Ethics for Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology

Michael Wiederman, PhD; Edie Deane, MS-CCC, CCM; Lisa Fuellemann, MS, CCC-SLP

$29.00

CE Credit Hours : 2
Target Audience : Speech-Language Pathology
Intermediate Learning Level Introductory
Online Course Online
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Course Abstract

Ethics for Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology is a 2-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that examines ethical issues that SLPs and audiologists may encounter in clinical practice.

Ethical decision-making is based on awareness, intent, judgment, and behavior. The speech-language pathologist (SLP) or audiologist must be aware that an issue has ethical significance. Then a judgment must be made with the intent to make the ethically correct decision, and then an action is taken. Ethics is about deliberate decisions made to benefit the people involved or to have the least harmful repercussions if a positive outcome is not possible.

SLPs and audiologists encounter ethical issues across the spectrum of practice settings, from pediatric treatment to care of elders in skilled nursing facilities. This course will present an overview of ethical issues that arise in speech-language pathology and audiology related to the economics of practice, evidence-based practice, multiculturalism, confidentiality, bullying, abuse, boundaries, telepractice, and collaboration.

Ethical issues and scenarios are presented in this course and are intended to spark thought rather than provide definitive answers. Use this course to examine your own ideas about the ethics of practice in speech-language pathology or audiology. Additional resources for further study are provided.

This course meets the ASHA requirement for a course in ethics during each 3-year certification maintenance interval.

Course #21-67 | 2026 | 40 pages | 15 posttest questions | Mobile-Friendly

Learning Objectives

  1. Provide three examples of barriers to ethical thinking
  2. Differentiate between evidence-based practice and evidence-based ethics
  3. Illustrate five ethical issues that may prevent professionals from providing the best possible care
  4. Categorize three warning signs of child abuse, elder abuse, intimate partner violence, and workplace abuse
  5. Describe three primary causes of boundary violations in professional practice
  6. Explain the limits of, and threats to, confidentiality in practice

Course Directions

This online course provides instant access to the course materials (PDF download) and CE test. The course is text-based (reading) and the CE test is open-book (you can print the test to mark your answers on it while reading the course document).

Successful completion of this course involves passing an online test (80% required, 3 chances to take) and we ask that you also complete a brief course evaluation.

About the Author(s)

Michael Wiederman, PhD : Find out More

Michael Wiederman, PhD, is a psychologist and serves as the Director of Continuing Education (CE) for Professional Development Resources. He was a tenured clinical psychology professor for 20 years, teaching a wide range of courses and publishing more than 250 articles, chapters, and books. Over the past 30 years Michael delivered more than 4,000 class sessions and presentations.

In 2015, Michael left his tenured faculty position to provide professional development as the inaugural Director of Faculty Development at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville. There he created and executed workshops and longitudinal leadership development programs, provided individual coaching and interventions for teams, and taught the popular course Leadership in Medicine. From 2020 to 2022 Michael served as the inaugural Director of Leadership and Professional Development in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), where he continues to hold a graduate faculty appointment.

Michael has written a blog for Psychology Today since 2022 and continues to offer workshops and coaching through his company Mindful Professional Development.

Disclosure

Financial: Receives author compensation from Professional Development Resources, Inc.
Nonfinancial: No relevant nonfinancial relationships exist.

Edie Deane, MS-CCC, CCM : Find out More

Edie Deane, MS-CCC, is a creative leader who infuses all her work with an entrepreneurial spirit. Edie’s career spans healthcare areas from hands-on service to e-business. Her portfolio of experience includes:  leadership, strategic and business development as online education company Care2Learn’s founder/owner; operations, administration, and education/training in national rehabilitation companies; and development of an e-learning department in a prominent healthcare software company. Edie currently owns ED Consulting & Coaching, focused on services for the LTPAC ecosystem.

Disclosure

Financial: No relevant financial relationships exist.
Nonfinancial
: No relevant nonfinancial relationships exist.

Lisa Fuellemann, MS, CCC-SLP : Find out More

Lisa D. Fuellemann, MS, CCC-SLP, is a Speech-Language Pathologist with experience in the acute and long-term care settings. Her specialties include dysphagia and cognitive language disorders.

