Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools最新文献

Purpose: This letter to the editor is in response to the Gerlach-Houck and DeThorne (2023) epilogue regarding their proposal for speech-language pathologists to offer Autistic code-switching (Autistic masking and camouflage) as a viable, non-ableist social communication tool that Autistic clients may choose to use in "high-stakes" social situations. In connection with Autistic code-switching, the authors reference "the debate" regarding code-switching in "African American Vernacular English speakers," specifically, whether "standard" English should be encouraged as a way to access "conventional forms of success."

Conclusion: Professionally training Autistic clients to "code-switch" with the goal of improving the client's chances of accessing conventional forms of success is essentially training Autistic masking and camouflaging. This type of therapy reinforces to both the Autistic client, as well as society, the position that hiding a person's Autistic traits is a pathway to acceptance and success. Autistic camouflaging has detrimental ramifications for mental health outcomes; perpetuates both internalized and societal stigma; hinders bias and discrimination deconstruction; reinforces ableist values; and fails to dismantle power inequities and social barriers that lead to marginalization, oppression, and exclusion.

Purpose: A common goal of peer-mediated interventions is to train peers to successfully initiate and maintain social and linguistic interactions with a target child in the classroom. Ample evidence indicates that peer-mediated interventions improve social and linguistic outcomes for students in the primary and later grades with developmental disabilities; however, relatively little work has focused on applying these approaches to socially isolated preschoolers who are vulnerable to academic and social challenges. In this early-stage feasibility study, we examined the potential of Promoting Early Engagement, Relationships, and Socialization (PEERS), a peer-mediated intervention designed to support socially isolated preschoolers. The main goal was to consider whether the intervention showed promise for improving the social and linguistic experiences of young, isolated children and was appropriate for implementation in a preschool setting.

Method: In one preschool classroom, two peers who were well connected to their classmates were trained via storybook-based activities to provide social support to an isolated classmate. In-person and sensing technology observations were used to examine the target student's incoming peer interactions, outgoing peer interactions, and physical proximity to peers.

Results: In-person observations showed a trend toward increased interactions; sensing technology data, which provided longer snapshots of classroom experiences, were more variable. In addition, teachers perceived PEERS to be appropriate and effective.

Conclusion: The findings of this study support further investigation of storybook-based peer-mediated interventions in preschool settings to improve the social and linguistic experiences of children who are socially isolated.

Purpose: Morphological awareness develops throughout formal schooling and is positively related to later reading abilities. However, there are limited standardized measures available for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to use when assessing morphological awareness in clinical practice. The purpose of this tutorial is to guide clinicians in choosing between researcher-created measures of morphological awareness to use with their school-aged students.

Method: We first summarize previous morphological awareness assessment research and outline important clinical considerations when choosing a morphological awareness assessment for students in early elementary grades and beyond. Second, we highlight item characteristics regarding morpheme type, frequency, shift transparency, and imageability for students in early elementary versus later grades. Third, we discuss the type of tasks (i.e., production, decomposition, and judgment) and administration modes (i.e., oral or written and static or dynamic) available to clinicians assessing the morphological awareness skills of school-aged students. Throughout the tutorial, we reference a hypothetical case study to illustrate how SLPs might apply these suggestions and link morphological awareness assessment to treatment recommendations.

Conclusions: This tutorial highlights the importance of including morphological awareness assessments in clinical practice to support oral and written language development. We provide practical guidelines to help SLPs evaluate and choose appropriate morphological awareness assessments for their school-aged students as part of their comprehensive language evaluations and to support intervention planning.

Supplemental material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.24545470.

Purpose: As a representative form of discourse, oral narratives offer a sensitive, flexible, and ecologically valid tool for language evaluation. Nevertheless, oral narrative assessments in mainland China remain uncommon among school-age children. Therefore, this study explores the effectiveness of narrative microstructural assessment in Mandarin-speaking school-age children. Its primary purpose is to lay a foundation for future clinical applications by establishing a feasible administration procedure and validating various viable measures to facilitate the evaluation of language proficiencies.

Method: Narrative samples were collected through a single wordless picture from 285 Mandarin-speaking children ages 7-12 years (Grades 1-6). The samples were then coded using a semiautomatic method for 22 individual measures at word, sentence, and discourse levels.

Results: The adapted elicitation method was effective for all grades, with most of the children's stories exhibiting sufficient length, coherent structure, and certain self-fabricated specifics. The semiautomatic coding was also convenient and promising. Altogether, 19 measures were identified as robust predictors of grades, revealing a general tendency of grade-related increase from Grades 1 to 5. These measures exhibited three representative nonlinear trajectory patterns with varied rates of increase. Then, we developed a comprehensive composite measure through factor analysis, which combined six individual measures. The analysis verified the single factor of narrative microstructural competence and showed strong evidence of construct validity.

