Visionary work helping students to communicate
24 August 2009
Whitsunday speech-language pathologist Russell Daley at Proserpine State School. Speech-Language Therapy in Education Day is being celebrated on August 28.
To mark Speech-Language Therapy in Education Day, Education Views spoke with two speech-language pathologists about the important work they do to help students with special needs in communication.
Working with children with visual impairment may not be the first thing you associate with the role of a speech-language pathologist, but for Brisbane's Kerrie McLean it's an important part of her job.
A speech-language pathologist for around 30 years, Ms McLean works with students at schools and special education units in the Brisbane South education district.
'I visit a range of schools to work with students of all ages who have speech and language difficulties,' Ms McLean said.
'I work with children at a high school special education program and an early childhood development unit with children with severe and multiple disabilities, autism spectrum disorder and intellectual impairment.'
An important part of Ms McLean's role is working with very young children and babies who are blind or visually impaired at Narbethong Special School.
'We work with the parents and the child to support the child's overall development, their communication abilities, parent and child interaction, mealtime management and play.'
Ms McLean said children with a visual impairment also were encouraged to move in their environment.
'These children often lack the visual stimulation to model their actions on others and sometimes they are fearful of moving.
'A big part of our program is developing their orientation and mobility skills so they know where they are.'
Braille is also introduced to the children and their parents.
'We have babies as young as 12 months who understand what a Braille book is about,' Ms McLean said.
She said one of the biggest challenges for some of these children was around feeding and mealtime management.
'Often these babies have had difficult early feeding experiences so they are fearful of feeding and different tastes or food textures.
'Our model is really about outlining to parents all the possibilities and the things that their child can do.'To view a vodcast by Ms McLean and other staff from Narbethong Special School about working with students with severe and multiple disabilities visit the school's website.
Inspirational work
For Russell Daley, speech-language pathologist for the Whitsunday education district, his career choice was inspired by his experiences as a child.
'I became a speech-language pathologist because I used to stutter when I was a child,' Mr Daley said.
'The speech-language pathologist who helped me made me want to get into profession.'
Mr Daley has spent the past four years working with students from Prep to Year 12 with special needs in communication.
'I love working with students of all ages who have communication difficulties and I enjoy having a work environment that's different every day.'
A major part of Mr Daley's role is working with students with complex communication needs who require an alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) device.
'AAC systems include unaided and aided systems,' he said.
'Unaided AAC is the use of one's own body movements for the production of expressive communication. For example, signing, gestures, facial expression and body language.
'Aided AAC systems require an external communication source such as communication books or boards consisting of objects, photos, symbols or alphabet displays.
'It also includes the use of assistive technologies such as speech generating devices.'
Mr Daley said the work of a speech-language pathologist was much broader than many people would expect.
'The majority of my work involves assisting students with oral language difficulties and students with complex communication needs,' he said.
'I don't think I have ever seen a student with a lisp.'
Speech-Language Therapy in Education Day is on August 28. For more information visit the Speech-Language Therapy site on The Learning Place.
Other languages