Oral language proficiency is critical to first grade students’ use and understanding of more sophisticated and advanced academic language as they successfully progress through school. Both school-based speech pathologists and classroom teachers have knowledge and training that make students’ oral language development a part of both professionals’ scope of practice.

A multitiered system of language supports (MTSLS) that facilitates collaboration among all school team members has the potential to reduce academic language difficulties, especially for students with communication disabilities.
Method. In a hybrid efficacy-implementation study in 10 elementary schools, speech pathologists, teachers, and researchers formed a researcher-practitioner partnership to investigate the efficacy and implementation of Tier 1 and Tier 2 academic language instruction using the Story Champs program on the language and literacy skills of 155 first graders with language difficulties.

Results of this cluster randomized trial indicate that the multitiered academic language instruction improved first graders’ oral narrative retell, vocabulary inferencing, written narrative, and expository oral retell skills. The use of a systematic multitiered curriculum improved the overall implementation fidelity of the schools’ multitiered model for

This study has implications for the co-implementation (teacher and speech pathologist-delivery) of multitiered curricula in schools to prevent and remediate students’ academic language difficulties. In addition, researcher-practitioner partnerships have the potential to advance the study of scalable and school-wide language interventions. Presenters will call delegates to action regarding interprofessional collaboration, researcher-practitioner partnerships, and the prevention of academic difficulties via tiered language instruction.

Keywords: first grade, multitiered system of language supports, academic language, collaboration, language and literacy intervention


Speech pathologists can partner with classroom teachers to promote the academic language of students with or at risk for language difficulties. By reflecting on and respecting the role each professional plays, they can collaboratively implement systematic multitiered academic language instruction to respond to the diverse language needs of all students.

Introduction/rationale
Research into the grammatical skills of children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) has been dominated by evaluation of verbal inflection, such as regular past tense. Recent empirical research has indicated that nominal inflection, such as possessive ‘s, may also be affected. Further, despite being a hallmark of language difficulties, there are few tests available to assess and measure outcomes of morphosyntax for children.
Evidence, implementation, and evaluation
In response to the absence of tools which capture the broader morphosyntactic difficulties faced by children with DLD, we revised the Grammar Elicitation Test (GET), an experimental task which has been used as an outcome measure in intervention research. Revisions include pre-recorded elicitation procedures to improve consistency in administration, as well as inclusion of plural (nominal) marking as an additional subtest. Data were collected in schools across the age groups of kindergarten (average 4;0 years) to year 1 (average 6;0 years) in typically developing children and children with DLD to evaluate the revised the tool.
Main outcomes
Comparisons between groups of typically developing children and those with DLD will provide an indication of broad morphosyntactic skills in preschool and early school-age children. Associations with existing language screeners will be explored to evaluate the viability of such a tool for clinical practice. Results will also form a normative reference sample of Western Australian children.
Conclusion
The GET will provide a useful free-to-access assessment and progress monitoring tool for speech pathologists and teachers in Australia.
Key words
Developmental language disorder, morphosyntax, assessment

Submission statement: Clinicians and educators reflected on their practice and identified the need for a test that would support the translation of evidence to practice. We respect the demands on practitioners to be evidence-based and responded by developing the GET which draws on current research.

The prevalence of language disorders in bilingual children is similar to that of monolingual children. However, speech pathologists often do not have sufficient information about the language profiles of bilingual children, nor the tools specific to this population of children. This can result in over- and under-diagnoses.

Narratives are effective diagnostic tools to assess children’s language abilities as the ability to produce complete and cohesive narratives demands linguistic competence and is correlated with higher-level language and cognitive skills. Oral narrative skills, specifically, are a form of discourse frequently produced by children across different cultures, which lends credence for comparisons of bilingual children. Much of the current research findings on narrative abilities are based on monolingual children, with very limited data on bilingual children. When this necessary information is yet to be identified, clinicians face difficulties conducting assessments that truly reflect the bilingual child’s abilities.

This research project evaluates the methods of assessing narrative skills in bilingual children. 36 Singaporean bilingual kindergarten children were sampled and assigned to one of two language dominance groups (English dominant-Mandarin Chinese (EL1-CL2) and balanced English-Mandarin Chinese (EL-CL)) based on parental reports of their language proficiency and the SEAPT. Audio samples were elicited from retell and tell tasks based on wordless picture books ‘Frog Goes to Dinner’ and ‘One Frog Too Many’ and analysed with Computerised Language ANalysis (CLAN) software. Macrostructure and microstructure elements such as story grammar elements, mean length of utterance, lexical diversity, and specific grammatical markers were analysed. Outcome data will be reported in this presentation.

Keywords: bilingualism, narrative, methodology, macrostructure, microstructure

Submission statement:
Response to changing demographics, particularly the increase in bilingual speakers, is necessary. This presentation reflects on current practices of management of bilingual children and assessment tools and proposes methods of assessment that considers the specific and unique linguistic qualities of this group of children.

Background and context
Comprehension is the fundamental goal of reading yet comprehension problems, both in listening and reading, are often hidden and go undetected in school-age children. Unlike children with poor word reading accuracy and/or fluency, who are also likely to have comprehension difficulties, there is a subgroup of poor readers who read accurately and fluently but struggle to comprehend what they read. This subgroup, often referred to as ‘poor comprehenders’, are a heterogenous group and profiling has identified that some could be considered to have DLD, depending on the criteria used.