Conclusions: This study has provided a practical set of administration procedures, validated the efficacy of 19 individual measures as well as a composite measure, and offered corresponding field test data for clinical matching. The findings underscored the reliability and informative nature of oral narrative microstructural assessment in Mandarin-speaking school-age children.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was 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 one to 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 the following: 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, and cultural and linguistic differences. Nine major tensions were identified: need for greater SLP empowerment and advocacy, documentation of educational impact, complexities of students learning English as an additional language, concerns about evaluation data for decision making, SLPs' concerns regarding outcomes of eligibility decision making, overuse of speech-language impairment for students who do not qualify, parents' involvement in decision making, disagreement between team members, and administrations' adherence to rules.

Conclusions: Within the schools, the CHAT framework was useful to identify tensions and opportunities for change at the individual and institutional levels, 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; preservice training; and individual, local, and national advocacy.

Purpose: This survey study examined factors that may influence interprofessional collaboration in schools to support children with oral and written language impairments, namely, knowledge, collaborative beliefs and practices, and resources.

Method: A survey was conducted across 319 school-based professionals, in a partnering public school district, to examine these constructs within the context of each individual participant's professional role.

Results: Between-groups comparisons were made between special educators, general educators, paraprofessionals, and indirect educators (i.e., those whose roles do not explicitly include language-based instruction). Special educators had significantly higher levels of learning experiences and knowledge about language disorders compared to other groups. Those who engaged in the most independent learning (i.e., learning outside of pre- or in-service learning) exhibited the highest levels of knowledge. Collaborative beliefs among professionals were best predicted by access to resources and overall professional learning experiences. More positive collaborative beliefs, in turn, predicted higher rates of collaborative behaviors. Resources were predicted by a small negative relationship with years of experience and by working in specific school buildings within the district. Those with less experience in specific buildings reported more resources.

Conclusion: Individuals with higher levels of individual learning and positive attitudes toward collaboration may enhance the interprofessional collaborative practices of teams supporting children with language disorders.

Supplemental material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.24059178.

Purpose: The goal of this study was to identify promising implementation strategies that may increase teachers' and speech-language pathologists' (SLPs) adoption of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) during routine classroom activities.

Method: A grounded theory approach was used to collect and code online, semistructured interviews with six special education teachers and 14 SLPs who taught children aged 3-8 years who used AAC in inclusive and self-contained special education classrooms. Interviews were transcribed and coded verbatim using the constant comparative method. During a member checking process, six participants (n = 30%) confirmed their transcripts and commented on emerging themes.

Results: Participants shared a range of implementation strategies to increase AAC use during typical classroom activities, which were organized into seven themes: distribute modern AAC equipment, provide foundational training, share video examples, develop a systematic plan for adoption, deliver practice-based coaching, alter personnel obligations to provide protected time, and connect with professionals. A preliminary thematic map was created to link implementation barriers, strategies, and potential outcomes.

Conclusions: AAC interventions effective in clinical research can be difficult to translate into routine practice unless investigators directly explore the needs of and demands on educational professionals. Future research should define implementation strategies clearly, solicit feedback from school-personnel, and match implementation strategies to the needs of local schools to support the uptake of AAC interventions in routine classroom settings.

Supplemental material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.23699757.

Purpose: The purpose of this exploratory study was to evaluate speech-language pathologists' (SLPs') conceptions and misconceptions about dyslexia.

Method: Participants were 86 school-based SLPs. They completed an online survey on which they rated their agreement and disagreement with true and false statements related to the scientific evidence about the nature of dyslexia and interventions for dyslexia, as well as common misconceptions about dyslexia.

Results: There was considerable variability among SLPs' agreement and disagreement with the statements. Critically, despite abundant contrary evidence in the literature, many SLPs believe that dyslexia involves a visual processing deficit.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that many school-based SLPs hold misconceptions about dyslexia, especially those related to dyslexia being a visual disorder. The identified misconceptions may contribute to some SLPs' reluctance to incorporate reading and prereading skills into speech-language assessment and intervention. SLPs need greater knowledge of dyslexia to provide more effective evaluations and intervention services.

Purpose: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has prompted changes to child assessment procedures in schools such as the use of face masks by assessors. Research with adults suggests that face masks diminish performance on speech processing and comprehension tasks, yet little is known about how assessor masking affects child performance. Therefore, we asked whether assessor masking impacts children's performance on a widely used, individually administered oral language assessment and if impacts vary by child home language background.

Method: A total of 96 kindergartners (5-7 years old, n = 45 with a home language other than English) were administered items from the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals Preschool-Second Edition Recalling Sentences subtest under two conditions: with and without the assessor wearing a face mask. Regression analysis was used to determine if children scored significantly lower in the masked condition and if the effect of masking depended on home language background.

Results: Contrary to expectations, we found no evidence that students scored systematically differently in the masked condition. Children with a home language other than English scored lower overall, but masking did not increase the gap in scores by language background.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that children's performance on oral language measures is not adversely affected by assessor masking and imply that valid measurements of students' language skills may be obtained in masked conditions. While masking might decrease some of the social determinants of communication (e.g., recognition of emotions), masking in this experiment did not appear to detract from children's ability to hear and immediately recall verbal information.

Supplemental material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.23567463.