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• Verification
  • EAP Verification Forms
  • Identifying Students with Disabilities
    • Step 1. Information Gathering
    • Step 2. Investigating a Disability
    • Step 3. Request for Verification
    • Step 4. Verification
    • Step 5. Review of Verification
  • Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
  • Hearing Impairment (HI)
  • Intellectual Impairment (II)
  • Physical Impairment (PI)
  • Speech-Language Impairment (SLI)
  • Vision Impairment (VI)
  • Removal from an EAP Disability Category
  • Students Previously Identified in Non-State Schools
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  • Implementation Milestones 2004-2007
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    • Revised Criteria ASD, II, SLP
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Speech-Language Impairment (SLI)

Definition

Speech-Language Impairment is a Department of Education and Training category for identifying students requiring significant education adjustments as a result of having a severe ongoing primary spoken communication disorder.

Departmental Criteria

Verification for the EAP disability category of Speech-Language Impairment is based on two criteria.

Criterion 1: There is a severe ongoing primary spoken communication disorder.

Criterion 2: The identified severe ongoing primary spoken communication disorder results in activity limitations and participation restrictions for the student at school requiring significant education adjustments.

Evidence

Criterion 1:There is a severe ongoing primary spoken communication disorder.

The five areas of evidence include:

1. Evidence of an ongoing history of poor performance in spoken communication (including information on developmental history).
2. Scores obtained from standardised, individually administered, current assessments (i.e. not more than 12 months from date of verification request) are at least 2 standard deviations below the mean. Where standardised assessments are inappropriate, reliance will be placed on descriptive evidence and analysis.
3. Descriptive evidence and analysis of language or connected speech sample.
4. Information on underlying capacity for learning speech and language based on the student's response to appropriately targeted intervention in speech and language.
5. Evidence that the spoken communication disorder is distinguished from disorders that are attributable to:
   • current cognitive functioning
   • intellectual impairment
   • hearing impairment
   • physical impairment
   • vision impairment
   • autism spectrum disorder
   • social-emotional factors
   • socio-cultural factors.

Criterion 2:The identified severe ongoing primary spoken communication disorder results in activity limitations and participation restrictions for the student at school requiring significant education adjustments.

Evidence includes:

• the student's level of functioning both academically and socially within the educational setting resulting from the severe ongoing primary spoken communication disorder

• programs and adjustments that have been implemented related to the identified spoken communication disorder and the outcomes achieved
• programs and adjustments that need to be maintained (wholly or partially) to address the educational needs.

Quality Assurance

An Education Queensland Speech-Language Pathologist (EQ SLP) is responsible for the decision-making related to the severe, ongoing, primary, spoken communication disorder in collaboration with other members of the school team. In order to make judgements about the nature of a student's difficulties, the school team documents data from a range of sources, which the EQ SLP uses in determining whether the criteria for speech-language impairment are met.

The gathering and interpretation of data and other information related to the criteria for the EAP disability category Speech-Language Impairment require specialist knowledge and clinical reasoning by the departmental speech-language pathologist and guidance officer. The Senior Advisor-Speech Language Therapy (SA-SLT)/Speech-Language Pathologist- in-Charge (SLPIC) and Senior Guidance Officer (SGO) are therefore involved in supporting the data gathering and profession-specific decision-making related to identification of students in the EAP disability category of Speech-Language Impairment through local quality assurance processes.

Local quality assurance processes are designed to ensure quality and consistency, and to monitor the data gathering, professional interpretation and reporting processes at a regional level. The SA-SLT/SLPIC and SGO complete the Profession Specific Quality Assurance and Decision Making section of Part B of the EAP Verification Form - SLI (EAP 7).

Review of Verification

At the time of verification the statewide verifier will determine:

• if a review is required
• the criteria to be reviewed (Criterion 1 and/or Criterion 2)
• the review date.

This decision will be guided by the following factors:

• age of the student
• stage of schooling
• individual impairment information
• the described activity limitations and participation restrictions associated with the impairment.

Due to the nature of language development and its relationship to educational functioning, it is anticipated that all students identified in the EAP disability category of Speech-Language Impairment will require review of verification throughout their years of schooling. This will be specified by the statewide verifier considering both criteria within the review process.

For a review of verification, recent information on speech and language functioning is required (i.e. assessments administered within the 12 month period prior to the request for verification). All other data (e.g. hearing tests, cognitive assessments) considered in the decision-making should also be current. This does not necessarily mean that the relevant reports need to be recent but that the information within the reports is reflective of the student at the time of the verification request. The professional judgement of the relevant team members is required to determine what is considered current for a student.

All verification review dates will be recorded on AIMS by the statewide verifier.

For a review of verification, the school follows the same steps as for an initial verification. This includes the completion of a new EAP Consent Form (EAP 1) and EAP Verification Form - SLI (EAP 7). Removal from the EAP Disability Category of Speech-Language Impairment

In some instances, a student may no longer meet the criteria for the EAP disability category of Speech-Language Impairment. To remove a student from the disability category, evidence that the student no longer meets criteria must be collected and recorded using the EAP Verification Form - SLI (EAP 7).

The form must include all data in criteria 1 and 2 that are relevant to the decision that the information no longer meets the criteria. The Profession Specific Quality Assurance and Decision Making section of Part B must also be completed through the local quality assurance processes.

Verification Form

Use EAP Verification Form - SLI (EAP 7) - available on the EAP website.

The Prompts for SLI Criterion 2 Form has been developed to assist with the completion of the Criterion 2 section. The prompts are a guide and school teams need to only report on those prompts relevant for that student. - Prompts for SLI Criterion 2 Form

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