Saturday, February 13, 2021

Free CEUs for SLPs



My workplace has recently cut back on the amount of continuing education that they will pay for, due to COVID. I know several of my fellow SLPs are in similar situations. Because of this, I started hunting for some free CEU opportunities. And, to my surprise, I found some amazing stuff out there. I think free CEUs are sometimes thought of as "less than." I am guilty of thinking that, too. You know the old saying, "you get what you pay for." But I found that there were quite a few great opportunities out there. So I rounded them up for you!

It's important to remember that your ASHA CEUs DO NOT have to come from an ASHA approved provider. Here is the information I was given from a representative of ASHA when I inquired about specific continuing education opportunities. 

"Your courses can come from either ASHA, ASHA approved CE provider, or a non-ASHA approved CE provider. For the non-ASHA approved CE provider you may use them towards your interval, and you don't need to get prior approval before taking it. As long as it meets the definition of Acceptable Activities for Professional Development then you may use them: https://www.asha.org/certification/FactDef/In short any course that benefits you in your role, and where you are the learner, and the hours are documented, you may count towards your ASHA requirement. If your employer, or your state requires to complete a certain professional development course you may also count that towards your requirement. Such as CPR training."

1.) ASHA - This one is pretty obvious, but often overlooked. It can be hit or miss regarding what's available out there. Right now, there are some courses on micro aggression available, but it's constantly changing. Make sure to check it out throughout your maintenance interval!

2.) PRC - Saltillo - They currently have three live online courses on their website related to their products. They also have an "on demand" tab that shows TONS of courses. However, this tab says that ASHA CEUs cannot currently be awarded for these. They do not give a certificate of attendance for these, so I don't think there would be any way to use them under the "Acceptable Activities for Professional Development" mentioned above by the ASHA representative. So just make sure you register for something that will count towards your hours! 

3.) University of Texas - Dallas Callier Center fo Communication Disorders - If you click on the "ongoing events" tab, you'll see two courses on Childhood Apraxia of Speech by Dr. Edythe Strand. These are provided for free by The Once Upon A Time Foundation. I personally took both of these classes are learned a TON! I highly recommend them. Between the two classes, you can earn 6 hours of continuing education. 

4.) Tobii Dynavox Learning Hub - They offer a ton of resources. Most appear to be 30 minutes to an hour. Some are device specific while others appear to just focus on AAC in general. You can click here to see all the ones that are already ASHA approved. 

5.) Northern Speech Services - They currently are not offering any free courses, but you can sign up to be a peer reviewer to get access to free courses. Their website states that you must be an "expert" in the content area to peer review the course. They define this as "an expert in the content area who can validate that the content is accuratecurrent and understandable by the learner." Expertise is typically demonstrated through "significant clinical practice (at least 5 years); research; presentations; and/or consultations in the content area."

6.) Super Duper, Inc - There are currently no courses listed, but I have taken several from them in the past. They are usually focused on the research behind and implementation of their products. I have found several of them to be very informative. 

7.) SpeechPathology.Com - This is typically a site that requires you to pay for a membership for unlimited CEUs. The membership is $99/year - which is a great deal for unlimited continuing education in my opinion. However, they also allow you to take a free course using the promo code 1FREECOURSE.

8.) Speech and Language Kids by The SLP Solution - Once again, this is a site that offers memberships to access CEUs. There are several different levels of memberships available, starting as low as $10/mo. However, they also offer free CEU courses as well. Currently, there are two listed on their website.

9.) Pearson Assessments - It appears that most of the trainings they offer are related to giving the various assessments you can purchase through them. Most of the trainings are paid, but some are free. 

10.) Lingraphica - Lingraphica has awesome free continuing education resources. Right now, it looks like there are 6.5 hours worth of continuing education related to aphasia for free. They also have an option to request a free in-service if you prefer a live instructor. I have never done this, so I am not sure what that process entails. 

11.) The Leaders Project - This website appears to have a variety of topics from grammar to cleft palate, however, the most focus seems to be on bilingual topics. However, most have a high number of hours for free. I have not personally taken any of these courses, but I plan to do so after discovering them in my research!

12.) Presence Learning - This website offers on demand webinars for a variety of topics. While their website says that they don't offer CEUs for on-demand webinars, they do offer certificates of attendance upon completion. This would lead me to believe that it would qualify for ASHA CEUs based on the statement I received from a representative that I posted above. 

13.) Atos Medical - I personally have not done any of these, but I have heard they are great for medical based SLPs. 

14.) FreeCME4Me - They offer a wide variety of courses sponsored by various companies. Most are one hour, but there are a few 2-3 hour courses available as well. 

15.) AbleNet - They offer several CEUs related to AT. They are live webinars rather than on demand, so make sure you register for them if you're interested!

16.) REACT Initiative - REACT Initiative is a program that advocates for equality in education. Their CEUs are related to this initiative. They are ASHA approved. They also offer free CEUs for teachers.

17.) AFIRM - AFIRM provides continuing education resources related to ASD. Some are free and some a paid. The paid ones are still affordable at $35 each for 2-3 hours of CEs. They have posted on their website that their funding has ended, so I plan on taking a few paid ones as well to support the program and, hopefully, keep some of them free in the future!

18.) Interactive Metronome - I have not personally taken any of these, so I can't attest to their quality. But they have a 1 hour, 2 hour, and 3 hour course available for CEUs. 

19.) SATPAC - The website is a little tricky to maneuver and it can be hard to tell which ones are free. But I was able to find two free courses - one for three hours and one for 6 hours. Both look really interesting and helpful. I have registered for the 6 hour one. 

20.) InHealth - InHealth provides free webinars, mostly related to laryngotomies. I have not taken any of these courses, as I don't work with this population. However, I have heard they are great. However, they will obviously be talking about/focusing on the products that they sell. 

21.) Passy Muir - Once again, I have not taken any course from Passy Muir, as I don't typically work with this population. They will also be talking about/focusing on the products they sell. 

22.) University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health - They currently offer several course on voice and swallowing that are completely free of charge. Each one is 1.0 contact hours. 

Hope these help you get those hours in! Remember, ASHA does not have a limit on hours that you can do online, but you're state might. Be sure to check with them if you plan on using any of these hours for your state license or educator license!

Jessica


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