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June 2017 Speak Out 23
Professional practice
SPEECH PATHOLOGY AUSTRALIA recently made a
commitment to support the use of the terminology, “development
language disorder” and “language disorder”, as proposed by the
CATLISE Consortium*. There is no question that consistency of
terminology is needed. A dilemma speech pathologists may face
is labelling young children with a disorder and hence a disability.
As a profession we need to be confident in our diagnostic abilities,
consistent in the reporting of a diagnosis and clear as to why we
need to be diagnosing children with a disorder/disability.
Let’s start with “why?”
At its best, speech pathology practice is life-changing.
Time and time again, as part of the Speech Pathology 2030
project, clients who had received ideal speech pathology practice
told Speech Pathology Australia what a profound positive impact
it had on their lives. Interviewees also stressed that they wanted
choice and control and for their values, needs and goals to be
central to the assessment, diagnostic, and therapeutic process.
Our clients deserve accuracy and the truth
Yes, no parent wants to hear that their child has a disability and
of course you don’t want to be the one to provide them with that
news, but imagine if you went to the GP and they told you that
your broken leg was a sprain. After days/months of not being
able to walk around, or sleep and in pain you insist on an x-ray
and it is found that you have a break. That is what often happens
for parents of children with a language or speech sound disorder.
They are told their child is delayed or has a difficulty in a particular
area but for a variety of reasons it sometimes takes years (if
ever) before their child is diagnosed with a disability. “We saw an
audiologist and ENT repeatedly from when [my son] was 5, and
then a psychologist for behaviour problems for a while, but he
wasn’t referred to a speech pathologist until he was 11” (Client
interviewed for Speech Pathology 2030).
Now I know the diagnostic process isn’t as simple as having
an x-ray, but I also have tremendous confidence that speech
pathologists can, and do, have the necessary skills to conduct
a differential diagnosis. Or, as is often the case with very young
children, report on the difficulties observed, implement some form
of intervention, and then review progress as part of the diagnostic
process. It is essential that clients are informed of all of the
possibilities as you work through the process. Trust me – having
been told “not to worry” by a health professional “until we know
the results of a test” didn’t make me worry less but made me
The difficulties, disorder, disability dilemma
Time for confidence and consistency in providing children
with a diagnosis