This field guide draws on federal law, professional standards, and emerging peer-reviewed literature. All regulatory citations are current as of April 2026.

1. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2023). Code of ethics. ASHA. Principle I, Rules A–C address professional competence, delegation, and responsibility for clinical decisions. asha.org/policy/et2016-00342

2. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), 45 C.F.R. Parts 160, 164. Establishes national standards for the protection of individually identifiable health information.

3. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), 20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 C.F.R. Part 99 (1974). Protects the privacy of student education records.

4. Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq. Governs special education services, evaluation procedures, and IEP requirements.

5. 34 C.F.R. § 300.320 – Definition of individualized education program. Specifies that IEPs must include measurable annual goals.

6. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2005). Evidence-based practice in communication disorders [Position statement]. asha.org/policy/ps2005-00221

7. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (n.d.). Documentation in school-based and health care settings. ASHA Practice Portal. asha.org/practice-portal

8. 45 C.F.R. § 164.502(e) – Uses and disclosures of protected health information: Business associate contracts.

9. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology. (2023). Artificial intelligence and the future of teaching and learning. tech.ed.gov/ai-future-of-teaching-and-learning

10. Thirunavukarasu, A. J., et al. (2023). Large language models in medicine. Nature Medicine, 29, 1930–1940. doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02448-8

11. Ayers, J. W., et al. (2023). Comparing physician and artificial intelligence chatbot responses to patient questions posted to a social media forum. JAMA Internal Medicine, 183(6), 589–596. doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.1838

12. Van Veen, D., et al. (2024). Adapted large language models can outperform medical experts in clinical text summarization. Nature Medicine, 30, 1134–1142. doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-02855-5

13. Note on emerging evidence: The research base for LLMs in SLP-specific workflows remains limited. Claims in this guide about SLP applications are informed by cross-disciplinary evidence from medicine, nursing, and occupational therapy. Where evidence is extrapolated, we flag it.

14. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (n.d.). Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). ASHA Practice Portal. asha.org/practice-portal/clinical-topics/aac