documentation of attendance must include:

1. Title of the course/activity
2. Name of the sponsoring organization
3. Date(s) of attendance
4. Number of CMHs

Compliance forms may be submitted at any time during a three-year maintenance interval as long as you have accumulated all 30 CMHs. The deadline for accumulating the required 30 CMHs in each certification maintenance interval is Dec. 31. Compliance forms must be submitted no later than April 1 of the year following the end of the three-year interval. For example, if your three-year interval ends on Dec. 31, 2006, you must complete all 30 CMHs by that date. You must submit the Compliance form no later than April 1, 2007.

Yes. If you are not providing or supervising clinical services, you may apply for an exemption if you are retired, disabled, deployed on active military duty, and have other extenuating circumstances. Clinical services are defined as evaluation and treatment of persons with speech-language and/or hearing impairments.

Yes, there is assistance available. You can contact the WVSHA CEA at helan@spruceknob.net or the ASHA Action Center at 800-498-2071 if you have general questions about the certification maintenance process.