Update: SMS certification

ARLINGTON, Va. - RESNA this month set a passing score for the exam for its new seating and mobility specialist (SMS) certification: 64.5%.

That means assistive technology practitioners (ATPs) who sit for the exam must answer at least 98 of the 150 questions on the exam correct.

“That score is with the adjustments,” said Anjali Weber, RESNA's director of certification. “We looked at the results from the first group of people who took the exam and we looked at the demographics, and based on that, we adjusted the score a bit.”

About 60 ATPs were part of the first group to take the SMS exam. There were a few more providers than clinicians who took the exam, but everyone had at least five years of experience.

RESNA won't be making “a hard sell” for the SMS certification. The industry is in the middle of creating a separate benefit for complex rehab and one thing that's still up in the air: What designation beyond the ATP certification will be required of providers.

“The development of the (SMS) certification meets our original promise to look at specialty areas when there's sufficient interest,” Weber said. “But we know the industry is going through a lot of changes right now and we're trying to be sensitive to that, too.”

Still, RESNA expects providers and clinicians who specialize in seating and mobility to apply for and take the exam to gain a competitive edge.

“I think, right now, people will take it because they're looking to kind of separate themselves and their knowledge from the competition,” Weber said.

For more information, including the criteria for applying for the SMS exam and where to sit for the exam, go to www.resna.org.