The mission of the ANCDS Board of Residency Education (BRE) is to assure quality and promote excellence through accreditation of residency programs in speech-language pathology that serve individuals with neurologic communication disorders.  To achieve the mission, ANCDS BRE established standards for accreditation of a clinical speech-language pathology residency program in neurogenic communication disorders.  Information about the BRE and these standards can be found under the BRE tab.

The BRE is extremely pleased to announce that the Mayo Clinic (Minnesota) Medical Speech-Language Pathology Program is the first program accredited by BRE.  Congratulations to the staff and leadership of this exemplary clinical training program on achieving this honor.  The Mayo Clinic residency program is accredited from May 1, 2025 – April 30, 2030.  As part of accreditation the program will submit annual reports to the BRE and apply for reaccreditation in 2029.

Several other speech-language pathology clinical programs are in the process of seeking BRE accreditation and we look forward to seeing them complete the process.  Accreditation is available to speech-language pathology programs in government agencies, such as VA Healthcare Systems, and in private community-based hospitals.  Programs must have significant emphasis on serving persons with neurogenic communication disorders.  Information about the accreditation process and timing can be found here.

The BRE has five members who conduct the business of the Board and oversee the accreditation process and activities.  Part of the accreditation process requires a site visit to the program applying for accreditation.  In addition to BRE members who serve as site visitors, the BRE is developing a pool of prospective site visitors who will conduct future site visits.  BRE welcomes ANCDS members who wish to become part of the BRE either as a member or a site visitor.  For more information on these positions or to become part of the BRE team, please contact BRE Chair, Janet Patterson, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, at [email protected].

Through the support of the ANCDS Executive Board and the work of numerous ANCDS members, the long-time vision of ANCDS to create an advanced clinical accreditation program has become a reality.  The BRE looks forward to a bright future of recognizing the excellence of many speech-language pathology residency programs through awarding BRE accreditation.

Again, congratulations to the Mayo Clinic (Minnesota) Medical Speech-Language Pathology Program for achieving accreditation from the ANCDS Board of Residency Education.