Data analysis about speech-language pathologists in US schools

 This morning I met with Marie Ireland and LaVae to discuss the data analysis for our nine tensions paper. 1011 responses submitted, 885 responses completed (and not duplicated) after data cleaning by Kate Crowe. Now the fun begins as we find out what they said. Marie has submitted an abstract for a conference in 2026 in Australia - hope it is accepted - so she can come and present this work.

Marie, Sharynne  and LaVae

 

 

Planning an extension of Marie's research

Tonight I met with Dr Marie Ireland, A/Prof Kate Crowe, and LaVae Hoffman to plan an extension of the research undertaken during Marie's PhD where she identified nine tensions in eligibility decision-making in schools in the United States. 

It will expand on the knowledge from this paper:

Ireland, M. C., McLeod, S. L., & Verdon, S. (2024). Eligibility determinations for speech and language services in United States public schools: Experiences and tensions. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 55(1), 181-198. https://doi.org/10.1044/2023_LSHSS-23-00039

Marie, Sharynne, LaVae, Kate meeting in the USA/Iceland/Australia

Eligibility determinations for speech and language services in United States public schools: Experiences and tensions

Congratulations to Marie Ireland who has had an exciting week. First she learned the excellent result of her PhD by Prior Publication. Second, she learned that the following manuscript based on a chapter in her PhD has been accepted for publication: 

Ireland, M., McLeod, S, & Verdon, S. (2023, in press). Eligibility determinations for speech and language services in United States public schools: Experiences and tensions. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools. 

Here is the abstract: 

Purpose: To examine school speech-language pathologists’ (SLPs) experiences regarding students’ eligibility for services in public schools within the United States. 

Method: Fifteen school SLPs participated in online focus groups to examine the complex nature of SLPs’ participation within decision-making teams and describe practice experiences in U.S. schools. SLPs worked in 1-10+ schools serving students from pre-K through 12th grade. Data were analyzed using Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) (Engeström, 2015). 

Results: School SLPs’ practice is impacted by rules, community, and division of labor in schools. Participants discussed: culture of the work setting; interaction between team members; desire to assist families and children; knowledge of regulations; evaluation practices; and the impact of poverty, cultural and linguistic differences. Nine major tensions were identified: SLPs’ concerns regarding outcomes of eligibility decision-making; documentation of educational impact; need for greater SLP empowerment and advocacy; complexities of students learning English as an additional language; overuse of the diagnosis of speech-language impairment (SLI) for students who do not qualify; administrators’ adherence to rules; parents’ involvement in decision making; disagreement between team members; and concerns about evaluation data for decision making. 

Conclusion: Within the schools, the CHAT framework was useful to identify tensions and opportunities for change at the individual and institutional level impacting team decision-making for eligibility, SLPs provision of services, and student outcomes. Acknowledgment of tensions and opportunities for change regarding students’ eligibility for services may guide public policy, pre-service training, and individual, local and national advocacy.

ASHA award for contribution to the schools

Congratulations to my long-time colleague Julie Malone, who was awarded the Rolland J. Van Hattum Award for Contribution in the Schools at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association's Awards Ceremony tonight. 

Here is the description of the award: 

The Rolland J. Van Hattum Award for Contribution to the Schools recognizes an individual’s exemplary commitment and contribution to the delivery of audiology and/or speech-language pathology services within a school setting.The Van Hattum Award is a memorial recognition of Rolland J. Van Hattum, who had a long and distinguished career providing audiology and speech-language pathology services and support in the schools. He believed strongly in the dedication and professionalism of his colleagues in the schools and, until his death in 1987, continued to advocate for the support and recognition of their achievements.

The awardee receives a plaque and an award of $2,000. In addition, the recipient’s school system will receive $500 to further the awarded work.  

