Health Technician (Audiology and Speech Language Pathology)

About the role

The incumbent works in the Audiology & Speech Pathology Clinic at the Columbia VA Health Care System and serves under the Supervisory Speech Pathologist or Audiologist with direction from the licensed professional staff (Audiologist or Speech Language Pathologist). To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 05/18/2026. 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). Experience and Education. Experience. Six months of experience comparable to the next lower level which demonstrates the knowledge, skills and abilities related to the duties of the position to be filled. OR Education. Successful completion of two academic years above high school leading to an associate degree or a bachelor's degree with at least 12 semester hours in courses related to the position. OR Experience/Education Combination. Equivalent combinations of experience and education are qualifying. An example of a combination of experience/education is three months of experience comparable to the next lower level which demonstrates the knowledge, skills and abilities related to the duties of the position to be filled and one year above high school with a minimum of 6 semester hours related to the health care industry. 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: HEALTH TECHNCIAN -AUDIOLOGY & SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY (HTASLP), GS-07 Experience. Completion of one year of progressive experience and/or experience equivalent to the next lower grade level directly related to the position being filled. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs). In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs: (a) Ability to mentor and train new HTASLPs. (b) Ability to prepare patients for advanced testing procedures performed by the audiologist, such as evoked potentials. (c) Ability to identify the diagnosis and dysphagia risk factors in the medical record to assist the SLP. (d) Ability to identify the components of dysphagia monitoring. (e) Knowledge of linguistic parameters such as semantic, syntactic and phonological categories, to assist in creating therapeutic stimuli and home programs. (f) Ability to develop and implement the technician role for a program in a focused area of audiology and/or speech-language pathology. Assignment. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, administrative independence, complexity and range of variety as described in this standard at the specified grade level and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. The HTASLP works under the direction of a licensed audiologist or SLP. Assignments associated with this position include, but are not limited to completing adjustments to hearing aid settings as outlined in the audiologist's plan of care, preparing patients for advanced diagnostic procedures such as evoked potentials and collaborating with team to develop training programs for patients and staff. Under the direction of the SLP, assignments associated with this position include, but are not limited to: completing communication and swallow screenings including review of medical history, imaging reports and diet orders; and generating therapeutic stimuli and home programs for complex treatments such as cognitive and aphasia treatment. This health technician may collaborate with the health care team to develop educational materials for patients and staff and processes for monitoring patient safety initiatives as outlined in established policies. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

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