Convention short courses
“Short courses are arranged by the Committee On Education for the partial purpose of providing opportunities for advancement in membership.”
-A History of the American Speech and Hearing Association, 1925-1958, 1970
The first short course offered at a convention was in 1941 and labeled a “Professional Seminar.” Taught by Dr. Herbert Koepp-Baker (ASHA President 1947) it was entitled, “Organic Variations of the Peripheral Mechanism and Their Clinical Implications in Dyslalias” and was seven hours long.
The original intention of the short course was to help fill gaps in many member’s academic course work. Since the field was still relatively new, many universities had limited course offerings in speech and hearing. In order to help members obtain the number of credit hours required for Clinical or Professional standing, short courses were developed. Members could earn one semester hour for attendance and completion of extra assignments.
By the late 1950s, university course offerings had expanded and the focus of the short course shifted to keeping abreast of new developments in the field. By the 1975 convention, there were sixteen short courses offered and by the 1981 convention, there were thirty-three. The 1981 convention was also the first to offer short courses of differing lengths of 90 minutes, 3 hours and 4 hours. Topics included subjects such as brain-stem audiometry, non-verbal communication, and alzheimer's.
Another sign of the changing times was the introduction of courses devoted to the use of computers in clinical and private practice along with marketing techniques. Throughout the 1980s, short courses on these topics were offered every year.