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Observational Study
. 2022 May 10;31(3):1221-1243.
doi: 10.1044/2021_AJSLP-20-00366. Epub 2022 Mar 2.

Teacher Educational Decision Making for Children With Specific Language Impairment

Teresa M Girolamo  1 , Mabel L Rice  2 , Claire M Selin  2 , Chien J Wang  3
Affiliations
Observational Study

Teacher Educational Decision Making for Children With Specific Language Impairment

Teresa M Girolamo et al. Am J Speech Lang Pathol. .

Abstract

Purpose: Children with specific language impairment (SLI) are underidentified, despite a robust literature on their language abilities and a clinical grammar marker. Adlof and Hogan (2019) call for school systems to assess oral language and provide supports through response to intervention (RTI), with the aim of identifying and supporting children with SLI and other language impairments. However, it is unknown how teachers make educational decisions for children with SLI.

Method: A web-based survey was distributed to public school teachers nationwide (N = 304). In this observational study, teachers read six vignettes featuring profiles of children systematically varying in the linguistic characteristics relevant to SLI (e.g., difficulty with verb tense) and responded to items on the educational decisions that they would make in the absence of workplace constraints.

Results: Teachers were likely to identify that the children in the vignettes needed language for classroom success and to indicate that they would provide in-class intervention. However, teachers were unlikely to recommend speech-language pathology services. These outcomes were mostly consistent across all child characteristics and teacher characteristics.

Conclusions: Findings show that teachers were sensitive to the language-based needs of children with SLI and elected to provide in-class intervention. Future work is needed to understand how workplace characteristics, including opportunities for interprofessional collaboration, and the heterogeneity of children with SLI, inform teacher educational decision making.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Potential influences on teacher educational decision making for children with specific language impairment. NVIQ = nonverbal intelligence quotient.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Participant flow.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Adlof, S. M. , & Hogan, T. P. (2019). If we don't look, we won't see: Measuring language development to inform literacy instruction. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 6(2), 210–217. https://doi.org/10.1177/2372732219839075 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Adlof, S. M. , & Perfetti, C. A. (2013). Individual differences in word learning and reading ability. In Stone A., Ehren B., Silliman E., & Wallach G. (Eds.), Handbook of language and literacy development and disorders (2nd ed., pp. 246–264). Guilford.
    1. American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.).
    1. American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.).
    1. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (n.d.). Strategic pathway to excellence. https://www.asha.org/about/strategic-pathway/

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