The Communication Sciences and Disorders Program (CDIS) is seeking comments from the public about the graduate program in Speech-Language Pathology in preparation for its upcoming accreditation site visit. The CDIS Program will host site visitors Nov. 7 and 8 later this year.

The graduate program in the CDIS program is currently accredited, with its last reaccreditation occurring in the academic year 2015. The reaccreditation team will review the program's ongoing ability to meet the standards set by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) for accreditation, and public comments will be a part of that review. Comments must address substantive matters related to the quality of the program. A copy of the Standards for Accreditation and/or the CAA's Policy on Public Comment may be obtained by contacting the Accreditation Office at ASHA, 2200 Research Blvd., #310, Rockville, Maryland 20850; calling ASHA's Action Center at 1-800-498-2071; or accessing the documents online at https://caa.asha.org/.

The Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (CAA) of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association offers voluntary accreditation of graduate degrees in the fields of both audiology and speech-language pathology.

The council uses third-party comments to give program stakeholders the opportunity to provide the evaluation team with their perspectives on the graduate program. Comments can be submitted via mail to: Accreditation Public Comment Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (CAA) American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2200 Research Blvd., #310 Rockville, MD 20850; by email to: accreditation@asha.org; or by fax to: 301-296-8570. All written testimony—including comments faxed or submitted as email attachments--must include the commenter's name, address and telephone contact information and the commenter's relationship to the program in order for accreditation staff to verify the source of the testimony. All comments must be signed.

The comments are considered public and will be reviewed by both the site visit team and program before the evaluation visit. During the visit, the site visit team will discuss any comments received with the program and will follow up on comments as necessary. The team will remark on the third-party comment process in the appropriate section of the accreditation report. The CAA regards these third-party comments as an important part of the comprehensive evaluation visit process.

The CDIS program is also holding a public comment meeting as part of the site visit. People interested in providing feedback directly to site visitors can email cdis@uark.edu to receive information for where to meet on campus on Nov. 8 at 4:30 p.m.