JCPSLP Vol 23, Issue 1 2021

Speech pathology: An agile and responsive profession

From the editors Drs Andy Smidt, Katrina Blyth, and Leigha Dark

Contents

2 Speech-language pathologist practice changes in telehealth speech-language therapy for rural children – Jessica Campbell, Deborah Theodoros, Trevor Russell, Nicole Hartley, and Nicole Gillespie clinical research: Using single- case experimental design to answer a clinical question – Samuel Calder, Mary Claessen and Suze Leitão 10 Improving practice through 16 Client and student perceptions of a group-based, student-led service model “Dysphagia Afternoon Tea”: A feasibility study – Shelley Gapper, Rachel Wenke, Melissa Lawrie, and Elizabeth Cardell 25 What is best practice when conducting decision-making capacity assessment of patients in the hospital? – Tracy Sheldrick, Alex Barwick, Paul Butterworth, and Nasim Salehi decision to have a tongue-tie released: A preliminary study – Anna-Maree Bennett, Grace E. Vincent, and Barbra Zupan 40 Viewpoints: Speech-language pathology: An agile and responsive profession – Bea Staley, Jenny Lethlean, Paul and Pat Cheetham, Ciara Spillane and Sharmin Kalantari, Rachel Davenport and Nikki Worthington 44 Top 10: Responsive speech- language pathology services during COVID-19 and beyond – Madeline Raatz 34 Factors that influence the

From left: Drs Andy Smidt, Katrina Blyth, and Leigha Dark

W elcome to the first issue of JCPSLP for 2021. First, we’d like to acknowledge the amazing work of Dr Leigha Dark who stepped into an interim editor role in 2020 and has been helping us to learn all we need to know to fill her very big shoes. Second, we’d like to take this opportunity to reflect on the last year. In March 2020 we were in the midst of uncertainty and rapid change as COVID-19 impacted all of our lives. Over this last year, we’ve all needed to re-think and adapt within our personal and professional lives. Like many of you, this caused an extra layer of stress! On a more positive note however, the global pandemic and international shutdown meant that we had the amazing opportunity to challenge our “old ways” of working and accelerate towards Speech Pathology Australia’s 2030 vision. The purpose of this issue is to share insights and highlight the responsiveness of our profession. The papers we have in this issue cover paediatric and adult services either in-person or via telehealth and illustrate the diverse range of our profession. Jessica Campbell and her team qualitatively explore practice change themes between face-to-face and telehealth delivery for young kids and their parents within a rural paediatric service. Perspectives from clinicians and managers are also presented. Samuel Calder explains how to answer a clinical question using a single case design. His paper is a great example of clinical research using a realistic sample size. Shelley Gapper and her colleagues present an innovative approach to educating people with dysphagia with student speech pathologists running a Dysphagia Afternoon Tea. This project provided clinical experience for students as well as opportunities for socialisation for attendees and their carers. Tracy Sheldrick and colleagues look at best practice when determining decision-making capacity of patients in the acute care setting. They look at current practice and the impact of communication on decision-making capacity. They advocate for the inclusion of speech pathologists as key to this process particularly in the presence of complex communication needs. Anna-Maree Bennett and colleagues address the perspective of carers who chose to pursue tongue- tie release. Given the increase in tongue-tie surgery, it is important to understand the perspectives of those choosing surgery. Third, we thank the JCPSLP editorial committee and contributors for putting together such valuable columns to reflect the theme of this issue. In “Viewpoints”, clinicians, educators and clients share their challenges and successes over the last year. Madeline Raatz has put together a great “Top 10” of tips and resources for being a responsive speech pathologist. In our “Resource review”, Rachel Higgins highlights a new tool for speech pathologists and other health care professionals to identify and support patients with communication difficulties. The “Around the journals” column for this issue looks at four publications reflecting on adaptive speech pathology services and whether we want to go “back to normal”. In “Ethical conversations”, Patricia Bradd and Trish Johnson consider our agility and responsiveness within an ethical framework.

46 Resource review

47 Around the journals – Andy Smidt

50 Ethical conversations: Speech pathology: An agile and responsive profession – Patricia Bradd and Trish Johnson

Enjoy reading Andy, Kat and Leigha

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JCPSLP Volume 23, Number 1 2021

www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au