Speak Out Dec 2016 low res final

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10 Speak Out December 2016
Given the increasing focus for many speech pathologists
supporting children and adolescents with reading, spelling
and writing difficulty – collectively known as literacy – Speech
Pathology Australia commissioned the preparation of clinical
guidelines in literacy for the benefit of Association members.
The aims of these clinical guidelines were to explore and
document the scope of practice for speech pathologists in
the literacy domain, to discuss models of service delivery, and
importantly, to appraise the evidence for our practices. Dr Tanya
Serry, PhD, a senior lecturer in the Discipline of Speech Pathology
at La Trobe University in Victoria, was appointed as the project
officer in 2015 to lead this project. On the eve of the release of
these clinical guidelines for speech pathologists working in the
literacy domain, Tanya reported on the journey of establishing a
working party and creating the guidelines.
Following Tanya’s appointment to lead the project, she called
for expressions of interest from within the speech pathology
community to form a working party to develop the clinical
guidelines. Eleven speech pathologists were assigned and
they represented private practitioners, school-based speech
pathologists and academics from many states in Australia. The
working party members are listed below.
Clinical guidelines for speech pathologists working in literacy is
timely based on recent evidence from Australia and the USA,
describing a complex landscape for us to be fully engaged in
supporting children and adolescents with poor literacy (Fallon
& Katz, 2011; Katz, Fallon, DiDonato, & Van Der Linden, 2006;
Serry, 2013; Snow, 2009).
The training that speech pathologists receive for entry-level into
the profession makes us well-equipped to work in literacy support
given the fact that reading and related literacy-based activities are
underpinned by oral language competencies. Taking into account
the fact that speech pathologists are suitably equipped, yet are
likely to face some challenges when seeking to work in the literacy
domain, these guidelines were designed with two key foci: (i) as a
practice document to guide speech pathology practice based on
the best available evidence, and (ii) as a framework to assist with
advocating for an established role as part of a literacy support
team.
At a practice-based level, the guidelines adopt a framework for
working at various levels which include: prevention to reduce
the risk of later difficulty in learning to become literate; strategies
to promote strong oral language competencies and emergent
literacy; assessment – from screening to detailed analysis and
intervention – from young children who do not make a strong start
learning to read and spell, through to secondary students who
experience difficulty in any aspect of literacy.
Difficulties may include poor word decoding, poor reading
comprehension, poor spelling and/or poor extended written
language or narrative.
The clinical guidelines also explore and appraise the evidence
for various service delivery models that reach well beyond the
traditional one-to-one approach. With respect to the importance
of acknowledging the quality of evidence (Sackett, Rosenberg,
Gray, Haynes, & Richardson, 1996), the Australian National
Health and Medical Research Council guidelines were referred to
throughout the clinical guidelines when appraising the evidence
for clinically oriented content.
At a systems-based level, the clinical guidelines provide some
strategies to assist speech pathologists to advocate to undertake
a greater role in establishing and supporting literacy initiatives.
This component of the clinical guidelines relied on some of the
existing literature combined with experiences and reflections
among working party members for this clinical guideline.
In May 2016, the working party presented a workshop reporting
on a draft version of the clinical guidelines at the Speech
Clinical guidelines for SPs
working in the literacy domain
Speech Pathology Australia commissioned the preparation of clinical guidelines in literacy for
the benefit of association members.