Advancing the human rights of children with communication needs in school

Abstract

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression. However, due to difficulties in communicating, children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) are at particular risk of not being heard. Although it is recommended that children with SLCN can and should be actively involved as equal partners in decision-making about their communication needs, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) can lose sight of the importance of supporting communication as a tool for the child to shape and influence choices available to them in their lives. Building these skills is particularly important for SLPs working in mainstream educational contexts. In this commentary, the authors argue the need for a shift in emphasis in current practice to a rights-based approach and for SLPs to take more of an active role in supporting children with SLCN to develop agency and be heard. We also present some concepts and frameworks that might guide SLPs to work in a right-based way in schools with this population.

Communication rights: Fundamental human rights for all

“…As outlined by Gillett-Swan and Sargeant (2017) ''Educational instruction maintains a heavy reliance on linguistic competence as a precondition to free expression'' (p. 122). Gallagher, Tancredi, and Graham (2017) challenge the role of SLPs in the school context, advocating they move beyond the ''dilemma of difference'' (p. 129) when providing assessment and intervention to embracing a human rights focus encompassing listening to children, collaboration with teachers, and a capabilities approach to building communication skills.…”

UK speech and language therapists’ assessment of children's expressive language, and functional impairment and impact, following the CATALISE publications

“…Another area highlighted by the findings is that children's own view of their difficulties with language could be more routinely sought, particularly with younger children or those needing support to express their opinion. This is not only an important source of information, but a step in supporting children to have agency in the process of assessment (Gallagher et al., 2018). The feasibility and practicalities of seeking the opinions of, for example, very young children could be a matter for further professional discussion.…”

Collaborative counselling: influence on the teaching professionals’ conceptions as promoters of children’s communication and language

“…The results described above confirm that the three professionals started the intervention with an outdated way of conceiving their professional role, the classroom organisation and the kind of the activities that favour the development of communication and language. Those initial conceptions are framed within a specialist model that is considered obsolete in many countries because it does not align with current evidence-based approaches to supporting students with disabilities in the school context, and does not uphold children's rights to participate in the curriculum (Gallagher, Tancredi, & Graham, 2018;Hopf, 2018;McEwin & Santow, 2018;Murphy, Lyons, Carroll, Caulfield, & De Paor, 2018). Although the research shows poor results in terms of children's language development with this specialist intervention approach in comparison to other more socio-interactive models (DeVeney, Hagaman, & Bjornsen, 2017), this model is still frequently used in Spanish special schools (Luque, Hernández, Fernández, & Carrión, 2019;Muntaner, 2019).…”