Direct vs indirect practicum hours, with examples
Direct practicum hours are the intervention and assessment hours you spend with clients, in person or by video, plus clinical work by telephone, which has its own categories. Indirect hours are support hours: notes, chart review, scoring and report writing, case conferences, didactics and recording review. Supervision you receive is neither and is reported on its own. The internship application has no box literally named direct or indirect; it asks for intervention, assessment, supervision and support totals.
Where common activities go
| Activity | Category | Direct or indirect |
|---|---|---|
| Therapy session in person or by video | Individual therapy, by age group | Direct |
| Therapy while a supervisor watches live | The therapy category, not supervision | Direct |
| Active co-therapy with one client | Individual therapy | Direct |
| Caregiver alone, working on the child's behalf | Other interventions | Direct |
| Intake interview that leads into therapy | Intake interview | Direct |
| Administering a test battery | Psychodiagnostic or neuropsychological assessment | Direct |
| Feedback session on test results | Other psychological assessment | Direct |
| Therapy by telephone | Telephone intervention | Direct, own category |
| Therapy or assessment by text message | Support | Indirect |
| Shadowing without an active role | Support | Indirect |
| Scoring, interpreting and writing a report | Support | Indirect |
| Scheduling call with a client | Support | Indirect |
| Case conference or didactic seminar | Support | Indirect |
| One to one supervision you receive | Individual supervision, by credential | Neither, reported separately |
Two of these surprise people. Text based work is contact with a client but the guide places it in support. Live supervision is supervision in everyday speech but the guide logs it as the clinical work, and counting it again as supervision double counts the hour. The categories page has a finder with more activities.
Why the split matters
Internship sites read your direct hours, especially intervention and assessment, as the clearest picture of your clinical experience, and many state their own minimums in those terms. Support hours matter too, as evidence of the documentation and training behind the contact, but they are one line in the application with a short description, so there is no need to track support subtypes separately.
Speech language pathology draws the line differently. Under the 2027 standards, in-person, telepractice and simulation hours are direct care, while non-clinical care management (notes, reports, scoring) can count up to 50 hours and guided observation up to 25. The 2027 speech language hours guide covers that set.
Worked example: one practicum week
A student's week at a university counseling center: three 50 minute therapy sessions, one 2 h 10 m test administration, 1 hour of scoring, 45 minutes of notes, 1 hour of individual supervision with a licensed psychologist, and a 90 minute didactic seminar.
| Group | Activities | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Direct: intervention | 3 therapy sessions at 1.00 h each | 3.00 |
| Direct: assessment | Test administration, 130 minutes | 2.25 |
| Supervision | Individual, licensed psychologist | 1.00 |
| Indirect: support | Scoring 1.00, notes 0.75, seminar 1.50 | 3.25 |
Direct hours for the week are 5.25, supervision 1.00 and support 3.25. Each activity was rounded up to the next quarter hour on its own, as the guide asks. The practicum log does this sorting and rounding as you save each entry.
Common mistakes
- Logging live supervised therapy as supervision, or as both.
- Putting scoring and report writing under assessment. Assessment hours are the time with the client.
- Counting shadowing as intervention when you had no active role.
- Treating text based therapy as intervention hours.
- Rounding a week or a month of minutes once instead of rounding each activity.
- Keeping detailed support subcategories you will never report, instead of one total and a short description.
Log your own hours
The log files each activity in the category it will be reported in, rounds each one up to the quarter hour, and adds up your totals per term and cumulative, privately in your browser.
Frequently asked questions
Is supervision direct or indirect practicum time?
Neither. Supervision you receive is reported in its own individual and group supervision categories, by your supervisor's credential.
Do telehealth video sessions count as direct hours?
Yes. The tracking guide combines in-person and video intervention into face to face hours. Only telephone work goes in the separate telephone categories.
Do I need to track each kind of support activity separately?
No. The application asks for one support total and a text description of the kinds of support work you did, so one running total is enough.
Does writing an integrated report count as assessment?
No. The writing time is support. The finished report is also counted once in the integrated reports count if it meets the definition.
Sources
Last reviewed 26 September 2026 against:
- AAPI Practicum Hours Tracking Guide, Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers, version 1.0, last revised September 2026, read 25 September 2026. Used for: The general rules, the intervention, assessment, integrated report, supervision and support categories, and the rounding table.
- 2027 Standards and Implementation Procedures for the Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, effective 1 August 2027, read 26 September 2026. Used for: Standards V-C (400 hours, the 250 hour core, Table 1.A), V-D (325 hours in graduate study) and V-E (supervision).
This guide is our own summary, not advice about your eligibility. If it disagrees with the current documents, the documents win. Practicum Ledger is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to APPIC, ASHA, any match service, any application portal, or any other association or board.