Purpose
Cultural competence is an essential tool for speech-language pathologists and other allied health care professionals in providing ethical and clinically competent care. Determining pedagogical approaches to teaching cultural competence skills to students training in preprofessional programs is imperative to effectively convey the importance of cultural awareness prior to students embarking on their professional careers.
Method
Forty-five (45) speech-language pathology graduate students were administered a multicultural knowledge quiz before and after a targeted, asynchronous learning module on cultural competence and again 2 months later.
Results
Quiz scores indicated significant findings immediately following a cultural competence learning module with an additional increase in scores at follow-up. Scores were not significant for minority background but were significant for clinical experience.
Conclusions
Evidence indicates a brief, targeted video module can positively impact cultural competence skills for speech-language pathology graduate students regardless of clinical experience. Results suggest a combination of targeted instruction along with repeated clinical experience produces the most significant improvement over time. As the current pilot study was employed to test methodology and results are not generalizable, implications for future pedagogical approaches and research studies with comprehensive methodological approaches are provided.
Supplemental Material
https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.14569482
This current study explores parent perceptions of barriers to friendship development for highly verbal children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in mainstream academic settings. Participants were 10 parents of school-age children with ASD in mainstream classrooms. Findings from semistructured interviews and qualitative analysis pointed to five central themes regarding barriers to friendship development: propinquity, attempts at social exposure, common social problems within ASD, siblings as a protective factor, and parent networks. Results suggest parent networks among parents with mainstreamed children may help to facilitate social opportunities both in and out of school. Further investigation is needed to explore possible solutions to help parents to better support friendship development.
Purpose
Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and adapted physical education (APE) teachers working in schools have a distinct opportunity to collaborate and serve students with communication and movement needs.
Method
Twenty-three preservice APE teachers were given a brief presentation led by SLPs and then rated using a fidelity checklist during the duration of a summer physical activity camp for children with disabilities. A cumulative link mixed model was used to determine APE preservice teachers' ability to facilitate peer engagement and social interaction among children with disabilities within tasks related to their discipline following speech-language pathology training and live coaching.
Results
Following intervention, preservice APE teachers demonstrated significant gains in increasing peer engagement between campers with disabilities. In addition, observers rated the preservice APE teachers as more skilled in demonstrating comprehension of and implementing the engagement techniques.
Discussion
Results indicate even a brief in-service from SLPs to APE preservice teachers can help them better recognize and support opportunities for peer engagement for children with disabilities while targeting tasks related to their discipline. Future research is warranted with a larger sample size to elucidate collaboration opportunities that promote optimal outcomes for children with needs across disciplines.
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