SP in Schools project 2017 Low Res V2

Terminology

Terminology

Developmental language disorder is used to refer to conditions with no known differentiating condition. However, this does not include any nonverbal criteria – children with low normal-range nonverbal ability can be included as cases of DLD. Generally children with intellectual disability will be identified as having a language disorder with an identifiable genetic or neurological cause. It is anticipated that the word “developmental” would be dropped in adulthood, leaving the diagnosis “language disorder” – there is not a specific agreed age at which the change is made, and may depend on the individual’s choice. Language disorder is the adopted term for children who are likely to have language problems enduring into middle childhood and beyond, with a significant impact on everyday social interactions or educational progress. Where language disorders occur as part of a more complex pattern of impairments it is suggested that the term “language disorder associated with X” is used, where X is the differentiating condition. Differentiating conditions may include ASD, genetic conditions such as Down syndrome and sensori- neural hearing loss. References Bishop, D. V. M. Snowling, M. J., Thompson, P. A., & Greenhalgh, T. (2016). CATALISE: A multinational and multidisciplinary Delphi consensus study. Identifying language impairments in children. PLoS One 11(7), e0158753[CT26]. Dorothy Bishop gave a lecture for RCSLT about the project. You can view the YouTube clip here and the summary in the RCSLT Bulletin. Susan Ebbels also summarised the project here. This summary has a good diagram of the questions to consider in reaching a diagnosis of DLD, and also provides links to good research papers including Ebbels’ article in the International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders. Team teaching The classroom teacher and the speech pathologist each teach from their respective areas of expertise. Prior planning must take place for a team teaching model to be successful. The speech pathologist and the classroom teacher must decide how they will divide the workload responsibilities related to the classroom organisation, the type of lesson design, the materials, the behaviour management or conflict resolution approach, time management, the materials, modifications and/ or adaptations needed, the assessment activities, and accountability exercises, (e.g. who conducts the parent–teacher conferences). Team teaching may prove to be very time-consuming in the early stages. Once the groundwork has been established, however, all parties benefit from providing services to students.

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Speech Pathology Australia: Speech Pathology in Schools Project