Disclosure

Financial: No relevant financial relationship exists.
Nonfinancial: No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.

CE Information

Speech-Language Pathology

Introductory Level 0.2 ASHA CEUs

Introductory Level | 0.2 ASHA CEUs | ASHA credit is available until 1/31/2031. ASHA CEUs are awarded by the ASHA CE Registry upon receipt of the monthly completion report from the ASHA Approved CE Provider (#AAUM5196). Please note that the date that appears on ASHA transcripts is the last day of the month in which the course was completed.

Professional Development Resources is also approved by the Florida Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, the Ohio Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, the South Carolina Board of Examiners in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and is CE Broker compliant (#50-1635 – completions are reported next business day, currently reporting for 47 boards).

ASHA CE Provider approval and use of the Brand Block does not imply endorsement of course content, specific products, or clinical procedures.

Customer Testimonials

S.W. (SLP)

The case scenarios and examples were very helpful throughout the course.

J.W. (SLP)

I found the topics to be highly relevant!! Thank you for offering this great course.

B.F. (SLP)

This was a thorough review of ethics. It opened the door for guiding my next continuing education cycle and creating a plan for a focus area of learning, sharing with colleagues, and maintaining professionalism with clients, colleagues, and supervisors.

A.S. (SLP)

I was very pleased with this course. It was clear and easy to follow. Great job. Thank you!

J.R. (SLP)

The course presented excellent clinical scenarios and examples.

More Testimonials

K.R. (SLP)

Great course that covers a lot of areas related to ethics.

L.E. (SLP)

It is a good thing to review ethics on a regular basis. The course is concise and gives the reader a lot to think about.

S.C. (SLP)

I like your format. I downloaded the course in case I needed to refer to it again. Thank you for providing the ethics requirement at a reasonable price.

A.D. (SLP0

I really liked how it was current to what is going on today.

L.F. (SLP)

Thank you! I'm grateful to have the course materials to refer back to when needed.

K.F, (SLP)

It is difficult to find courses on ethics that are informative and pertinent to my work environment. This was a great overview course on Ethics. I enjoyed learning more about this topic through this course. Thank You!

K.C. (SLP)

Well organized. Good, complete information with great examples to improve understanding.

J.B.W. (SLP)

This was my first course in ethics, I thought it was a great course. Thank you!

R.H. (SLP)

Thank you, very concise and clearly presented information.

D.S. (SLP)

Very informative and relates to real life scenarios.

A.F. (SLP)

I appreciate the scenarios and overall information in a quick review.

H.C. (SLP)

I appreciated the organized presentation of materials with ASHA/AAA standards being used as an outline. In addition, the use of real-world scenarios helped to illustrate possible "grey" areas and to enable participants to draw their own personal conclusions.

D.V. (SLP)

Well  done. This course contained good anecdotal tales to specify ethical violations, be them intentional or non-intentional. It was a good refresher & truly some great new information.

C.N. (SLP)

Thank you for such an informative and approachable course on a very complicated topic. I learned more than I expected, and my practice will improve because of this.

J.B. (SLP)

I appreciated the examples embedded throughout the text!

K.A. (SLP)

The author provided very clear examples for each objective.

J.M. (SLP)

I found this course to be very informative. It clearly defined ethical expectations and it contained great practical examples/scenarios of unethical behaviors.

J.D. (SLP)

I really enjoyed it, much more than I thought I would. Content was interesting and fairly engaging, which is tough for a self-study type of course. Thank you :)

J.C. (SLP)

It was great information. This is my first course with this company & I'm impressed. I plan to use this company more.

S.S. (SLP)

This was a well thought out course and very appropriate. Thank you for taking the time to compile this information in this format.

B.V. (SLP)

I appreciate the availablilty of the online courses through PDR and the relevancy of the topics.

S.P. (SLP)

Nicely done! Easy to follow, relevant, with the insertion of some current "hot button" topics and issues, which is super helpful.

C.K. (SLP)

Very important ethical information provided for the SLP/provider.

