Public policy

It is declared to be a policy of the State of Arkansas that, in order to safeguard the public health, safety, and welfare; to protect the public from being misled by incompetent, unscrupulous, and unauthorized persons and from unprofessional conduct on the part of qualified speech-language pathologists and audiologists; and to help to assure the availability of the highest possible quality speech-language pathology and audiology services to individuals with disabilities that are communicative in nature who reside in this state, it is necessary to provide regulatory authority over persons offering speech-language pathology and audiology services to the public.