Dans la littérature, relativement peu d’études ont porté sur les processus de rééducation en situation naturelle. La majorité des recherches ont été menées surtout comme une évaluation de l’efficacité de certaines méthodes d’intervention (e.g. méthode métalinguistique, guidance parentale) ou modes d’intervention (e.g. recast, imitation, modelage) sur l’acquisition d’une forme ou d’une structure linguistique ou de manière plus générale sur le développement de l’enfant. Or la compréhension des processus par lesquels les enfants se développent nécessite de travailler sur ce qui se passe pendant la rééducation sur le plan interactionnel et dans la façon dont émergent des pratiques orthophoniques dans l’interaction.L’objectif de notre étude est de comprendre la manière dont les interventions des orthophonistes soutiennent le développement langagier des enfants dysphasiques dans l’interaction. Cette étude s’inscrit dans une approche interactionniste en s’inspirant des travaux de Vygotski (1936/1997) et de Bruner (1983a).L’étude porte sur l’observation de quatre dyades orthophoniste-enfant dysphasique d’âge scolaire suivies lors de séances de rééducation pendant sept mois. Au début et à la fin de cette phase d’observation, une phase de test a été mise en place pour évaluer les compétences langagières des enfants et leur évolution. Les résultats montrent que les orthophonistes mettent en place des activités portant sur divers aspects du fonctionnement du langage. Leurs pratiques s’inscrivent dans la dynamique de l’échange et elles sont fortement influencées par les interventions des enfants et leurs difficultés à accomplir une tâche langagière. En outre, elles sont efficaces car elles permettent aux enfants de réaliser à deux ce qu’ils ne pouvaient accomplir seul. Nos analyses mettent en évidence des gestes professionnels communs aux orthophonistes relevant ainsi leur appartenance à une communauté de pratiques. / The literature reports relatively few studies that focused on Speech-Language pathologists’ (SLPs) interventions in natural context. Most of the studies explored the clinical effectiveness of intervention strategies with children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) by assessing language outcomes (e.g. the acquisition of a particular form or structure, improvements on particular language measures) both studying particular features (e.g. recast, imitation, model, etc) or entire clinical methods and programs (e.g. metalinguistic approach, parental guidance, etc.). However, to better understand the processes underlying children’s development, it is necessary to analyse in detail what happens during SLP sessions at an interactional level and focus on the emergence of practices during Speech-language pathologist- child interactions. The aim of the present study was to better understand how clinical interventions support the language development of child with SLI during interactions. In line with Vygotski (1936/1997) or Bruner (1983a), we adopted a socio-interactionist approach/perspective.This study observed four school-aged children with SLI interacting with their SLP during clinical sessions. The dyads were followed-up for seven months. At the beginning and the end of the observation period, children’s linguistic, discursive and interactional abilities were assessed through standardized language tests and through the analysis of mother-child interactions.The results showed that SLPs enrolled the children in activities focusing on various aspects of language. Their practices were part of the dialogical dynamic and were strongly influenced by the accomplishment of the task (by children). In addition, the effectiveness of these practices was proven by the fact that children achieved, supported by the SLP, tasks that they were not able to accomplish by themselves. Our analyses also highlighted common professional gestures, such as discursive strategies, among all the SLP who participated in the study, showing that they belong to a community of practice.

