(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section no person shall be licensed under this chapter until such person has successfully passed a written examination, the subject and scope of which shall be determined by the commissioner. Application for such examination shall be on forms prescribed and furnished by the department and accompanied by satisfactory proof that the applicant: (1) Is of good professional character; (2) possesses a master’s or doctorate degree in speech and language pathology from a program accredited, at the time of the applicant’s graduation, by the educational standards board of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association or such successor organization as may be approved by the department, or has completed an integrated educational program which, at the time of the applicant’s completion, satisfied the educational requirements of said organization for the award of a certificate of clinical competence; (3) has satisfactorily completed a minimum of thirty-six weeks, including not less than one thousand eighty hours of full-time, or a minimum of forty-eight weeks, including not less than one thousand four hundred forty hours of part-time professional employment in speech and language pathology under the supervision of a licensed or certified speech and language pathologist. Such employment shall follow the completion of the educational requirements of subdivision (2) of this subsection and shall consist of at least six sessions of supervision per month providing a total of at least four hours of supervision per month, at least two sessions of which shall provide a total of at least two hours of direct on-site observation of speech and language pathology services provided by the applicant. “Full-time employment” means a minimum of thirty hours a week and “part-time employment” means a minimum of fifteen hours a week.

(b) The commissioner may waive the written examination for any person who (1) is licensed as a speech and language pathologist in another state or territory of the United States and such state or territory has licensing requirements at least equivalent to the requirements in this state; or (2) holds a certificate from a national professional organization, approved by the commissioner, in speech and language pathology.