Table 1. Appropriate Roles for Speech-Language Pathologists Related to Literacy
| Planning Team Member |
| Definition. A planning team member works with other professionals and family members to design intervention, to modify general education instruction, and to provide special services for children in early childhood or school-age students with special needs. |
| Parameters. SLPs have expertise that can be used in the development of a literacy intervention plan, which in the case of schools may mean assistance in the development of an Individual Educational Program (IEP) for students with identified needs. Teams may also plan remedial reading or academic assistance programs. Other children may receive early intervention services or treatment in medical or private practice settings that require coordination with others who know the child well. |
| Activities. SLPs should be involved in the development of IEPs for students eligible for language services, but may be helpful in other cases as well. SLPs in other settings should seek opportunities to consult with individuals who can comment on children's educational needs. |
| Direct Service Provider |
| Definition. A direct service provider works face-to-face with students to meet their needs. |
| Parameters. It is appropriate for SLPs to have a direct role in literacy intervention. Depending on student age and severity factors, work setting, delivery model structures, and availability of alternative services, the SLP may assume a more direct role in some situations than in others. This role is as important with older students as it is with younger children (Apel & Swank, 1999). For school-based professionals, state and local policy, including variations in how student eligibility is defined and specifications of teacher certification standards and cross-disciplinary functions, may also influence this role. |
| Activities. Activities include intervention focused on the language underpinnings that affect the acquisition of reading and writing skills. Also appropriate are direct, explicit teaching of reading and writing skills. Activities of direct instruction also may be designed to help students handle the written-language demands of the general education curriculum in content subject areas. |
| Collaborative Consultant (Indirect Service Provider) |
| Definition. A consultant serves as a resource to others who work directly with students to meet their needs. |
| Parameters. The SLP may work indirectly with other special service providers or general education teachers to facilitate literacy achievement. This role may be in addition to the provision of direct services. |
| Activities. The collaborative consultant role might involve helping teachers enhance the literacy curriculum and modify instruction for all students, or it might involve helping others conduct assessment and plan instructional strategies for specific students. It might involve the provision of instructional materials for teachers to use in teaching phonological awareness, or it might involve helping parents of young children develop better strategies for sharing book reading experiences with them (van Kleeck, Alexander, Vigil, & Templeton, 1996). |
| Model |
| Definition. A person who serves as a model demonstrates a particular approach or skill. The modeling can be designed to demonstrate skills for individuals with special needs or for those who work with them. |
| Parameters. SLPs might model scaffolding strategies for children, parents, or other professionals. SLPs working in school settings have opportunities to interact with teachers on a regular basis. |
| Activities. Activities include demonstration of how to implement specific techniques with individual students, or teaching mini-lessons on such topics as how to use one's “public voice” and eye contact while making an oral presentation of a written report, or how to think about one's audience while deciding which details to put in a story. |
| Leader and Professional Developer |
| Definition. A leader is an individual whose work and efforts influence the work and efforts of others. A professional developer is an individual who assumes responsibility for facilitating the professional growth of others. |
| Parameters. Leadership is needed in many work and community settings to promote awareness of literacy issues, as well as to design and implement action plans to enhance literacy achievement using research-based practices. Both SLPs in administrative roles and front-line practitioners can act as leaders in developing effective literacy practices. As professional developers, SLPs can assume responsibility for assisting others in expanding their repertoire of skills and proficiencies related to language development and literacy instruction. |
| Activities. Leadership activities might include helping a district develop strategic plans for increasing its students' literacy levels. Professional development opportunities might be designed for different audiences, for example, helping kindergarten teachers provide direct instruction in phonological awareness for children in their classes or helping other SLPs extend their literacy-focused intervention strategies. |
| Advocate and Policy Developer |
| Definition. An advocate speaks out on behalf on an individual, group, or issue. A policy developer engages in decision-making activities that chart a particular course of action for an agency or group. |
| Parameters. SLPs can function as advocates in a variety of contexts and situations, speaking on behalf of children with literacy problems in general; on behalf of specific students as individuals, or as members of local, state, and national associations. A policy developer, who serves in an official capacity for an organization or agency (e.g., as a member of a school improvement team or language arts curriculum committee), is in a particularly good position to influence decisions about how things should be done. |
| Activities. Advocacy might involve efforts to secure such resources as appropriate services, research-based practices, or technological supports. It also might be aimed at helping others, including children and parents, develop their own advocacy skills. Involvement in curriculum development and standardized assessment is especially important as school districts work to implement state standards-based language arts curricula. At the policy-development level, this role might entail working through a state association to revise policies that are too restrictive. |
| Researcher |
| Definition. A researcher formulates questions that can inform practice and designs strategies for answering them. |
| Parameters. Research can be conducted both by academicians, whose primary responsibilities include research, and by practitioners, whose primary responsibilities may not include research, but who can make significant contributions to bridge research to practice gaps. Research also may be conducted by collaborative teams of academicians and practitioners. |
| Activities. Research may be relatively more or less structured. It may use quantitative or qualitative methodologies, and it may involve large numbers of experimental and control group members or single participants. “Action research” refers to research designed by practitioners to pose and answer questions aimed at informing their own practices in the context of those practices. |