Paste When working in the school system there are endless reasons to provide speech therapy within a student’s classroom. Speech language pathologists/therapists have the chance to see first-hand during each session what functional tasks or skills need improvement.The student’s normal daily routine is not interrupted and the child will not be missing important class instruction.Speech language pathologists can also provide and use materials that are in the classroom, making it more feasible for teachers and parents to carry over activities when the therapists are not there.
In order to be truly authentic, intervention should be tailored to the student's needs in their natural environment, the general education classroom. By working with students during academic activities, in the classroom, speechlanguage pathologists can provide the support and strategies needed in the setting of reading, writing and speaking activities. Speech language pathologists can work individually with students, circulating around the room; can work with small groups during an activity; or can team teach with the classroom general education teacher for a whole lesson. Language is our super power and the better speech language pathologists are able to understand the requests and demands being put upon students in the classroom, the better they can help them excel.
Early Childhood Education
Speech and Language Disorders
Treatment in the Classroom
The classroom teacher has expertise in curriculum, classroom managementand group instruction while the speech language pathologist (SLP) has knowledge about individual language/communication development, language/communication disabilitiesand individualized intervention strategies. Why would administrators, educators and therapists not want to combine the strengths of these two professionals and perform speech and language services in the classroom? (What many call “push-in” therapy versus the traditional “pull-out” model.)
Treatment in the Classroom/Collaboration
Push-in services happen in the classroom and the general education teacher and SLP work collaboratively. This is called inclusive education.Many school districts like the inclusion model and are encouraging their special education employees (including SLPs) to adopt this method of service.Inclusion helps students get to learn and practice skills in the general education classroom, which keeps them in the least restrictive environment and increases interactions with “typical” friends/peers (Hernandez, 2012).
Collaboration between staff as well as the beneficial effects of push-in therapy on students’ development is considered bestpractice and viewed as an opportunity to enhance the development of skills and abilities ofstudents with special needs (Hernandez, 2012).Speech and/or language impairments increase children’s risk of later being diagnosed as having reading and behavioral disabilities. Less supportive parenting may also result in children experiencing lower language growth due to less frequent and lower quality verbal interactions (Morgan, Hammer, Farkas, Hillemeier, Maczuga, Morano, 2016). The push-in model allows the SLP to assess these factors andassist the classroom teacher in remediating the deficits byproviding ideas for evidence-based treatment strategies (Squires, Reutzel, 2013).
Interaction in the Classroom
Child-to-child interaction is one waythat SLPs can proactively support the development ofcommunicative capability. Peers play an exceedingly large role in a child’ssocial world and because of this role, peers can be helpfulin modeling and enhancing appropriate social and play behaviors (Nungesser, Watkins, 2005). Play in all its forms is beneficial to a child’s overall development and that guided play, structured by educators and SLPs for an intended purpose, supports positive social foundations, executive function and cognitive development.Play has been called “the work of children” because it is through play that children learn how to interactin their environment, discover their interests and acquire cognitive, motor, speech, language and social-emotional skills. Through various types of play, childrenlearn to discover, create and problem solve in a safe, caring environment. As children grow and mature,their play skills also change, allowing for the development of new skills that are more varied andcomplex. By pushing into the classroom the SLP can support language in a variety of children while they are playing and exploring their world.
High-quality classroom experiences can beinfluential for ensuring that young children with language impairments are ready and willing to learn (Pentimonti, Justice,Kaderavek, 2014). Thepreschool classroom and its play based curriculum affords a natural environment where adults can guide childrento connect with others to enhance their own levels of confidence, self-esteem and self-realization. This is important as children are more likely to experienceprogress in their speech and language when they are in communication with more competent peers. Preschool classrooms afford children the opportunityto practice communicative skills in a supportive social environment, providing the context for holisticintervention to occur.The development of collaborative partnerships between SLPs and educators is an essential aspectof building an effective model of support for children and their families. (Robertson, Ohi, 2016).A growing body of research identifies collaborative practice between educators and SLPs in the classroomasessential to improving language support for young children (Overby, Carrell, Bernthal, 2007).
Opportunities in the Classroom
There are so many opportunities to expand speech and communication in the early childhood classroom. Whether it be during storybook discussions, snack, centers or small group. General education teachers and SLPs can work on print awareness, phonemic and phonological awareness, identifying words with our sound, discuss rhyme and clap out syllables, answer WH questions, predict, discuss basic concepts, new vocabulary and categorize whenever the opportunities arise. Speech therapy activities in the classroomshould work toward functional skills, which include academic-based skills but should also still be fun. Preschoolers spend a lot of time in play, so activities will involve a lot of entertainingevents and pretend play. A SLP should balance play-based therapy activities with structured activities.
Conclusion
The SLP can play multiple roles in the intervention and curricular programs which impact individual students, whole classes of students and instructional staff. Utilization of this resource is dependent on administrative support for the various roles and teacher desire for collaboration. Parents and general education teachers must acknowledge their desire for broader services and work together with SLPs to actually make it happen. Embracing push in services means the various parties must implement a more comprehensive view of speech services that extends beyond pull-out services and that each understands the need for time allotment for teachers and SLPs to accomplish the broader goals.
your essay in here…