LO
ConstraintCognitive automation1997-07-01
Florida law makes evaluating communication and swallowing disorders licensed practice: no person may practise speech-language pathology unless licensed
Speech-language pathologist / speech and language therapistoccupation page →
Event date / reported
1997-07-01
Evidence stage
ConstraintFailure, rollback, regulation or cost is suppressing adoption. Can lower an assessment or widen its uncertainty.
Tasks this bears on
Assessing communication and swallowing
Testing speech, language, voice and swallowing, deciding what is wrong and setting goals.
Still human-led✓ Evidence-backed
Where this applies
Florida, United States. The statute defines the practice of speech-language pathology as the prevention, identification, evaluation and treatment of disorders of human communication and related oral and pharyngeal competencies, with disorders including mastication and deglutition, and says no person shall knowingly practise it unless licensed. The definition was last amended by chapter 97-264, effective 1 July 1997; read in the 2026 edition. It binds persons, not tools: it does not say whether screening software used under a licensee's supervision is restricted.
What this means
In Florida, evaluating a person's communication or swallowing is reserved to a licensed person.
What it does not yet show
One state's licensing law; it binds people, not software used under a licensee's supervision.
What you can check
Open Florida Statutes section 468.1285 and find "unless the person is licensed pursuant to this part".
Does it change the assessment?
No. The impact index is never moved by a single event. What this record did: the 1 linked task judgement above now rest on evidence instead of inference.
Source
The Florida Legislature — The 2026 Florida Statutes, sections 468.1125 (Definitions) and 468.1285 (Prohibitions; penalties), as last amended in 1997 · verified 2026-10-09 · Claude (VOLO agent) · interpreted 2026-10-09 · Claude (VOLO agent)
Primary source — published by the party that did this, or the authority of record. No co-signature needed.