Learning outcomes
At the completion of this workshop participants will have increased knowledge on the comprehension difficulties experienced by subgroups of poor readers. They will also have an improved understanding of the profile of poor comprehenders and the issues around differential diagnosis from DLD using DSM-5 criteria, along with knowledge of evidence-based interventions.

Assumed knowledge or experience
Experience working with school-age children with language and literacy difficulties.

Outline of activities
Case studies and group discussion will be used to enhance audience engagement.

Implications for practice
Poor comprehenders will occupy a proportion of many clinicians’ caseloads. Accurate identification, diagnosis, and knowledge of evidence-based interventions for children with comprehension problems are key to good clinical practice, along with ensuring access to appropriate support programs and funding.


Keywords -
Reading comprehension, DLD, diagnosis, practical intervention strategies

Submission Statement:
Reflect - on previous research and professional practice in the areas of comprehension and DLD
Respect - the diversity of language and cultural backgrounds of clients
Respond - to the needs of children with comprehension difficulties by providing practical stimulus for clinicians

Introduction. School refusal behaviour (SRB) refers to children experiencing emotional distress about school attendance and refusing to go to or remain in school. SRB has been associated with a wide variety of child based and contextual factors including anxiety and communication disorders (CDs). SRB is more likely to occur when students transition to the first years of formal primary and secondary schooling. Little research has been conducted however, on effective preventative measures for its occurrence during this period.
Aims. The research aimed to identify how and why certain speech-language pathology (SLP) practices were associated with the reduced incidence of SRB in children with (CDs) transitioning to their first year of formal schooling.
Methods. Comparative case study methodology was used to explore the transition of two male children diagnosed with CDs to two Queensland primary schools. Data consisted of observations and field notes collected over ten months. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.
Results. Four general themes emerged: empowering/educating parents, social communication intervention for the school context, educating teachers, articulation of curricula expectations. Conclusions/Implications. SLP practices for students with CDs at risk of developing SRB transitioning to formal schooling need to target not only school specific social communication of students with CDs but also: 1. Parents ability to communicate collaboratively with school personnel; 2. Professional development of and collaboration with teachers about CDs and SRB; 3. Prompting communication about curricula expectations.

Keywords. School refusal behaviour, social communication disorders, parent-school relationships, school transitions.

Submission Statement. This presentation will encourage speech-language pathologists to: reflect on their role in smooth school transitions for children with CDs; respect the potential for empowerment of children, parents and teachers in these transitions and; respond with appropriate enabling practices.

Introduction: It is estimated that, on average, two children in every class have Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and experience language difficulties severe enough to impact their ability to access the curriculum (Norbury et al., 2016). Speech pathologists have an important role to play when collaborating with classroom teachers to ensure evidence-based, effective strategies are implemented so that children with DLD receive best-practice differentiated instruction.

Aim: To synthesise the available evidence and determine what effective communication strategies exist for teaching children with DLD in the classroom.

Methods: Using a scoping review methodology a comprehensive search strategy was devised, and searches of both empirical research and non-research evidence (grey literature) was conducted. Following this search, title and abstract screening and then full text screening of identified sources was completed.

Results: After duplicate removal, the initial search identified 5,500 empirical sources and 298 grey literature sources. Following full text screening, there were approximately 150 empirical sources, and 100 grey literature sources that met inclusionary criteria. A descriptive summary from the extracted data outlining what effective communication strategies exist for supporting children with DLD in the classroom will be presented.

Conclusions: This scoping review identified a range of existing resources that outline strategies that could be used in the classroom for children with DLD but few were supported by empirical evidence. It is crucial that speech pathologists are aware of the evidence-base for strategies that should be used when working to support children with DLD to access and participate in inclusive classrooms.

Key words: developmental language disorder, education, scoping review, evidence-based practice

Submission Statement: This presentation will encourage attendees to reflect on their current practice with supporting children with DLD. The knowledge of evidence-based strategies will give attendees key actions on ways to respond in their daily practice when working with individuals with DLD, their families and teachers.

Introduction/rationale
Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) occurs in approximately 7% of school-age children, and is marked by a clinical and functional impairment in the understanding and/or use of language. Language is critical for school success, and students with DLD tend to perform below their peers without DLD across the curriculum.

Aim(s)
We aimed to explore key stakeholder perceptions of educational needs, and necessary supports for students with DLD. We also compared whether these perspectives differed across stakeholder groups (teachers, allied health professionals and parents/caregivers).

Methods
Participants were 293 teachers, allied health professionals and/or parents/caregivers of school-aged students with DLD. They completed an anonymous online quantitative survey between September 2020 to September 2021. Participants rated their perspectives on educational needs for students with DLD and educational supports on Likert scales with the measure adapted from previous research with students on the autism spectrum.

Results
Language, literacy and numeracy were identified as areas requiring the most accommodations or adjustments for students with DLD. The supports identified as most helpful for students with DLD included extra time for exams, help with assignments, teachers’ notes from the board, and one to one support. However, differences in perspectives were identified between key stakeholder groups.

Conclusions
These results help us better understand the educational needs of students with DLD, as well as the potential educational adjustments and accommodations to provide individualised support. The differences in perspectives from key stakeholders highlight the need for multidisciplinary and collaborative planning to optimise outcomes.

Keywords: Developmental Language Disorder, school, education

Submission statement:
This doctoral research began by reflecting on the areas of educational need for students with DLD. The survey for this work was then designed to respect the various viewpoints of families and professionals supporting students with DLD. Analysis of these findings helps us to better respond to student needs.