SpeakOut_Oct2015_FINAL_lo res

association news

senate inquiry

On the 25 September , SPA President Gaenor Dixon and Professor Sharynne McLeod appeared before the Senate Education and Employment References Committees at a hearing in Brisbane for the inquiry into the ‘current levels of access and attainment for students with disability in the school system, and the impact on students and their families associated with inadequate levels of support’. Following is the opening statement made by Gaenor Dixon. Ronelle Hutchinson Manager, Policy and Advocacy Speech Pathology Australia’s key messages for the Senate Inquiry into Students with Disabilities

Gaenor Dixon, SPA President: Thank you for inviting us to speak with you today.

Our evidence today focuses on an impairment that is common to many, many disability conditions and one that fundamentally impacts on how a student participates in and achieves at school – that is, communication disability. By this we mean significant difficulties relating to speaking, hearing, listening, understanding, reading, writing and social skills. Speech Pathology Australia is the national peak body for speech pathologists representing more than six and half thousand members. Speech pathologists are the allied health practitioners who specialise in treating speech, language, communication disorders and swallowing difficulties. In some states and territories, speech pathologists are employed directly by Departments of Education, or increasingly by school principals who recognise the value in having expert advice about supporting students with communication problems. Evidence from a number of high quality Australian studies indicate that about one in five children starting school have a speech, language or communication impairment that will impact on their ability to access, participate and achieve at school. As verbal and written ‘language’ is the medium of learning in our school systems, students with communication disability are at a profound disadvantage from the outset. These students need to be identified early, before they begin school and then supported so that they can participate and achieve. Whilst there are a range of relatively common disability conditions such as Autism where communication impairment is usually a characteristic, there are also specific speech and language disorders that can occur without the existence of other disability conditions. So we can have students where communication impairment is a characteristic of another disability, however, the majority are students where their only disability is communication. There are also a group of students with complex communication needs who require the use of what we call Augmentative and Alternative Communication – things such as communication boards, iPads with symbol communications or speech generating devices – these students face very specific challenges in participating and achieving at school, particularly in mainstream schools.

From left: SPA President Gaenor Dixon, Senator Rachel Siewert and Professor Sharynne McLeod at the Senate hearing on 25 September.

It is important to understand that very few students with communication disability (without a co-occurring disability like Autism) are eligible for individualised targeted funding. However all students with communication disability require adjustments and support to allow them to access the curriculum and participate at school. What we do know is that the impacts of communication disability is far reaching and life long – resulting in poor educational outcomes, early school leaving, reduced employment opportunities, increased risk of involvement in the juvenile justice system and an increased likelihood of social, emotional, behavioural and mental health issues. I am pleased to have with me today, Professor Sharynne McLeod, who, with a team of researchers from Charles Sturt University, for the first time have analysed the NAPLAN outcomes for students with communication impairments. Sharynne’s team have released the results ahead of publication in peer-reviewed journals in order to inform the discussions and considerations of your committee.

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Speak Out October 2015

Speech Pathology Australia