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The Wave | September 2026 Edition
Welcome to The Wave, CASLPO’s monthly e-newsletter for registrants! The Wave brings together all of the College's key updates into one easy-to-read format.
In This Issue:
National Day for Truth and ReconciliationSeptember 30 marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day. On this day, we remember the children who never returned home and honour Survivors of residential schools, their families and communities, and all those who continue to live with the lasting impacts of the residential school system and colonialism.
Truth must remain at the heart of reconciliation. The harms experienced by Indigenous Peoples are not confined to the past. Anti-Indigenous racism and the effects of colonial policies continue to shape experiences of health and health care today.
As a health profession regulator, CASLPO has a responsibility to consider what reconciliation means within our own mandate. Protecting the public includes supporting professional practice that is safe, respectful and responsive to the people and communities receiving care. For professions centred on hearing, communication and language, this also means recognizing how culture, identity, community and lived experience can shape how care is understood, provided and experienced.
Read CASLPO's full statement for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
Renew Your CASLPO Registration by October 1The deadline to renew your CASLPO registration is this Thursday, October 1, 2026, at 11:59 PM (EDT).
If you haven’t already renewed, log in to your Registrant Portal and click “Your 2026/2027 Renewal” to get started. Renewing now will help you avoid the 20% late fee of $156.
As part of your renewal, take a few minutes to review and update your information. This includes your:
You are also responsible for updating your information in the Registrant Portal within 30 days of any changes in employment.
Keeping your information up to date helps ensure you receive important CASLPO communications and allows the public and employers to verify your registration and practice information.
Need help? Helpful resources include: CASLPO’s Renewal FAQs and Portal Guide. You can also contact us at [email protected].
Renew on the Registrant Portal
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Billing for Caregiver Training: A Practice ScenarioThe Scenario:
A family contacted CASLPO's Practice Advice team after their child’s SLP declined a request to put the child’s therapy invoice in the parents’ names to indicate that the therapy was provided to the parents. The parents had run out of benefit coverage for the child. The parents wanted to use the invoice to extend their private insurance benefits and were upset that they could not use all of their available SLP benefits. However, the SLP was following professional practice requirements by ensuring the invoice accurately reflected who received the service.
What are the requirements?
The Records Regulation sets out the requirements for patient financial records. This includes:
The Code of Ethics (By-law #7) also requires registrants to provide billing information that is accurate and truthfully represents the services rendered.
This means invoices and receipts need to clearly identify the patient receiving the professional service. Registrants should not change the name on an invoice to help a patient or family access additional private insurance benefits.
What about caregiver training?
Caregiver training and consultation can be an appropriate professional service. When an SLP provides training to a parent or caregiver about their child’s communication needs, the patient is always the individual with the communication impairment (in this instance, the child). The invoice must identify the caregiver as the person who received the training while making it clear who the patient is.
For example:
Intervention: Parent training for Ilya Lee, parent of patient Anita Lee
The invoice or receipt should also accurately reflect the time spent providing the consultation or training.
If an entire therapy session is spent working directly with the child and there is no parent training component, the bill should not include parent training or caregiver intervention. If the whole session is spent in caregiver training, the child’s name must be on the invoice as the child is the ultimate recipient of therapy. If the child didn’t need therapy, the caregivers would not be attending.
The takeaway
Being patient-focused includes providing accurate and transparent billing information. If a family asks you to change the name or description on an invoice for insurance purposes, explain that invoices and receipts must accurately reflect the professional services provided and the person who received them. If it is unclear whether a patient has coverage for a specific service, registrants should advise patients to verify funding coverage with their third-party payer.
For more information about ethical billing practices, visit CASLPO’s Advertising, Billing and Private Practice section of the website, including the Fees and Billing in Private Practice FAQ.
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Coming soon: National Infection Control Week 2026National Infection Control Week takes place October 19–23, 2026. To mark the week, Public Health Ontario (PHO) is hosting two free information sessions for health professionals.
On September 28, 2026, PHO’s Just Clean Your Hands (JCYH) program was replaced by a new Hand Hygiene Program. The evidence-based, theory-informed program includes practical resources focused on education, environmental supports, habit formation and team-based problem solving, along with auditing resources to support ongoing quality improvement.
Learn more about the new program at PHO’s session:
PHO will also host:
Registration opens two weeks before each event. Visit PHO’s Events webpage for more information and to register.
