Professional Development Hours (PDHs) for ASHA Certification Maintenance and Reinstatement Applications

Individuals who hold the ASHA Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) must complete professional development activities throughout their career. The ongoing requirement to complete PDHs to maintain certification is written into the ASHA certification standards—audiology and speech-language pathology—and into the ASHA Code of Ethics, which states that certificate holders “shall enhance and refine their professional competence and expertise through engagement in lifelong learning” (Principle II, Rule C).

On this page:

What is Professional Development?
Choosing Professional Development Activities
Activities Accepted for PDHs
Activities Not Accepted for PDHs
Keeping Track of Your PDHs
Reporting Units for Professional Development

What is Professional Development?

For purposes of maintaining or reinstating ASHA certification, professional development is an instructional activity that must meet the following criteria to be considered eligible for certification maintenance or reinstatement.

The certificate holder or reinstatement applicant is the learner.
The content relates to the science or contemporary practices listed in the Scope of Practice in Audiology or Scope of Practice in Speech-Language Pathology.
Completion results in the acquisition of new knowledge and skills—or the enhancement of current knowledge and skills—necessary for independent practice.
The certificate holder's attendance can be documented by a third party (e.g., employer, educational institution, or sponsoring organization). See Keeping Track of Your PDHs below.

Choosing Professional Development Activities

You are responsible for determining if the professional development activities you select are appropriate, relevant, and meaningful to any practice setting—you don’t need prior approval from ASHA for the activities you choose. You can complete PDHs online and/or in person; however, an activity will count based on the date of completion, not the date the activity was started.

If you earn more than 30 PDHs during your certification maintenance interval, the remaining hours will not carry over to your next interval.

PDHs for Certification Maintenance: To maintain ASHA certification, certificate holders must complete 30 PDHs during each 3-year certification maintenance interval. This continuous process is intended to help keep you up to date on contemporary clinical trends and best care practices, while your clients/patients benefit from your clinical competence. You will only be asked for documentation of PDHs earned if you are audited.
PDHs for Reinstatement of Certification: Individuals who apply for reinstatement of ASHA certification in either audiology (CCC-A) or speech-language pathology (CCC-SLP) must show proof of completed PDHs as listed in the respective policies and procedures.

Activities Accepted for PDHs

The following are examples of acceptable professional development activities provided that the content improves your knowledge and skills for your professional scope of practice. All completed activities must appear on a transcript or certificate of completion.

continuing education (CE) courses
- courses that qualify for ASHA CEUs
- seminars or courses offered by other organizations for continuing education (CE) units
activities through other professional associations
- state SLP and Audiology association workshops and conferences
- other professional associations related to clinical practice
employer-sponsored in-service activities
- grand rounds
- special education workshops (i.e., Americans with Disabilities Act requirements)
- structured clinical reasoning or journal clubs reviewing evidence-based practice
- formal training sessions sponsored by manufacturers on equipment used in the evaluation or treatment of your clients/patients
- industry/career training (i.e., training on topics such as professional ethics, diversity issues, reimbursement issues, clinical supervision/leadership, service delivery)
business and management content that will help you manage your private practice more effectively
college or university course work at any level, including formal online, non-credit courses
- foreign language(s) needed to communicate to the population with whom you work
- master’s in Business Administration for clinical private practice management
- PhD in a field that relates to communication sciences and disorders
Preparing and giving an evidence-based presentation at a conference or organized learning event – as the presenter, you can take credit for the number of PDHs listed on the certificate of completion for the presented topic one time during your certification maintenance or reinstatement interval.
Independent Study activities

Activities Not Accepted for PDHs

The following are examples of activities that do not meet the criteria of professional development:

supervising students
mentoring SLP Clinical Fellows
work experiences per job description
- daily clinical work
- developing curriculum
- teaching academic coursework
- doing research
- writing a book or an article
volunteer work
- committee meetings
- attending board meetings
- serving time on a council
- peer review for professional publications
business meetings that are unrelated to SLP or Audiology practice, management of clinical care
association membership

Keeping Track of Your PDHs

Be sure to keep the certificates of completion for each professional development activity you finish. These certificates must include the following information:

title of the course or activity
name of the sponsoring organization or college/university
date(s) of attendance or completion
number of professional development hours earned (see Reporting Units below)

If an activity does not provide this documentation, you can use the Verification of Attendance Form [PDF] to keep track of the hours you’ve completed.

If you earn hours through college coursework, be sure to keep a copy of your transcript.

Annual subscribers of the ASHA CE Registry can use it to track and document the ASHA CEUs that they earn. In addition, the CE Registry will automatically notify ASHA Certification Maintenance once you’ve accumulated 30 PDHs (3.0 ASHA CEUs) during your maintenance interval.

If you are not an CE Registry subscriber, we recommend that you track the PDHs you earn (including ASHA CEUs) by your own method. For example, you could use a Record Keeping Form [PDF], which is something ASHA’s Certification Unit requires from certificate holders who are selected for audit.