Speak Out April 2017

Professional Practice

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” - Dr. Seuss

Speech pathologists in education and learning Are you helping the children you work with to “go places”?

2. Build alliances Advocating in this space can be challenging. It is very unfortunate that this area is plagued by what has been termed “literacy wars” and myths and misinformation abound. Educators and speech pathologists alike often decree that the other side doesn’t understand what they do. While a whole school collaborative approach, where a speech pathologist is fully integrated into the learning team, is best practice, realistically we know this cannot be achieved overnight. Speech pathologists who are currently working in some capacity as part of the learning team (either as a paid member of staff or contractor) tell us they started small. They were fortunate enough to have an ally in the school. This most often was the principal or a senior teacher who was trusted by the principal. They then worked with the staff to determine what the students’ needs were and presented information about how they could work with the teaching staff to support improved outcomes. Overtime mutual respect and trust developed. Speech pathologists who are interested in advocacy in this area will find the strategies listed on pages 35/36 of the Literacy Clinical Guideline useful. One other strategy will be to partner with, or seek support from others. There are many speech pathologists, educators and parents who all feel passionate about this area and are willing to support each other. A starting point can be Learning Difficulties Australia who bring together teachers and other professionals dedicated to assisting students with learning difficulties. To find out more about what SPA is doing in this space go to www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/schools To wrap it all up here is one final word from Dr Seuss, “So be sure when you STEP, Step with CARE and great TACT. And remember that LIFE’s, A great BALANCING ACT!”

Do you work with pre-schoolers and school aged children? Then you are an essential member of their team, including parent and educators, who can support children to learn and work with those children who are experiencing literacy and learning difficulties. For speech pathologists wishing to advocate for, and establish their place in the literacy learning domain in a setting that doesn’t currently have a speech pathology program there are two imperatives. 1. Start from a place of knowledge – learn the facts • Oral language competency is essential for literacy learning. • The Simple View of Reading and the Reading Rope are the two theoretical models underpinning current thinking about the linguistic basis of learning to reading. • Reading is a skill that must be learned. • There are five components (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, language comprehension) that are essential for effective and evidence based reading instruction • Children must make a transition from “learning to read” to “reading to learn”. • A whole school collaborative approach achieves the best outcomes in an educational setting. • Speech pathologists are an essential part of the literacy team. • As part of the literacy team speech pathologists can assist with the identification of students at risk of experiencing literacy learning difficulties or experiencing reading difficulties (including dyslexia); work with the team to adjustments or learning modifications and so on. All of this information, and more, is detailed in Speech Pathology Australia’s Clinical Guidelines for Speech Pathologists Working In Literacy (2016) and will be explored in even greater detail in Dr Tanya Serry’s 2017 SPA National Tour: Speech Pathology in the literacy domain: From prevention to intervention.

Christine Lyons Senior Advisor Professional Practice

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April 2017 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

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