International journal of language & communication disorders
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Int J Lang Commun Disord · Jul 2017
Comparative StudyEffectiveness of 1:1 speech and language therapy for older children with (developmental) language disorder.
Evidence of the effectiveness of therapy for older children with (developmental) language disorder (DLD), and particularly those with receptive language impairments, is very limited. The few existing studies have focused on particular target areas, but none has looked at a whole area of a service. ⋯ Direct 1:1 intervention with an SLT can be effective for all areas of language for older children with (D)LD, regardless of their gender, receptive language or ASD status, or age. This adds to the relatively limited evidence base regarding the effectiveness of direct SLT intervention for school-aged children with (D)LD and for children with receptive language impairments. If direct 1:1 intervention can be effective with this hard-to-treat group, it may well also be effective with younger children with (D)LD. Thus, direct SLT services should be available for school-aged children with (D)LD, including older children and adolescents with pervasive difficulties.
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Int J Lang Commun Disord · Jul 2017
Inter-professional education of prospective speech-language therapists and primary school teachers through shared professional practice placements.
Preliminary studies of inter-professional education (IPE) among student speech-language therapists (SLTs) and student teachers suggest that workshop-based applications are beneficial in preparing participants for elements of collaborative practice. Situating IPE within the students' professional practice placements may provide another useful avenue to develop attitudes, knowledge and skills for inter-professional collaboration. Research examining the impact of different approaches to IPE is required to advance our understanding of effective design and evaluation of such initiatives. ⋯ Shared placement experiences between student SLTs and student teachers may be an effective method for building participants' competencies in multiple aspects of collaborative practice. Active facilitation by both SLT and classroom teacher supervisors alongside careful consideration of learning contexts (e.g., classroom structure) will help to ensure that learning is maximized for prospective professionals.
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Int J Lang Commun Disord · Jul 2017
A qualitative case study in the social capital of co-professional collaborative co-practice for children with speech, language and communication needs.
Effective co-practice is essential to deliver services for children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). The necessary skills, knowledge and resources are distributed amongst professionals and agencies. Co-practice is complex and a number of barriers, such as 'border disputes' and poor awareness of respective priorities, have been identified. However social-relational aspects of co-practice have not been explored in sufficient depth to make recommendations for improvements in policy and practice. Here we apply social capital theory to data from practitioners: an analytical framework with the potential to move beyond descriptions of socio-cultural phenomena to inform change. ⋯ Highly collaborative forms of co-practice, inherently more complex at the service governance, macro-level, bring benefits. At the meso-level of the school and support team network there was greater capacity to individualize co-practice to the needs of the child. Capacity was increased at the micro-level of knowledge and skills to harness the overall resource distributed amongst members of the inter-professional team. The development of social capital, networks of trust across SLCN support teams, should be a priority at all levels-for practitioners, services, commissioners and schools.
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Int J Lang Commun Disord · Jul 2017
Language development, delay and intervention-the views of parents from communities that speech and language therapy managers in England consider to be under-served.
Evidence-based practice includes research evidence, clinical expertise and stakeholder perspectives. Stakeholder perspectives are important and include parental ethno-theories, which embrace views about many aspects of speech, language and communication, language development, and interventions. The Developmental Niche Framework provides a useful theory to understand parental beliefs. Ethnotheories, including those about language development, delay and interventions, may vary cross culturally and are less well understood in relation to families who may be considered 'under-served' or 'hard-to-reach' by speech and language therapy services. Who is considered to be under-served and the reasons why some families are under-served are complex. ⋯ The findings are discussed in relation to previous literature and the Developmental Niche Framework. Clinical implications include ideas about issues for SLTs to discuss with families and the need to recognize that parents may see themselves as competent facilitators of language. Suggestions are made for future research, including: expanded investigation of a wider range of under-served groups, an exploration of who parents consult when concerned about their child's language, and how key community figures advise parents in relation to language delay.