Our lives are a continual struggle between choices of right and wrong. Your professional life will be very similar. A part of making those decisions in your career is being able to tell right from wrong and understand why. The purpose of this seminar is not to tell you what you should do, but rather to familiarize you with the values of our profession and help you be able to critically analyze situations you will likely encounter in your workplace.

Each of us has a set of personal ethics we have developed throughout our lives. Our values and ethics help us define our lives and the kind of person we want to be. While a culture shares general ethical values, the personal values of individuals within that culture may vary on some issues. For example, in our society, people's perspective on the issues of abortion and capital punishment vary a great deal; they also tend to polarize people into one camp or the other. But in spite of individual differences, a culture is largely defined by its values and ethics. Our personal ethics are not static; they continue to be modified as we face new challenges. This serves to help us better define our values and be able to apply them when we face novel situations. Many of you have had a course in ethics already; this class differs in that it deals not with personal ethics, but with the ethical standards of our profession.

To help unify and define itself as a group, professions establish codes of ethics. A professional ethical code helps individuals in that profession agree upon the values and consequent behaviors they wish to be reflected in their work. Nearly all professional organizations have a code of ethics to guide members of that profession in their workplace. As a practicing speech-language pathologist you will need to be knowledgeable of the code of ethics of your profession. A primary objective of this course is to develop your knowledge, understanding, and ability to apply the ASHA Code of Ethics to the practice of speech-language pathology. As you will see, resolving ethical problems is not always "black or white"; this sometimes frustrates students because they are looking for the "right" answer. Students should approach this subject matter with the recognition that the process of resolving ethical issues is as important as the resolution itself. Your ability to use critical thinking skills will be a fundamental component of your success. Ethical dilemmas present situations in which there are sometimes conflicting "right" answers, or there are no alternatives that are completely "right" and you must still decide which course to take. A secondary objective of this course is to develop your critical thinking skills.

As an aid to your learning, I have developed a rubric that we will use in this course to evaluate ethical situations (case studies). Students who have previously taken this seminar helped develop the rubric. The rubric is not meant to be portrayed as the way to evaluate ethical case studies; it is intended to provide a scaffold for your learning. It is hoped that you will modify the rubric or develop your own means of assessing ethical dilemmas as you progress in your career.

General Objectives

The Seminar intends to impact students by:

•  Stimulating their moral imagination
•  Enabling them to recognize ethical issues in professional situations
•  Demonstrating their ability to apply key ethical concepts and principles
•  Stimulating a sense of responsibility
•  Helping them deal effectively with ethical ambiguity and disagreement

Specific Learner Outcomes

The seminar intends to increase your knowledge of the purpose, derivation, and application of the ASHA Code of Ethics to develop your professional ethical behaviors as a speech-language pathologist. Students will demonstrate analytical and critical thinking skills in resolving hypothetical ethical dilemmas faced by professionals in this field. The purpose of the seminar is also to help you establish, develop, and practice higher standards of professional conduct. It is expected that over the course of time, you will continue to build upon this framework, establishing a means of continuing to develop your professional ethics.

Students will demonstrate the ability to:

•  Describe the practical purpose of ethical principles and standards
•  Define and describe the concept of professional ethics as it applies to SLP
•  Distinguish between legal and ethical issues
•  Discuss the principles of the ASHA Code of Ethics
•  Describe the process by which professional ethical complaints are resolved by ASHA
•  Identify key ethical issues in case studies
•  Critically analyze and offer justifiable resolutions to ethical case studies
•  Identify the larger implications that the resolutions might have
•  Discuss the individual, situational, and social impact of case resolutions

 

 

© Rentschler, 2009