Teaching active listening skills to pre-service speech-language pathologists: a first step in supporting collaboration with parents of young children who require AAC.

Purpose: This study examined the effect of instruction in an active listening strategy on the communication skills of pre-service speech-language pathologists (SLPs).

Method: Twenty-three pre-service SLPs in their 2nd year of graduate study received a brief strategy instruction in active listening skills. Participants were videotaped during a simulated parent meeting before and after the strategy instruction. Simulated parent meetings addressed issues that parents of children who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) may face. Social validity measures were gathered from the participants and from parents of children who use AAC.

Results: Pre- and postinstruction use of the active listening strategy was scored and compared using a Wilcoxon signed-ranks test, with statistically significant results. Postinstruction scores were significantly higher than preinstruction scores, providing evidence of the effectiveness of the instruction. Furthermore, participants and parents of children who use AAC described the postinstruction interactions more positively than the preinstruction interactions, suggesting that the pre-service SLPs benefited from the instruction.

Conclusion: The current study provides evidence of the effectiveness of strategy instruction in active listening skills that may be incorporated into SLP preparation programs.