Improving Collaboration between teachers and SLPs

Published: 08 Mar 2019 Tagged: childrencollaborationEducationlanguagelanguage developmentpartnershipschoolSLPSpeakablespeech language pathologistSpeech Pathologyspeech therapytask forceteachers

Many classrooms have children whose special needs are related to speech and language pathology, and these needs can have an impact on both the children and their teachers. At times, there is a support of a Speech & Language Pathologist (SLP) who helps the child develop these underperforming areas. However, it's not uncommon to see differences between the approaches from the teacher and the SLP that affect their respective outcomes. Collaboration is the keyword to solve that: teachers and SLPs in a partnership to help the child’s personal development and school performance. Here are some useful tips on how to collaborate with the SLP to achieve the best possible outcomes for the child:

• Obtain the defined speech and language goals for that specific child from the SLP as they can help you, as a teacher, understand how challenging the situation can be for you and the child.
• Establish a shared portfolio to be used by both you as the teacher and the SLP, documenting the child’s characteristics, accomplishments, challenges and opportunities for learning.
• Schedule some time on a fortnightly or monthly basis to talk to the SLP about the child's performance both at school and at the SLP therapy sessions. These quick check-ins will help align any situations that could be concerning the teacher or the SLP.
• The same check-ins can be used as brainstorm opportunities, when the teacher asks for and provide ideas, always thinking on the success and satisfaction of the child.