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION Eligible activities or achievements include, but are not limited to: Conducting exemplary clinical services, supervision, or research in a school setting. Developing an innovative program (e.g., clinical, training) in a school setting, with an emphasis on those that are replicable. Promoting or enhancing public or private support for audiology and speech-language pathology services in the schools. https://www.ashfoundation.org/apply/rolland-van-hattum-award-for-contribution-in-the-schools/

Edy Strand, Julie Malone, Sharynne McLeod

Good Practice Schools Framework

I am an invited member of the Students With Disability Loading Review Expert Panel coordinated by PricewaterhouseCoopers on behalf of the Australian Government. We met today to discuss the draft Good Practice Schools Framework and Cost Framework. It is an honour to have an input into this work, and to hear of the importance of speech pathologists in schools from across the sector nationally.

Cultural and linguistic diversity in NSW Department of Education schools (2019)

Here is some interesting information from the NSW Department of Education about linguistic diversity in schools in 2019
https://www.cese.nsw.gov.au/publications-filter/schools-language-diversity-in-nsw-2019

• "In March 2019, 64.1% of students enrolled in NSW government schools came from homes where English was the only language spoken. More than a third (35.9%) of students came from homes where languages other than English were spoken" 
• "There are 240 different language backgrounds of LBOTE [language backgrounds other than English] students at NSW government schools" 
• "Government preschools enrolled 2,050 students from language backgrounds other than English in 2019, representing 51.3% of all government preschool enrolments" 
• "In March 2019 68.9% of LBOTE students were from the nine largest languages and language groups. There were at least 5,000 students in each of these languages/language groups" 
• "The largest single language of LBOTE students in March 2019 was Arabic (39,793 students), followed by Mandarin (27,396 students) and Vietnamese (16,854 students). Two European language backgrounds, Greek and Spanish, also featured in the largest language backgrounds, with 8,004 and 7,985 students enrolled respectively" 

https://mcusercontent.com/3452dd17dc6f9eb39197fbfe1/images/9661a3a2-d467-4d89-98ab-3348aea6c3a6.jpg

Evaluating Children with Speech Sound Disorders in U.S. Public Schools

I am privileged to be collaborating with an international team to be writing a paper titled "Evaluating Children with Speech Sound Disorders in U.S. Public Schools: Considering Federal and State Laws, Guidance, and Research". The team members are Marie Ireland (Vice President SLP American Speech-Language-Hearing Association; Virginia Department of Education), Kelly Farquharson (Florida State University) and Kathryn Crowe (Charles Sturt University, Australia; University of Iceland, Iceland). This morning/last night depending on the time zone we had what we think will be the last online meeting before submission of our paper for peer review. As usual, the meeting was very productive and collaborative. The international conversations and clarifications have been valuable in making implicit assumptions and knowledge explicit.

Kelly (US), Sharynne (Australia), Marie (US), Kate (Poland)

New beginnings for our SLM team's family

Our SLM team includes mothers who have supported their children to move into new life stages this year. One of our team members' child has begun attending an early childhood education and care centre, two team members' youngest children have started school this week, one has started high school and my youngest started work as a teacher (after finishing her university degree last year). Our family roles are important in understanding the research we do and the lives of our participants and their families.

Teaching ESS419: Principles of Inclusive Education

Today I had the opportunity to give a lecture about children with speech, language and communication needs to the Charles Sturt University teacher education students (K-12) in their subject ESS419: Principles of Inclusive Education.
Two of the resources we discussed were:

• Speech Pathology Australia (2017). Speech pathology in schools. Melbourne, Australia: Author. Retrieved from https://speechpathologyaustralia.cld.bz/Speech-Pathology-in-Schools-2017
• Sutherland, D. (2017). Developing communication skills. In Foreman, P. & Arthur-Kelly, M. (Eds.) Inclusion in action (4th ed.). (pp. 300-345). Melbourne, Australia: Cengage.  

Dr Rachael Hutchesson and ESS419 students after our lecture

Speech Pathology in Schools Resource Project

I am a member of the Expert Advisory Group for the NSW Department of Education Speech Pathology in Schools Project being run by Speech Pathology Australia. The website outlining the project has just been launched here.
The website states:

The purpose of the kit is to provide:

•  information to principals, teachers, parents and speech pathologists about best practice speech pathology in an educational setting.
• support to encourage more schools in NSW to engage (either employ or contract) speech pathologists to work in their schools.
• advice regarding how speech pathologists working collaboratively in schools can improve student learning outcomes and wellbeing.