Children's views of communication and speech-language pathology

Abstract

Children have the right to express their views and influence decisions in matters that affect them. Yet decisions regarding speech-language pathology are often made on their behalf, and research into the perspectives of children who receive speech-language pathology intervention is currently limited. This paper reports a qualitative study which explored experiences of communication and of speech-language pathology from the perspectives of children with speech, language, and communication needs (SLCN). The aim was to explore their perspectives of communication, communication impairment, and assistance. Eleven school-children participated in the study, aged between 7–10 years. They were recruited through a speech-language pathology service in south west England, to include a range of ages and severity of difficulties. The study used open-ended interviews within which non-verbal activities such as drawing, taking photographs, and compiling a scrapbook were used to create a context for supported conversations. Findings were analysed according to the principles of grounded theory. Three ways of talking about communication emerged. These were in terms of impairment, learning, and behaviour. Findings offer insight into dialogue between children with SLCN and adults; the way communication is talked about has implications for children's view of themselves, their skills, and their participation.

Keywords:

• Qualitative research
• listening to children
• school-age children
• speech-language pathology

Acknowledgements

This research was carried out thanks to funding from Remedi, with support from Bristol Children's Fund. We are grateful to Jane Dalrymple for her support with the project. We would like to thank the children for taking part, and acknowledge the support of the children's parents, teachers, and speech-language pathologists. We are also grateful to reviewers for their help in improving this manuscript.