Educational provision for children with specific speech and language difficulties: perspectives of speech and language therapy service managers.

Background: Children with specific speech and language difficulties (SSLD) pose a challenge to the education system, and to speech and language therapists who support them, as a result of their language needs and associated educational and social-behavioural difficulties. The development of inclusion raises questions regarding appropriate provision, whether the tradition of language units or full inclusion into mainstream schools.

Aims: To gather the views of speech and language therapy service managers in England and Wales regarding approaches to service delivery, terminology and decision-making for educational provision, and the use of direct and indirect (consultancy) models of intervention.

Method And Procedures: The study reports on a national survey of speech and language therapy (SLT) services in England and Wales (129 respondents, 72.1% response rate) and interviews with 39 SLT service managers.

Outcomes And Results: Provision varied by age group with support to children in the mainstream common from pre-school to the end of Key Stage 2 (up to 11 years), and to those in designated specialist provision, common at Key Stages 1/2 (ages 5-11 years), but less prevalent at Key Stages 3/4 (11-16 years). Decision-making regarding provision was influenced by the lack of common terminology, with SSLD and specific language impairment (SLI) the most common, and criteria, including the use of the discrepancy model for defining SSLD. Practice was influenced by the difficulties in distinguishing children with SSLD from those with autistic spectrum disorder, and difficulties translating policies into practice.

Conclusions: The implications of the study are discussed with reference to SLT practice, including consultancy models, and the increasingly prevalent policy in local education authorities of inclusion of children with special educational needs.