“There’s been a huge change”: Educator experiences of a whole-school SLP-led project to address developmental language disorder in three Australian secondary schools

Abstract

Purpose

Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) remains prevalent for secondary school students and continues to compromise educational, social and vocational outcomes within and beyond school. Community-based approaches to service provision are needed to use speech-language pathology resources effectively in realising benefits for this student population. Our article focusses on educator experiences of a whole-school project facilitated by a speech-language pathologist (SLP) to address DLD in secondary school settings.

Method

Twenty-one educators were interviewed across three schools to understand their perceptions and experiences of the project and their view(s) of what assisted or compromised early implementation. Data were analysed inductively to develop key themes.

Result

Educators reported gaining increased knowledge and awareness of DLD, which supported a reframing of their perceptions of student behaviour and learning issues. They identified the project provided them with ready skills and tools to change their practice, realised learning benefits for all the students they taught, aligned with broader school initiatives, and overcame potential challenges to supporting project implementation.

Conclusion

Overall, the educators found the project and implementation of strategies doable, acceptable, important, and sustainable. We explore the features of project design that appeared to contribute to educators’ positive experience of the project. This knowledge will be helpful for SLPs using innovative service approaches in classroom settings.

Keywords:

• language development
• developmental language disorder
• speech-language pathology
• whole-school approach
• innovative service delivery
• secondary school

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the educators who contributed their time and insight to help understand the value, impact, and challenges of the DLD Project. We also want to acknowledge Nicola Fanning and Lilienne Coles, who provided invaluable intellectual shaping of the project and its evaluation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

Data reported on in this article can be requested from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the South Australian Department for Education.