An exploratory study of speech-language pathologists’ clinical practice in the literacy domain: Comparing onsite practices with telepractice services during COVID-19

Abstract

Purpose

To explore speech-language pathologists' (SLP) practice in literacy prior to, and during, COVID-19 to understand the practicalities, feasibility and sustainability of telepractice literacy services.

Method

This exploratory study employed a cross-sectional survey comprising 46 questions covering participants’ caseload profile and service delivery models, their assessment and intervention practices and telepractice delivery of literacy services.

Result

Participants were 44 SLPs working primarily in private practice and education with children and adolescents. Students with literacy difficulties comprised a significant proportion of SLPs’ caseloads. Individual and group sessions were the most common format of delivery prior to COVID-19. In a telepractice model during COVID-19, SLPs saw fewer students overall. Most provided individual sessions only and reported cancellation of group sessions. SLPs described their practice in literacy as being aligned with evidence-based principles. A range of resources were used for literacy assessment and intervention. For most, their usual practice changed for telepractice. Many felt underprepared to use telepractice and experienced numerous challenges mostly relating to technology and family engagement.

Conclusion

Literacy has become a core area of practice for SLPs; however, continued advocacy towards consultative and collaborative services is needed within onsite and telepractice models. Telepractice required SLPs to develop additional skills and modify usual practice. Despite experiencing challenges, many indicated they would continue with telepractice given its perceived benefits.

Keywords:

• speech-language pathologists
• literacy
• telepractice
• clinical practice
• COVID-19

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the speech-language pathologists who took part in this study.

Notes

1 NAPLAN (National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy) refers to a series of tests taken by school students in their fourth, sixth eighth and tenth year of school. NAPLAN is implemented in May of each year and is designed to examine core skills that underpin academic progression. The four areas that are specifically evaluated are: language conventions, numeracy, reading comprehension and narrative writing. NAPLAN. (2016). https://www.acara.edu.au/assessment/naplan

2 Conventional in-person contact between a clinician and client within a clinical setting

3 The authors acknowledge that the term ‘speech-language therapists’ (SLTs) is used in New Zealand; however, have adopted ‘speech-language pathologists’ (SLPs) for the purposes of this study.

4 Selected subtests of the Queensland University Inventory of Literacy (QUIL) (Dodd, 1996), Neale Analysis of Reading Ability-Third Edition (NARA-3) (Neale, 1999), South Australian Spelling Test (SAST) (Westwood, 2005), The Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests- Third Edition (WRMT-III) (Woodcock, 2010), selected subtests of the Test of Word Reading Efficiency- Second Edition (TOWRE-2) (Torgesen, 1999), the MultiLit Sight Words Test, the MulitLit Word Attack Test (MultiLit, 2007) and the Dalwood Spelling Test (Dalwood Assessment Center, 2008). Supplementary File A contains all the references for the assessment tools/intervention programs mentioned in the manuscript.