This position is located in the Audiology and Speech Pathology Service within the Physical Medicine Rehab Service at the VA Finger Lakes Health Care Center. The duties and responsibilities are carried out by the incumbent throughout the medical centers including all clinical and other patient care areas involved with the service, including bedside involved with the service. The incumbent will primarily serve the Canandaigua and Rochester - Calkins Rd locations with occasional in home visits.

Duties

The speech-language pathologist at this level plans, conducts, and coordinates all aspects of diagnostic assessments and evaluations and therapeutic and rehabilitative services for speech, language, voice, fluency, cognitive, and swallowing disorders. The speech-language pathologist at this grade level must demonstrate professional knowledge of, and skill in applying, a wide range of theories, principles, and methodologies of the practice of speech-language pathology to a wide range of populations. The speech-language pathologist at this level conducts, plans, and coordinates all clinical and administrative aspects of a full range of services associated with contemporary speech-language pathology practice. The incumbent is responsible for independent diagnostic assessment and evaluation of cases that are referred to speech-language pathology without limitation as to difficulty or complexity. The incumbent will be responsible to conduct interviews with the patients and appropriate family members and/or friends, selects, administers, and interprets the diagnostic tests necessary to detect and evaluate any type of speech, language, voice, fluency, cognitive, and/or swallowing disorders. The incumbent is responsible for the administration of a full range test of speech, language, voice, fluency, and cognition including modal level and variation of vocal pitch and loudness; variability of the rate of voice utterance; frequency and complexity of speech disfluency; consistency and adaptation of disfluency and sustained a repeated speaking and oral reading; phonetic analysis of speech designed to identify and evaluate patterns of misarticulation, such as distortions and omissions of sounds, as well as phonemic substitutions, including patterns of variation in speech sound articulation; and identification of phonetic and semantic factors related to this variation. The incumbent develops an effective and comprehensive plan of care for swallowing disorders in collaboration with other health care practitioners; establishes and maintains an effective therapy relationship with the patient, family and caregivers; and adjusts treatment plan to patient response and indicators of progress. Incumbent serves as a consultant to other facility personnel involving the most difficult and complex cases and is a recognized subject matter expert on matters related to speech, language voice, fluency, cognitive, and swallowing disorders. The therapist is responsible for patient scheduling, assessment, goal setting, patient education, treatment implementation and discharge planning for patients referred to speech therapy. The caseload is comprised of inpatients, outpatients and home-based patients with a marked diversity of physical and cognitive dysfunction. The therapist may complete assessment and treatment on patients in the speech therapy clinical area, in patient rooms of the medical center or in the home or in assisted living facilities. The speech-language pathologist must demonstrate professional knowledge of, and skill in applying a wide range of theories, principles, and methodologies for the practice of speech-language pathology to a wide range of populations. The incumbent is an independent licensed practitioner. Work Schedule: Full Time Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement: Speech and Language Pathologist Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

Basic Requirements: Citizenship. Be a citizen of the United States (U.S.). Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7407(a). Education and Experience. (1) A master's degree, or its equivalent, in speech-language pathology, communication disorders or a directly related field from an accredited college or university and one year of creditable experience (see paragraph 2.g.). OR (2) A doctoral degree in speech-language pathology, communication disorders and sciences or a related field, from an accredited college or university. c. Licensure. Individuals must hold a full, current and unrestricted license in a U.S. state, territory, commonwealth or the District of Columbia. Licensure. Individuals must hold a full, current and unrestricted license in a U.S. state, territory, commonwealth or the District of Columbia. (3) An SLP who has, or ever has had their speech-language pathology license revoked, suspended, denied, restricted, limited or issued/placed on probationary status may be appointed only in accordance with the provisions in Chapter 3, section B, paragraph 16 of this part. Loss of Credential. Management officials, in collaboration with HR Office staff, must immediately relieve employees of the duties and responsibilities associated with the occupation who fail to maintain the required certification, both current and in good standing, which may result in separation from employment. An SLP who has, or has ever had, their SLP license revoked, suspended, denied, restricted, limited or issued/placed in a probationary status may be appointed only in accordance with the provisions in Chapter 3, section B, paragraph 16 of this part. Foreign Education. To be creditable, education completed outside the U.S. must be deemed at least equivalent to that gained in a conventional U.S. program by a private organization specializing in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials. Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service. English Language Proficiency. SLP candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f) May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria). Grade Determinations: Speech-Language Pathologist, GS-12. (1) Experience. In addition to the basic requirements at the GS-11 level, completing one year of professional experience comparable to the next lower level and possessing a full, current and unrestricted license to practice speech-language pathology. (2) Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs). In addition to the experience requirements, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: (a) Skill in applying principles and techniques of diagnosis and treatment associated with contemporary speech-language pathology following evidence-based practice for adult patients exhibiting the full range of speech to the full range of patient populations. (b) Skill in administering and interpreting instrumental swallowing evaluations. (c) Ability to assess the effectiveness of clinical outcomes and adapt clinical procedures and techniques to accommodate unique patient conditions. (3) Assignment. This is the full performance level. At this level, SLPs independently provide evidence-based assessment and treatment interventions to individuals with a wide range of speech, language, voice, cognitive-communication and swallowing disorders. Staff SLPs select, administer and interpret standardized and non-standardized assessment measures. They integrate assessment findings into a patient-centered treatment plan of care and evaluate the effectiveness of interventions by collecting and documenting treatment outcomes. SLPs may be assigned to work in a specific clinical area such as traumatic brain injury, head and neck cancer, movement disorders or spinal cord injury. They may provide clinical training experiences for trainees and students and participate in research activities. Preferred Experience: At least 2 years of post-graduate experience in acute care setting, state licensing. References: VA Handbook 5005/153 September 22, 2022 Part II Appendix G30 The full performance level of this vacancy is at the GS-12 level. Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Contacts

• Address Canandaigua VA Medical Center 400 Fort Hill Ave Canandaigua, NY 14424 US
• Name: Valerie Rarick
• Phone: 315-425-4400 X56571
• Email: [email protected]