Conference
Travel
Trainees will be supported to attend
state and national professional
conferences sponsored, for
example, by the Tennessee
International Dyslexia Association,
International Reading Association,
ASHA Schools Conference, and
International Dyslexia Association.
Personnel
Preparation
Training
Grant
Masters
Program
in
Speech‐Language
Pathology
Field
Experiences
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General education experience: Trainees will assist in a general
education elementary or early childhood classroom across one semester
(total 24 hours).
School-based speech-language shadowing: Each trainee will shadow
five school-based SLPs to obtain first-hand experience about clinical
practice in schools (total 15 hours).
Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center: Clinical placement with clinicians who
are targeting language and literacy with preschool and elementary
children (one semester).
Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Reading Clinic: Observation and
implementation of reading tutoring with school-age children (one
semester).
School-based clinical placement: Trainees will complete a one-semester
externship in the public schools.
Trainees receive tuition support and conference travel
support. As required by the U.S. Department of
Education, all trainees will agree to a service obligation
for financial support provided from the training grant.
Funding is provided by the United States Department of Education,
Personnel Preparation Project, H325K090304, awarded to
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Vanderbilt University.
Enhancing the Preparation of SpeechLanguage Pathologists to Collaboratively
Address the Language and Literacy
Needs of Children with Disabilities
Department
of
Hearing
and
Speech
Sciences
Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
This purpose of this Personnel Preparation Project, funded by the
United States Department of Education, is to provide specialized
training in language and literacy to 20 graduate student
trainees (three cohorts) in speech-language pathology at
Vanderbilt University from 2009 through 2013. Through their
participation on this training grant, trainees will develop a
specialization in language and literacy to collaborate with
general and special education teachers to meet the complex
language and literacy needs of preschool and elementary
school children with speech-language impairments and
other disabilities as well as those children at risk for
disabilities. Remediation of language-based reading disabilities
hinges on successful collaboration across disciplines. Thus, it is
essential that pre-service preparation of speech-language
pathologists include content knowledge in language and literacy
development and disorders.
Three cohorts of master's students in speech-language pathology
will complete specialized coursework and field experiences to begin
to develop expertise in language and literacy. Each trainee will
develop an Individualized Training Plan. A core set of knowledge
and skill competencies will be achieved by all trainees, and
individual trainees will identify additional knowledge and skills
competencies to achieve. A unique component of the project will be
a series of eight full-day Expert Workshops (across the four years
of the project) presented by nationally and internationally
recognized experts in language and literacy. These workshops will
involve trainees as well as community speech-language
pathologists and teachers, to emphasize collaborative efforts to
develop the language and literacy skills of children with disabilities.
Upon program completion, trainees will be prepared to become
expert clinicians with specialized skills in language and literacy.
They will be uniquely suited to provide speech-language services in
school settings and to collaborate with teachers to develop
children's reading and writing skills. In addition, it is anticipated
that trainees will model exemplary professional practice and will
become leaders and mentors in developing educational programs
that meet the unique language and literacy needs of children
with speech-language impairments and other disabilities as well as
at-risk children.
Program
Components
Competencies
With an Individualized Training Plan (ITP) framework developed
from the ASHA (2002) document, Knowledge and Skills Needed by
Speech-Language Pathologists with Respect to Reading and Writing in
Children and Adolescents, each trainee will identify target
competencies. Knowledge competencies are organized under five
areas: (a) nature of literacy, spoken and written language
relationships, and reading and writing as acts of communication and
tools of learning; (b) typical development of reading and writing in the
context of the general education curriculum; (c) disorders of spoken
language and literacy and their links to each other and to related
communication disorders; (d) tools and methods for targeting
reciprocal spoken and written language growth; and (e) collaboration,
leadership, and research principles for working with others, serving as
advocates, and advancing the knowledge base. Skill competencies
relate to five roles: prevention, identification, assessment,
intervention, and other roles (collaboration, leadership, advocacy).
Expert
Workshops
Planned workshop topics were drawn from (a) the five areas of
reading instruction highlighted in the National Reading Panel
Report and implemented in Reading First Programs, (b) the four
emergent literacy areas targeted in Early Reading First, and (c)
cultural and linguistic diversity issues. All workshops will
emphasize collaboration across professional disciplines (speechlanguage pathology, special education, general education, and
early childhood education) and the needs of children with
disabilities, at-risk for disabilities, and/or from diverse
backgrounds.
For
Information
Contact
Melanie
Schuele,
Ph.D.
Project
Director
Assistant
Professor
of
Hearing
and
Speech
Sciences
melanie.schuele@vanderbilt.edu
615.936.5256
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Project
Overview