INTRODUÇÃO: O Transtorno Fonológico (TF) é uma alteração de fala de causa indefinida, com manifestações heterogêneas. Existem diversas abordagens terapêuticas para o tratamento do TF, mas poucas envolvem atividades que abordem os aspectos perceptivos, cognitivo-linguístico e de produção de fala direcionados a todos os sons do Português Brasileiro (PB). OBJETIVOS: Propor o Programa de Estimulação Fonológica (PEF) (Estudo1) e verificar a efetividade do PEF (Estudo 2). MÉTODO: Para o Estudo 1 foram selecionados os aspectos a serem abordados e as atividades para cada um deles. O PEF consta de 12 sessões semanais com sete tipos de atividades específicas que são aplicadas em cada sessão e que foram elaboradas para todos os sons consonantais do PB. Participaram do Estudo 2, 14 crianças diagnosticadas com TF, com idades entre 60 e 95 meses e PCC-R entre 65% e 95%. Todas as crianças foram submetidas a 20 sessões de atendimento fonoaudiológico individuais, sendo quatro sessões para avaliação inicial, 12 sessões de trabalho com o PEF e quatro sessões para avaliação final. Para a avaliação (inicial e final) e análise de efetividade do PEF foram aplicadas: as provas de fonologia do Teste de Linguagem infantil ABFW, a prova de Estimulabilidade de Fala (EF), o Teste de Sensibilidade Fonológica versão Auditiva (TSF-A) e foi calculado o Índice de Inconsistência de Fala (IIF). A partir das amostras de fala coletadas nas provas de fonologia de Nomeação de Figuras (NF) e de Imitação de Palavras (IP) foram calculados os índices PCC, PCC-R e PDI, a porcentagem de processos fonológicos e o número de diferentes tipos de processos fonológicos. RESULTADOS: Para a elaboração do PEF (Estudo 1) foram considerados todos os sons do PB. Estes sons foram separados em seis classes de sons sendo cada uma delas estimulada em duas sessões consecutivas. As sete atividades propostas foram aplicadas da mesma maneira nas 12 sessões sendo que, apenas os sons trabalhados e os estímulos utilizados variaram de acordo com a classe de sons que estava sendo trabalhada. As atividades propostas incluíram tarefas de percepção auditiva, de produção de fala e de consciência fonológica. Os resultados da aplicação do PEF em crianças com TF (Estudo 2) demonstrou diferença significativa, independentemente da idade e do comprometimento do TF, para as seguintes medidas analisadas nas avaliações pré e pós PEF: índices PCC-R, PCC e PDI, processos fonológicos de Simplificação de Encontro Consonantal (SEC) na prova de IP, Ensurdecimento de Plosiva (EP) na prova de NF, número de diferentes tipos de processos fonológicos, e número de sons ausentes. Para algumas medidas a diferença significativa entre as avaliações pré e pós PEF dependeram da idade da criança: processo fonológico Simplificação de Líquida (SL) na prova de IP, SEC na prova de NF e Simplificação da Consoante Final (SCF) em ambas as provas de IP e NF. Em outras medidas, a diferença significativa entre as avaliações pré e pós PEF dependeu do comprometimento fonológico (PCC-R): PDI na prova de NF e TSF-A no subteste Aliteração Diferente (AD). Estes resultados sugerem que as atividades propostas no PEF foram efetivas para a melhora das crianças com TF. Os itens que não apresentaram diferença significativa entre as avaliações pré e pós PEF foram: processos fonológicos SL na prova de NF, EP na prova de IP e Ensurdecimento de Fricativa (EFr) na prova de NF e IP, prova do TSF-A nos subteste de Aliteração Igual (AI), Rima Igual (RI) e Rima Diferente (RD), além do Índice de IF. Vale destacar, entretanto, que estas medidas já estavam adequadas na maioria das crianças na avaliação pré PEF. Outro aspecto importante é que na avaliação pós PEF, as crianças que ainda apresentaram sons ausentes foram estimuláveis a esses sons, evidenciando que as atividades proporcionaram a diminuição do número de sons ausentes do inventário fonético e o aumento da estimulabilidade dos sons da fala. CONCLUSÃO: aos aspectos perceptivos, cognitivo-linguístico e de produção da fala. Foi possível verificar, a partir das análises realizadas, evidências de que o PEF respondeu ao que foi proposto. A aplicação das medidas selecionadas para avaliar o trabalho com o PEF forneceu evidências para a comprovação de sua efetividade em crianças com TF de cinco a oito anos com diferentes graus de comprometimento fonológico / BACKGROUND: Speech Sound Disorder (SSD) has been defined as a speech developmental disorder with unknown cause and heterogeneous manifestations. There are several approaches for the SSD intervention, but only few involve activities that focus on auditory perceptual, cognitive-linguistic and speech production