A.T. (SLP)

This was clearly presented and helpful information. There was new information and good reminders.

H.S. (SLP)

The information is professional and relevant for my specialty. Very good information!

V.A. (SLP)

Interesting overview of ASHA's code of ethics!

S.G. (SLP)

I have recently been the victim of workplace bullying and this course really helped me to understand that what went on was very wrong.

F.D. (SLP)

Great course!! I liked the links to other sources of information.

H.R. (SLP)

I like that I could review the test questions while reading so I could highlight key points.

D.R. (SLP)

I thought the course was easy to follow and focused on so many important issues. It also gave great examples.

K.H. (SLP)

This course opened my eyes to some things I hadn't considered in my everyday practicing as a speech-language pathologist.

A.V. (SLP)

This was a very good course. I enjoyed reviewing and learning more about ethics for my profession. Thank you. I will recommend it to others needing this type of course.

K.D. (SLP)

Thank you for providing this reasonably priced course for SLP's to obtain CEU credit according to our schedule and availability.

A.A. (SLP)

I am glad I found PDR. I'm very impressed with the content of the course I took. Thank you!

R.D. (SLP)

Great course! Easy to understand. Keep up the great work!

J.G. (SLP)

I was not expecting much new knowledge from this course, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was clearly presented with new information in the areas of ethics and abuse reporting.

B.H. (SLP)

Thank you for a clear and practical view of ethics. I would recommend this CEU course to other professionals.

C.T. (SLP) (PY)

This material was presented in a very engaging way. I enjoyed participating in this course.

K.S. (SLP)

I really liked the clinical examples integrated into the reading. It caused me to become more engaged and ask myself questions about how to apply the different parts/items of the code of ethics in real life scenarios. The pyramid approach was also really helpful in giving guidance for how to navigate different scenarios.

J.P. (SLP)

Having worked in homes, public schools, private schools, clinical settings, and hospital settings for 30 years, it was great to read truthfully about the obstacles to service providers (bullying; emotional realities like crying in the workplace) in course work.  This course was clear, concise, and specifically tailored to the target audience. Thank you for outlining delicate subjects and providing strategies to combat the realistic stresses of helping others in today's world. I learned new strategies and believe that the authors understand the ethical obstacles faced by service providers. Thank you!

T.B. (SLP)

This course provided a thorough review of ethics. It opened the door for guiding my next continuing education cycle and creating a plan for a focus area for learning, sharing with colleagues, and maintaining professionalism with clients, colleagues, and supervisors.

K.M. (SLP)

This is the first time I did an on-line course like this. I found it very user-friendly and I loved how flexible I could be with my time. I also appreciated knowing the test questions; it helped me more easily navigate the program.

D.Z. (SLP)

Excellent basic course in Ethics. I have information to bring to my workplace where conversations about maintaining ethics are ongoing.

S.H. (SLP)

This course was very informative. It goes into great detail about how to work with clients and the signs to look for when in dealing in certain situations. I would recommend this course if you wanted a general idea about ethics.

V.K. (SLP)

I found the real-life scenarios, examples, and suggestions on how to address ethical issues with clients to be very helpful.

T.G. (SLP)

Of all the ethics courses I've ever taken, this one was 'to the point', provided appropriate examples, and was easy to follow and understand as appropriate to my work settings -  including hospitals, assisted living and long term care venues, as well as the schools. All settings provide opportunities for ethical decision making that can often be difficult and require additional consultation with other professionals to reach an appropriate decision/plan of action. Thank you!

E.D. (SLP)

This course clearly defined and described the ASHA Code of Ethics and provided real examples of how ethical decisions and behavior are required in our day to day practice.  Once of the best ethics courses I have taken! Very well done!

K.B. (SLP)

I loved the structure and organization of the course. It was easy to read and contained a lot of really good information in a wide range of areas.

C.J. (SLP)

Good information regarding ethics in the workplace. I like how the course included children, as well as adults, in the scenarios. Very informative and reasonably priced. Thank you!!

C.M. (SLP)

This course was perfect to meet the ASHA requirement of an ethics course. Thank you!