Transcript The SLP`s Role in Schools

The Speech Language
Pathologist’s Role in Schools
By
Rebecca K. Mitchell, M.S., CCC-SLP
Objective

To orient teachers, teacher assistants,
school staff , principals, parents and
other administrators to the changing
roles of Speech-Language Pathologists
(SLPs) in schools.
What we do
Evaluate and treat students with
educationally or functionally relevant
communication problems.
 Participate on committees, complete
procedural compliance paperwork and
engage in many activities to support ALL
students in achieving Adequate Yearly
Progress (AYP).
American Speech-Language Hearing Association
(ASHA) workload model
http://www.asha.org/slp/schools/examples
choose workload clusters

From start to finish!
Accept referrals
 Participate in Student Assistance Team
 Plan interventions
 Carry out interventions
 Conduct assessments
 Share assessment results with
Individual Education Program (IEP)
Teams

From start to finish
Make eligibility recommendations
 Serve students who are identified as
eligible for exceptional children's
services in a variety of settings
 Serve some students who are not
eligible through early intervention and
prevention programs
 Complete state and federal procedural
compliance paperwork

Additional
responsibilities at this
school
• Car duty and cafeteria duty
• Student Services Team Meetings-
monthly
• EC Contact
• Participate in grade level Professional
Learning Communities (PLC’s)
• Yearbook Committee
• Spring Carnival
The Student Services
Team
SLPs are important to include as
members of or a resource to the team.
 It is a regular education initiative but
SLP input can be valuable.
 We can help plan interventions and may
recognize communication problems
under the guise of other problems
(receptive language manifest as
behavior……).

Referral
SLPs can collaborate with teachers to
conduct classroom based interventions
for language, articulation, voice and
fluency interventions.
 If interventions are successful students
remain in the class.
 If interventions are not successful SLPs
begin the DEC (Department of
Exceptional Children’s) paperwork.

Assessment

SLPs use a variety of assessment tools
NOT just standard tests. We do:
– Observations
– Checklists
– Collect classroom work samples
– Language samples
– Dynamic assessment (test-teach-testteach) over the 90 day assessment period
Assessments

Assessments are for all parties to learn
more about a student, parents,
administrators, teachers….. The
secondary purpose is to determine
eligibility. SLPs may conduct
assessments with no intention of
placing a student in speech-language
services.
Eligibility

Students become eligible for speech
services now through these 3 prongs:
– A disability
– That negatively impacts academic
achievement or functional performance
– In need of the specially designed
individualized instruction an SLP provides
ALL 3 prongs must exist and be documented
to lead to eligibility!!
Serving Students

The Individuals with Disabilities Education
Improvement Act (IDEA 04) AND The NC
Policies that Govern Services for Children with
Disabilities say Special Education BEGINS in
regular education settings then moves to
more restrictive environments. In practice
this means that probably many SLI (SpeechLanguage Impaired) students should be
served in classrooms rather than speech
”closets”!!
What in the world do
SLPs work on???
We work on Speaking , Listening ,
Reading and Writing!!
 Language, spoken, read or written
 Articulation, (the way sounds are
pronounced)
 Fluency ( stuttering, the rhythm of
spoken language)
 Voice, quality (hoarseness, raspiness….)

Things we don’t do




Selective mutism (a psychological issue
FIRST)
English Language Learners (teach our
language to non-English speakers)
We serve disorders not differences
Swallowing (not an educationally relevant
skill, we MAY participate on a feeding team)
Modifications and
Accommodations

Students with speech and language
disorders may have accommodations
and modifications on their IEP if those
accommodations and modifications are
necessary and directly related to the
disability.
We WANT to do
Collaborate with teachers
 Serve students in classrooms, regular
education, resource, or self contained
 Contribute our knowledge to student
assistance teams, literacy teams,
curriculum teams…….

Dismissal
Speech is not a life time service. We
set goals, work to meet them, and
dismiss most all students.
 Students with autism and intellectual
disabilities will have different
communication expectations …much
more social/ functional, less academic.

Services on behalf of
students


The Related Service Support Description, a
new part of the IEP helps related service
providers document services we provide on
behalf of students.
This is often a more appropriate way to serve
students e.g. engineering communication rich
classrooms, programming augmented
communication systems, teaching other
students/ teachers /cafeteria workers…. to
interact with aug. comm. users and other
speech impaired students…….
Intellectually disabled
and autistic students

Evidence exists that these students do
not carry over skills taught in the
speech ”closet” through drill and
practice. They DO use communication
skills taught where they are used, (in
classrooms, on work sites in the
cafeteria, playground) so SLPs want to
serve students in those places.
Dismissal
Most students should be dismissed from
speech after having met their goals or
when they plateau ( little or no progress
over IEP period).
 For self contained students
communication should and usually does
go on all day long every day perhaps
just requiring the collaborative services
of the SLP.

Caseloads

NC has a caseload capacity of 50 with
the possibility of waivers for slightly
above that number. Any given caseload
should reflect multiple service delivery
models, a variety of settings and allow
time for planning with teachers,
completing procedural paperwork, and
committee assignments……
Credentialing


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NC DPI License to teach in the area of
speech-language pathology, (must have for
school service).
ASHA Certificate of Clinical Competence
(CCC) 9 months of study with a master
clinician past the masters degree,
(recommended and many possess).
NC Board of Examiners License in SpeechLanguage Pathology, (recommended and
many possess)
MAKE FRIENDS WITH YOUR SLP!!
We want to help you and help ALL
children succeed!!