addressed to all Brazilian Portuguese (BP) sounds. OBJECTIVE: To present a Phonological Stimulation Program (PSP) (Study 1) and to verify the effectiveness of the PSP (Study 2). METHODS: For the study 1 characteristics and activities to be addressed were selected. PSP consists of 12 weekly sessions with seven specific activities implemented in each session and designed for all BP consonantal sounds. Fourteen children aged between 60 and 95 months, diagnosed with SSD and presenting, PCC-R value between 65% and 95% participated in study 2. All children were submitted to 20 individual sessions, four sessions for initial evaluation, 12 sessions of PSP and four sessions for final evaluation. The assessment tests used for the effectiveness analysis were: phonology test which includes a Picture Naming task (PN) and an Imitation of Words task (IW), Speech Stimulability Test (SST), Speech Inconsistency Index (SII) and Phonological Sensitivity Test - Auditory version (PST-A). PCC, PCC-R and PDI indexes, the percentage of phonological processes and the number of different types of phonological processes were calculated based on the two phonology tasks. RESULTS: PSP development (Study 1) comprised all BP sounds allocated into six classes of sounds, each one stimulated in two consecutive sessions. The seven proposed activities were applied likewise in the 12 sessions: only target sounds and stimuli differed in each session. The activities involved auditory perception, speech production and phonological awareness tasks. In Study 2, PSP showed a significant difference in children with SSD, regardless of age and SSD severity commitment to the following measures that were analyzed in both the pre- and post-PSP evaluations: PCC-R, PCC, PDI, Consonant Cluster Simplification (CCS) in IW task, Stop Devoicing (SD), different types of phonological processes, and number of absent sounds. Furthermore the significant difference between pre- and post-PSP based on child age depended of: Liquid Simplification (LS) in IW task, CCS in PN task and Final Consonant Simplification (FCS) in IW and PN. The significant differences between pre- and post-PSP depended on phonological severity (PCC-R): PDI in PN task and PST-A in \'Odd one out\' Alliteration task. The results suggested that activities proposed in the PSP were effective to improve children with SSD. Items showed no significant difference between pre- and post- PSP evaluations were: LS in PN task, SD in IW task and Fricative Devoicing (FD) in PN and IW tasks, PST-A in \'Go together\' Alliteration, \'Go together\' Rhyming and \'Odd one out\' Rhyming tasks, and SII. These pre- PSP evaluation tests were already adequate in most of the children. Importantly, in the evaluation post- PEF children who still presented absent sounds were stimulated to these sounds, indicating that the activities decreased the number of absent sounds from phonetic inventory and increased stimulability of speech sounds. CONCLUSION: PSP covered seven different activities with all BP consonantal sounds. The proposed activities targeted auditory perceptual, cognitive-linguistic and speech production tasks. The evaluation performance evidenced that PSP answered what has been proposed. The selected evaluation tests provided evidence to prove the effectiveness of PSP in children with SSD between five and eight years-old with different phonological impairment severity

INTRODUÇÃO: O Transtorno Fonológico (TF) é uma alteração de fala de causa indefinida, com manifestações heterogêneas. Existem diversas abordagens terapêuticas para o tratamento do TF, mas poucas envolvem atividades que abordem os aspectos perceptivos, cognitivo-linguístico e de produção de fala direcionados a todos os sons do Português Brasileiro (PB). OBJETIVOS: Propor o Programa de Estimulação Fonológica (PEF) (Estudo1) e verificar a efetividade do PEF (Estudo 2). MÉTODO: Para o Estudo 1 foram selecionados os aspectos a serem abordados e as atividades para cada um deles. O PEF consta de 12 sessões semanais com sete tipos de atividades específicas que são aplicadas em cada sessão e que foram elaboradas para todos os sons consonantais do PB. Participaram do Estudo 2, 14 crianças diagnosticadas com TF, com idades entre 60 e 95 meses e PCC-R entre 65% e 95%. Todas as crianças foram submetidas a 20 sessões de atendimento fonoaudiológico individuais, sendo quatro sessões para avaliação inicial, 12 sessões de trabalho com o PEF e quatro sessões para avaliação final. Para a avaliação (inicial e final) e análise de efetividade do PEF foram aplicadas: as provas de fonologia do Teste de Linguagem infantil ABFW, a prova de