Recognizing and Responding to Child Abuse and NeglectAs audiologists (AUDs) and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) work with children in schools, clinics, hospitals and community settings, they may notice changes or information that raise concerns about a child’s safety or well-being.
Child abuse and neglect are not always obvious. Possible signs can include changes in behaviour, unexplained injuries, unmet care needs, concerning interactions with caregivers, or information shared directly by a child. A single sign does not necessarily mean abuse is occurring, but it may be a reason for concern.
Know your duty to report
Under Ontario’s Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017, audiologists and SLPs have a legal duty to report directly to a Children’s Aid Society when they have reasonable grounds to suspect that a child under 16 is, or may be, in need of protection.
You do not need proof that abuse or neglect has occurred. You are also not responsible for investigating the concern. Your role is to recognize when there are reasonable grounds for concern and make a report. The Children’s Aid Society is responsible for assessing the information and determining whether further investigation is needed.
If a child shares something concerning:
The duty to report is ongoing. If new information creates additional reasonable grounds for concern, another report may be required, even if a previous report has been made.
If you are unsure whether you need to report, you can contact a Children’s Aid Society to discuss the circumstances and seek guidance. If someone is in immediate danger, contact the police.
Learn more: Read the full article on recognizing and responding to child abuse and neglect.
Professional Development Opportunities for RegistrantsFrom time to time, CASLPO shares educational and professional development opportunities that may be relevant to audiologists and speech-language pathologists. Sharing these resources supports ongoing professional development and CASLPO’s commitment to encouraging registrants to engage in continuous improvement by pursuing relevant learning opportunities that build the skills required to provide safe high-quality care.
Depending on the activity, courses like these may also be eligible for Continuous Learning Activity Credits (CLACs) that can be included in your Self-Assessment Tool (SAT) towards meeting an established learning goal.
Northern and Rural Practice Preparation Program
The Northern and Rural Practice Preparation Program, offered by the Michener Institute and funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health, is designed to help health professionals explore practice in Northern, rural and remote communities.
The free program includes online, self-paced general and profession-specific modules that take approximately 5–10 hours to complete. Participants receive a certificate of achievement after completing the program. After completing all the modules, participants may take part in an optional, fully funded in-person site visit to an Ontario Northern or rural centre to meet staff and learn about working in a Northern community.
Learn more about the Northern and Rural Practice Preparation Program
Active Offer of French Language Health Services
The Active Offer of French Language Health Services: Why it Matters and How to Put It Into Practice module is a free training resource funded by Health Canada and offered by the Réseau du mieux-être francophone du Nord de l’Ontario.
The module explores the importance of actively offering health services in French and how health professionals can contribute to improving French-language health service delivery. Users must create an account to access the course, but there is no cost to register or complete the training.
Access the Active Offer of French Language Health Services module
Looking for a quick way to review your privacy procedures? The College of Physiotherapists of Ontario has developed a practical Privacy Checklist covering areas such as protecting personal health information, secure communication, device and workspace security, privacy breaches and patient rights.
CASLPO is sharing this useful resource to review and help strengthen your privacy practices.
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CASLPO is continuing its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion E-Forum series with Trauma-Informed Care in Action, a two-part virtual learning series exploring how trauma-informed principles can be applied in audiology and speech-language pathology practice.
Part 1: Understanding Trauma-Informed Care
October 14, 2026 | 12:00–1:30 p.m. ET
This session will introduce foundational trauma-informed care principles, including clinician self-awareness and self-regulation, creating safe and trusting clinical interactions, and supporting patient choice and empowerment.
Part 2: Trauma-Informed Care in Practice
October 28, 2026 | 12:00–1:30 p.m. ET
The second session will apply these principles to clinical scenarios relevant to audiology and speech-language pathology. Participants will explore practical approaches to responding to strong emotions, communicating difficult information, supporting patient and family choice, repairing challenging interactions and documenting sensitive encounters respectfully.
The sessions will feature Gwen Merrick, Speech-language Pathologist and Psychotherapist, and Sylvia Ciechanowski, Audiologist.
Registrants are encouraged to attend both sessions to maximize learning. Recordings will also be available following the series.
© 2026 CASLPO
© 2026 CASLPO
This website is intended to provide information to the public and registrants. Should there be difference in documentation previously distributed to CASLPO registrants, it is up to the registrant to source the latest version posted on the CASLPO website. Note: the term "member" and "registrant" are used interchangeably throughout CASLPO's website and documents. Both terms are synonymous with "member" as defined in the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991, the Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Act, 1991, and the Regulations under those Acts.
