It is well documented that students with language and/or attention difficulties consistent with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) together account for around 14% of students in Australian classrooms (Lawrence et al., 2016; Norbury et al., 2017). However, these students are often under-identified and do not receive adjustments (Glasby et al., 2022). Where support is in place, traditional approaches may be adopted, foregrounding student-focused interventions. However, such approaches do not consider the classroom context and the accessibility of classroom instruction, which can support or inhibit students’ classroom experiences and engagement. Speech pathologists working in education contexts are important stakeholder who can work alongside teachers to enhance the accessibility of classroom language (Speech Pathology Australia, 2022). The Accessible Pedagogies Program of Learning (Graham & Tancredi, 2024) offers a framework for such collaborative work, designed to enhance the accessibility of instructional practice by reducing barriers arising from extraneous language and cognitive load. This mixed-methods study investigated the effect of teachers’ participation in the Accessible Pedagogies Program of Learning on the classroom experiences and engagement of 56 Year 10 students with difficulties consistent with DLD and ADHD (Tancredi et al., 2024). Students participated in pre- and post- interviews and self-report questionnaires to measure engagement overt time. Visual representations of quantitative data and statements reporting student insights on their classroom experiences pre- and post- teacher involvement in the Program of Learning will be shared. Themes across the data set will also be explored. Findings from this research indicate that when teachers increased the accessibility of their teaching practice, students with language and/or attention difficulties had enhanced classroom experiences and cognitive engagement at a level of statistical significance, compared to students whose teachers did not participate. This research has important implications for the practice of speech pathologists working in education contexts.

Glasby, J., Graham, L. J., White, S. L., & Tancredi, H. (2022). Do teachers know enough about the characteristics and educational impacts of Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) to successfully include students with DLD?. Teaching and Teacher Education, 119, 103868. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2022.103868

Graham, L. J. & Tancredi, H. (2024). Accessible Pedagogies™. In L. J. Graham (Ed.), Inclusive education for the 21st century: Theory, policy, and practice (2nd ed., pp. 198–221). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003350897-13

Lawrence, D., Hafekost, J., Johnson, S. E., Saw, S., Buckingham, W. J., Sawyer, M. G., Ainley, J., & Zubrick, S. R. (2016). Key findings from the second Australian child and adolescent survey of mental health and wellbeing. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 50(9), 876–886. https://doi.org/10.1177/0004867415617836

Norbury, C. F., Gooch, D., Wray, C., Baird, G., Charman, T., Simonoff, E., Vamvakas, G., & Pickles, A. (2016). The impact of nonverbal ability on prevalence and clinical presentation of language disorder: Evidence from a population study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57(11), 1247–1257. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12573

Speech Pathology Australia. (2022). Speech pathology in education clinical guideline. https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/SPAweb/Members/Clinical_Guidelines/SPAweb/Members/Clinical_Guidelines/Clinical_Guidelines.aspx?hkey=0fc81470-2d6c-4b17-90c0-ced8b0ff2a5d

Tancredi, H., Graham, L. J., Killingly, C. & Sweller, N. (2024). Investigating the impact of Accessible Pedagogies on the experiences and engagement of students with language and/or attentional difficulties. Learning Environments Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10984-024-09514-z