Estimulabilidade de Fala (EF), o Teste de Sensibilidade Fonológica versão Auditiva (TSF-A) e foi calculado o Índice de Inconsistência de Fala (IIF). A partir das amostras de fala coletadas nas provas de fonologia de Nomeação de Figuras (NF) e de Imitação de Palavras (IP) foram calculados os índices PCC, PCC-R e PDI, a porcentagem de processos fonológicos e o número de diferentes tipos de processos fonológicos. RESULTADOS: Para a elaboração do PEF (Estudo 1) foram considerados todos os sons do PB. Estes sons foram separados em seis classes de sons sendo cada uma delas estimulada em duas sessões consecutivas. As sete atividades propostas foram aplicadas da mesma maneira nas 12 sessões sendo que, apenas os sons trabalhados e os estímulos utilizados variaram de acordo com a classe de sons que estava sendo trabalhada. As atividades propostas incluíram tarefas de percepção auditiva, de produção de fala e de consciência fonológica. Os resultados da aplicação do PEF em crianças com TF (Estudo 2) demonstrou diferença significativa, independentemente da idade e do comprometimento do TF, para as seguintes medidas analisadas nas avaliações pré e pós PEF: índices PCC-R, PCC e PDI, processos fonológicos de Simplificação de Encontro Consonantal (SEC) na prova de IP, Ensurdecimento de Plosiva (EP) na prova de NF, número de diferentes tipos de processos fonológicos, e número de sons ausentes. Para algumas medidas a diferença significativa entre as avaliações pré e pós PEF dependeram da idade da criança: processo fonológico Simplificação de Líquida (SL) na prova de IP, SEC na prova de NF e Simplificação da Consoante Final (SCF) em ambas as provas de IP e NF. Em outras medidas, a diferença significativa entre as avaliações pré e pós PEF dependeu do comprometimento fonológico (PCC-R): PDI na prova de NF e TSF-A no subteste Aliteração Diferente (AD). Estes resultados sugerem que as atividades propostas no PEF foram efetivas para a melhora das crianças com TF. Os itens que não apresentaram diferença significativa entre as avaliações pré e pós PEF foram: processos fonológicos SL na prova de NF, EP na prova de IP e Ensurdecimento de Fricativa (EFr) na prova de NF e IP, prova do TSF-A nos subteste de Aliteração Igual (AI), Rima Igual (RI) e Rima Diferente (RD), além do Índice de IF. Vale destacar, entretanto, que estas medidas já estavam adequadas na maioria das crianças na avaliação pré PEF. Outro aspecto importante é que na avaliação pós PEF, as crianças que ainda apresentaram sons ausentes foram estimuláveis a esses sons, evidenciando que as atividades proporcionaram a diminuição do número de sons ausentes do inventário fonético e o aumento da estimulabilidade dos sons da fala. CONCLUSÃO: aos aspectos perceptivos, cognitivo-linguístico e de produção da fala. Foi possível verificar, a partir das análises realizadas, evidências de que o PEF respondeu ao que foi proposto. A aplicação das medidas selecionadas para avaliar o trabalho com o PEF forneceu evidências para a comprovação de sua efetividade em crianças com TF de cinco a oito anos com diferentes graus de comprometimento fonológico / BACKGROUND: Speech Sound Disorder (SSD) has been defined as a speech developmental disorder with unknown cause and heterogeneous manifestations. There are several approaches for the SSD intervention, but only few involve activities that focus on auditory perceptual, cognitive-linguistic and speech production addressed to all Brazilian Portuguese (BP) sounds. OBJECTIVE: To present a Phonological Stimulation Program (PSP) (Study 1) and to verify the effectiveness of the PSP (Study 2). METHODS: For the study 1 characteristics and activities to be addressed were selected. PSP consists of 12 weekly sessions with seven specific activities implemented in each session and designed for all BP consonantal sounds. Fourteen children aged between 60 and 95 months, diagnosed with SSD and presenting, PCC-R value between 65% and 95% participated in study 2. All children were submitted to 20 individual sessions, four sessions for initial evaluation, 12 sessions of PSP and four sessions for final evaluation. The assessment tests used for the effectiveness analysis were: phonology test which includes a Picture Naming task (PN) and an Imitation of Words task (IW), Speech Stimulability Test (SST), Speech Inconsistency Index (SII) and Phonological Sensitivity Test - Auditory version (PST-A). PCC, PCC-R and PDI indexes, the percentage of phonological processes and the number of different types of phonological processes were calculated based on the two phonology tasks. RESULTS: PSP development (Study 1) comprised all BP sounds allocated into six