Legislative Advocacy
As future audiologists and speech-language pathologists, you're going to spend much of your time being an advocate—for your clients, for their care, and for the treatment you're proposing.
Because you're entering a profession that can be affected by decisions made by your state and federal legislators, your voice is an important part of the future of the professions.
Grassroots advocacy is an easy way for chapters to get involved. Learn about current issues, contact your legislators and government officials, and tell them your story. Your goal should be to raise awareness of current issues, and make them real by sharing your stories and passion.
Student Advocacy Day— October 24, 2025
Join forces with fellow CSD students and NSSLHA chapters to make your collective voice be heard on Student Advocacy Day—connect with your members of Congress about the federal-level issues that are most important to you and the professions. Learn how to participate.
State Association Event
In addition to getting involved at the federal level, it's essential to get involved at the state level too. The best way to do this is by getting involved with your state association! They're your best resource for info related to state licensure, regulations, and upcoming issues. Often, state associations will schedule meetings with local and state representatives to advocate for the professions. So, getting involved with your state association is a great way to jump into advocacy, as well as network with your future colleagues.
Take Action
Can't participate in one of the events mentioned above? Organize a time for your chapter to get together and reach out to members of Congress through the student section of ASHA's Take Action webpage.
Chapter Examples
Here are some great examples from our chapters:
Central Michigan University (Grad Chapter):
Our NSSLHA group wrote letters to our Michigan Representatives regarding the Michigan Dyslexia Laws. We wanted to have our voices be heard by writing and urging that Dyslexia-focused legislation needs to be passed as bills to get the students who have Dyslexia the help they need and deserve in their school systems. These bills focus on trying to get teachers taught and instructed in how to help those that have dyslexia, as well as get them the intervention they deserve. Our program has a dyslexia evaluation team so our organization feels strongly about this and it is often overlooked or brushed aside. We had around 25-30 of our members participate in sending letters. This was completed during a meeting and we all submitted letters electronically.
University of Florida (Graduate)
Our chapter’s second legislative advocacy event of the year took place at our card-making event for the skilled-nursing facility, on February 27th. We chose to talk about the impact to our services and patients when there are medicare payment cuts, since this is a present issue in the SNF setting. Our members submitted letters to Congress to act on the issue and help reduce these cuts. Our chapter members were so happy to learn that thanks to the advocacy efforts from ASHA and NSSLHA members, President Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 into law!
Cal State Sacramento (Combined Chapter):
For our first legislative advocacy event, we invited three school-based SLPs to an Advocacy Panel to discuss their experience working in schools and identify what areas there is a need to advocate for. Because all of us are still students, we wanted to have a deeper understanding of what working SLPs are going through, especially coming back from many schools being locked down. Some questions we asked them included the following:
- What do you do to advocate for your students/families?
- How do you advocate for yourself and your colleagues?
- What is the most passing advocacy issue in Speech and/or Audiology right now?
- What should students know about advocacy and/or these issues?
During this event, we identified that the main thing SLPs felt they needed more support on is managing their caseload. In the Sacramento area, there is not a cap on caseloads and only averages, and this meant some SLPs felt their caseload was too big for them to manage on their own even though it met all regulations.
This event had a big impact on our members and we used this as our baseline to draft a letter to representatives in California.
Butler University (Undergrad Chapter):
Butler University's chapter undertook a meaningful initiative by participating in the Indiana Speech Language Hearing Association (ISHA) Legislative In-Person Day at the Indiana State House. Students from our organization attended this luncheon, fostering connections with peers from the Indiana area and engaging directly with senators. During this event, our focus centered on advocating for legislative bills SB1 and SB6, specifically addressing literacy. Emphasizing the integral relationship between oral language skills and literacy, we asserted that literacy cannot thrive without a solid foundation in language. Our discussions delved into concerns regarding certain provisions of the bills, particularly the limited criteria exempting students from retention. We underscored the potential risks associated with tying retention to assessments without a well-defined plan for literacy interventions. Furthermore, we underscored the significance of reading proficiency legislation addressing challenges faced by students in higher grades. Advocating for the development of comprehensive guidance for schools to support literacy, we, as future speech-language pathologists and audiologists, recognize the importance of actively participating in shaping and influencing current legislation to enhance the educational landscape.
East Tennessee State University
For our March meeting, NSSLHA invited the vice president of Legislative Affairs of the Tennessee Association of Audiologists and Speech Language Pathologists (TAASLP) and another TAASLP representative to speak to our members. They discussed how students can become involved in state and national-level advocacy efforts. During their presentation, they showed us how easy it is to advocate through ASHA's Take Action website and advocating for an issue we felt called to advocate for. During our meeting, we encouraged everyone to take action and advocate for an issue they felt was important to them.