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WITH ASHA'S HELP, SLPs ASSERTING ROLE IN LITERACY EFFORTS

November 19, 2000

WASHINGTON -- As educators increase their focus on improving children's reading performance, speech-language pathologists are assuming a larger role in that effort. At its annual conference here last week, the American Speech-Language Hearing Association made official its view of the SLP's roles and responsibilities in literacy efforts, and several conference seminars focused on literacy and pre-literacy teaching strategies.

Speech and language specialists argue the many common skills required to listen to and speak English as well as read and write it make increased collaboration among SLPs, special ed teachers and general ed teachers not only logical but necessary. "Problems can occur in the production, comprehension and awareness of language at the sound, syllable, word, sentence and discourse levels," ASHA says in a position paper its Legislative Council adopted Saturday. "Individuals with reading and writing problems also may experience difficulties in using language strategically to communicate, think and learn. These fundamental connections necessitate that intervention for language disorders target written as well as spoken language needs."

SLPs bring expertise in relevant reading and writing techniques that general ed teachers may not have, such as phonetics and phonology, morphology and syntax, and linguistic and cultural diversity issues, says Nancy Creaghead, a member of ASHA's Committee on the Roles and Responsibilities of SLPs in Literacy. If pathologists improve their competency in additional reading areas, such as the nature of literacy, the specific difficulties related to reading and writing, the differences between spoken and written language and current debates on the best way to teach reading, Creaghead says, they can become integral parts of the literacy teaching process at all school levels.

SLPs working in pre-K and early elementary grades can provide valuable assistance identifying students with reading-related disabilities by creating referral plans and language screening tools for schools or school districts, according to committee member Maureen Staskowski. In addition, these pathologists play a vital role in prevention efforts, by using pre-literacy strategies in their own instruction, helping classroom teachers implement them and teaching parents to reinforce and support those efforts at home. Reading storybooks to develop vocabulary, grammar and phonological awareness, using printed words throughout the SLP's teaching environment, modeling reading and writing techniques and using shared and repeated reading and interactive writing activities are all methods SLPs can use to promote literacy, Staskowski notes.

TWO PRE-LITERACY PROJECTS PROMOTE PARENT-CHILD READING November 19, 2000

In the third and fourth grades, writing and composition become more important, so children with language learning difficulties need all the support they can get, according to Froma Roth, another ASHA committee member. "As children move into the middle elementary school grades, there is an increased demand placed on them. We need to help our children meet these increased demands," she says. This is true for children with all types of disabilities, not just speech and language problems, adds committee Chairwoman Nicola Nelson. The SLP, therefore, has a responsibility to provide support for all of the students, setting up models for the classroom teachers and focusing on the child's communication, speech and language goals throughout the day, in the context of all of the learning activities the child participates in.

Additionally, SLPs at this grade level can use the stages of the classroom writing process to assess the students' cognitive and linguistic processing skills, evaluate their use of linguistic elements, help the children develop oral communication skills and confidence and show them alternative ways to communicate and participate in inclusive classrooms even if their written or oral skills are below their peer group, Nelson says.

In middle and high school, the caseload for most SLPs drops off dramatically, according to committee member Cheryl Scott, but research has shown that "there is a tremendous need for SLPs to continue to be involved in literacy." Similarly, in community colleges and four-year colleges, populations with language learning disabilities are underserved. To effectively help these students, SLPs need to learn how to employ intervention strategies that are sensitive to the students' immediate classroom needs, target content and curriculum material while promoting literacy improvement and promote student self-management, she argues.

Reaching the adolescent population is a significant challenge, though, because identifying reading problems becomes more difficult for SLPs as students get older, committee member Barbara Ehren says. Adolescents are less enthusiastic about school in general and more focused on fitting in with the crowd. School and class sizes increase, and the students have more teachers, requiring SLPs to collaborate with more people to teach each student.

In addition, these students are under more pressure to take courses for which they receive academic credit, and being pulled out of classes causes the students to miss critical learning opportunities and information. At the same time, SLPs get limited support from general ed teachers, because at the middle and high school levels teachers specialize in specific subjects and rarely assume roles in literacy development voluntarily, Ehren says. SLPs, meanwhile, often lack awareness of higher language development concepts and expertise in cognitive learning strategies, making them less effective than they could be with adolescent students.

On top of that, federal funding under the 1997 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act has refocused literacy efforts on early childhood and early intervention, diverting some funding from secondary education programs, Ehren said. Information on best practices for older literacy students is also limited, and fewer specialists are certified to work with older students with language learning disabilities.8