classes of sounds, each one stimulated in two consecutive sessions. The seven proposed activities were applied likewise in the 12 sessions: only target sounds and stimuli differed in each session. The activities involved auditory perception, speech production and phonological awareness tasks. In Study 2, PSP showed a significant difference in children with SSD, regardless of age and SSD severity commitment to the following measures that were analyzed in both the pre- and post-PSP evaluations: PCC-R, PCC, PDI, Consonant Cluster Simplification (CCS) in IW task, Stop Devoicing (SD), different types of phonological processes, and number of absent sounds. Furthermore the significant difference between pre- and post-PSP based on child age depended of: Liquid Simplification (LS) in IW task, CCS in PN task and Final Consonant Simplification (FCS) in IW and PN. The significant differences between pre- and post-PSP depended on phonological severity (PCC-R): PDI in PN task and PST-A in \'Odd one out\' Alliteration task. The results suggested that activities proposed in the PSP were effective to improve children with SSD. Items showed no significant difference between pre- and post- PSP evaluations were: LS in PN task, SD in IW task and Fricative Devoicing (FD) in PN and IW tasks, PST-A in \'Go together\' Alliteration, \'Go together\' Rhyming and \'Odd one out\' Rhyming tasks, and SII. These pre- PSP evaluation tests were already adequate in most of the children. Importantly, in the evaluation post- PEF children who still presented absent sounds were stimulated to these sounds, indicating that the activities decreased the number of absent sounds from phonetic inventory and increased stimulability of speech sounds. CONCLUSION: PSP covered seven different activities with all BP consonantal sounds. The proposed activities targeted auditory perceptual, cognitive-linguistic and speech production tasks. The evaluation performance evidenced that PSP answered what has been proposed. The selected evaluation tests provided evidence to prove the effectiveness of PSP in children with SSD between five and eight years-old with different phonological impairment severity

This survey research explores neonatal intensive care unit speech-language pathologists’ perceptions of infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome; specifically, how NAS affects infants’ feeding skills, along with structural and oral-motor characteristics. The findings of this research will contribute to this population’s information base. The results are expected to inform the field and current evidence-based practice care for infants with NAS.Learner Outcome(s): Explain Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) Describe infants with NAS and how NAS affects the infants’ feeding skills from the perspective of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) Identify how SLPs in the NICU participate in intervention for infants with NAS and their families

One of the lasting concerns in audiology is the unexplained individual differences in speech perception performance even for individuals with similar audiograms. One proposal is that there are cognitive/perceptual individual differences underlying this vulnerability and that these differences are present in normal hearing (NH) individuals but do not reveal themselves in studies that use clear speech produced in quiet (because of a ceiling effect). However, previous studies have failed to uncover cognitive/perceptual variables that explain much of the variance in NH performance on more challenging degraded speech tasks. This lack of strong correlations may be due to either examining the wrong measures (e.g., working memory capacity) or to there being no reliable differences in degraded speech performance in NH listeners (i.e., variability in performance is due to measurement noise). The proposed project has 3 aims; the first, is to establish whether there are reliable individual differences in degraded speech performance for NH listeners that are sustained both across degradation types (speech in noise, compressed speech, noise-vocoded speech) and across multiple testing sessions. The second aim is to establish whether there are reliable differences in NH listeners' ability to adapt their phonetic categories based on short-term statistics both across tasks and across sessions; and finally, to determine whether performance on degraded speech perception tasks are correlated with performance on phonetic adaptability tasks, thus establishing a possible explanatory variable for individual differences in speech perception for NH and hearing impaired listeners.

Purpose: To identify effects of variability of visual input on development of conceptual representations of academic concepts for students with normal language (NL) and language-learning disabilities (LLD). Method: Students with NL (n=38) and LLD (n=11) participated in a computer-based training for introductory biology course concepts. Participants were trained on half the concepts under a low-variability condition and half under a high-variability condition. Participants completed a post-test in which they were asked to identify and rate the accuracy of novel and trained visual representations of the concepts. We performed separate repeated measures ANOVAs to examine the accuracy of identification and ratings. Results: Participants were equally accurate on trained and novel items in the high-variability condition, but were less accurate on novel items only in the low-variability condition. The LLD group showed the same pattern as the NL group; they were just less accurate. Conclusions: Results indicated that high-variability visual input may facilitate the acquisition of academic concepts in both NL and LLD college students. Specifically, it may be beneficial for generalization to novel representations of concepts. Implicit learning methods may be harnessed by college courses to provide students with basic conceptual knowledge when entering courses or beginning new units.

Purpose: This study examines potential cross-linguistic effects on accuracy of codas in newly learned English-like nonwords produced by bilingual Spanish-English-speaking children. Methods: Forty-two bilingual Spanish-English-speaking second-graders (age 7-9) were matched individually with monolingual peers on age (+/- 6 months), sex, and percentile score on the Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation (GFTA-2; Goldman & Fristoe, 2000), and matched for group on mother's level of education. Participants named various sea monsters as part of computerized word-learning games. Sixteen syllable-final coda consonants were analyzed for accuracy. These were drawn from thirteen nonwords distributed across five word-learning tasks. Results: Bilingual children were less accurate than monolingual children in production of both shared and unshared codas, though the gap was greater for unshared codas. Both bilingual and monolingual children were more accurate in production of shared codas than unshared codas. Conclusion: The results suggest that native language phonotactics influence accuracy of coda production in bilingual Spanish-English-speaking school-age children during word learning. Influences of native phonology on word learning could potentially impact academic achievement through vocabulary learning in the classroom.

This study was developed to investigate the readiness or willingness of providers, speech language therapists (SLPs), and patients to participate in telepractice for speech-language therapy services in rural areas of Nevada. Nevada has not ranked high in healthcare for several years and was noted to have low SLP to patient ratios, especially in rural areas of Nevada. A thorough literature review identified international and national studies that have shown resistance to telepractice expressed by patients and providers, but it has also shown an increase in interest post telepractice therapy. Nevada does not have current research on readiness to participate in telepractice medical settings of rural areas of Nevada, therefore a survey was developed to ask providers and patients for their opinions about participating in telepractice. Providers were selected using an online directory search, and patient participants were chosen at the discretion of the providers. A unique survey was presented to each type of participant (provider or patient) in order to compare opinions and readiness of each participant type. Specific questions related to voice and swallowing disorders were addressed. A large sample size was not obtained, but the researcher was able to make some associations to readiness to participate in telepractice and possible factors that may or may not have affected a participant’s opinion. Age of participants, type of internet used, availability of webcam, and area of the state did not appear to have an association with the readiness to participate in telepractice. A positive response rate to engaging in telepractice of 40% was noted across patients and providers. Though the participant sample size was small, there is still some indication that telepractice could be used to address the needs of patients who need speech-language therapy services in rural areas of Nevada.

Thesis (MPhil (Centre for Health Sciences Education)--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Doel: Te min spraak-taalterapeute (STT’e) wêreldwyd spreek vlotheidsversteurings aan. Dit mag aan hul gevoelens van onbevoegdheid in die hantering van persone wat hakkel toegeskryf word. Nuut-gegradueerde STT’e, in die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks, het dikwels nie toegang tot ondersteuning en leiding van ervare klinici om hul vaardighede en bevoegdheid in die hantering van persone wat hakkel, te ontwikkel nie. Die doel van hierdie studie was om voorgraadse STTstudente se persepsies van hul eie bevoegdheid om persone wat hakkel te hanteer, te ondersoek en beskryf 1) direk na die voltooiing van hul teoretiese module en voor kliniese plasing, en 2) na blootstelling aan ‘n bykomende opleidingskomponent waar hulle waargeneem het hoe intervensieprosedures op ‘n gesimuleerde pasiënt toegepas word. Metodes: ‘n Beskrywende opnameontwerp, met pre- en post-intervensie-vraelyste is gebruik om die andragogiese benadering se impak op studente, voor en nadat hulle die bykomende opleidingsgeleentheid ontvang het, te evalueer. Resultate: Voor die intervensie het die meeste studente hulself nie as bevoegd geag om persone wat hakkel te evalueer of behandel nie. Na die intervensie is statisties beduidende veranderinge in die studente se self-ervare bevoegdheid vir die meeste aspekte verwant aan die evaluering en behandeling van mense wat hakkel, gerapporteer. Opsomming: Daar is tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat die studente hierdie tipe innoverende opleidingsmetodologie hoog op prys stel en dat dit ‘n nodige aanvulling tot studente se bestaande kliniese plasings is.

The acquisition of emergent literacy skills has become a prominent focus of early childhood education programs in recent years as research has demonstrated the significance of emergent literacy ability in the process of learning to read. The effectiveness of use of varied instructional techniques targeting the emergent literacy domains of phonological awareness, written language awareness, emergent writing, and oral language is well described in the literature. Consequently, educational service providers like speech-language pathologists are being called upon to assume roles in emergent literacy service provision. However, research has not fully explored the perceptions and knowledge speech-language pathologists possess of emergent literacy instructional practices. This concurrent triangulation mixed methods study examined speech-language pathologists’ perceptions and knowledge of emergent literacy instructional practices. Three quantitative and two qualitative forms of data were collected and analyzed from a criterion and purposive sample of five educational speech-language pathologists. Findings revealed speech-language pathologists possessed positive perceptions of emergent literacy instruction and endorsed use of numerous instructional techniques and intervention formats to target multiple emergent literacy skills. Results also indicated the presence of a narrow view of emergent literacy instruction as participants maintained a primary focus on oral language and phonological awareness in intervention sessions. Additionally, varied perspectives of speech-language pathologists’ role in emergent literacy instruction and numerous constraints to implementation of best practice in emergent literacy were identified. Findings demonstrated strength in participants’ pedagogical knowledge of emergent literacy instructional techniques in oral language and phonological awareness and strength in content knowledge of phonological awareness. However, findings also revealed limitations in understanding as speech-language pathologists’ did not demonstrate thorough knowledge of instructional practices across all domains of emergent literacy. Additionally, varying degrees of emergent literacy knowledge among speech-language pathologists were noted. Finally, comparison of quantitative and qualitative results of speech-language pathologists’ emergent literacy perceptions and knowledge revealed convergence of numerous findings.