The Small Talk Project: Developing a hearing, speech and
language screening tool for vulnerable children
AIM
The aim of this paper is to highlight the need for systematic assessment of communication ability in
children who have experienced abuse and neglect, many of whom are in out-of-home care. The Small
Talk Project is developing a screening tool for hearing speech and language skills for non-speech
pathologists to use with this population.
ABSTRACT
Children who have experienced abuse and/or neglect are at increased risk of developing
communication problems (Coster, 1993; Grant & Gravestock, 2003). Given their multiple complex
needs, hearing, speech and language problems may be obscured by other difficulties and left
undiagnosed (Allen & Oliver, 1982; Stahmer, et al, 2005).
The Small Talk Project is a multidisciplinary cross-agency research project by the La Trobe University
School of Social Work and Social Policy and the School of Human Communication Sciences, Berry
Street Take Two, Berry Street North and Western Home-Based Care and the Victorian Aboriginal
Childcare Agency (VACCA). The project aims to develop a validated speech and language screening
tool for non-speech pathologists to use with children who have experienced abuse and neglect in
order to identify which children would benefit from a full hearing, speech and language assessment
by a speech pathologist. It has been developed in consultation with VACCA to ensure that it is
culturally appropriate for Aboriginal children as they are over-represented in the protection and care
system.
From April 2010, a number of children along with their workers or carers from the partner
organisations have participated in the project. The validation process involves completion of the
screening tool by the worker followed by a full speech, language and hearing assessment for each
child. The results from both the tool and assessment are then compared to see if the screening tool
was predictive of the children’s need for a speech, language and hearing assessment.
PRESENTERS
Annette Jackson, Take Two, Berry Street, Victoria, and La Trobe University
Email: ajackson@berrystreet.org.au
Annette has worked as a social worker regarding children who have experienced abuse and neglect
for over 25 years. She has extensive experience in Child Protection, and different types of care and
therapeutic services. She is a fellow of the Child Trauma Academy (www.childtrauma.org). Annette
has worked with Take Two since its inception in 2003. Take Two is a therapeutic, program for children
of all ages who have experienced abuse and neglect. Annette’s role includes managing the Take Two
practice development and training team; the information management team; and the research team.
Take Two is a Victorian program of Berry Street in partnership with Austin CAMHS, La Trobe
University, Mindful and the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency. Annette is one of the principal
investigators in the Small Talk project.
Nikki Worthington, Small Talk Project
Email: n.worthington@latrobe.edu.au
Nikki qualified as a speech pathologist in 2003 and immediately started working with school aged
children in her role as a speech pathologist with the Dept of Education and Early Childhood
Development. Over the next 6 years she gained valuable experience working in schools in inner city
Melbourne in particular with those children from disadvantaged backgrounds and for whom English is
a second language. For the past five years she has also provided supervision as a clinical educator to
speech pathology students on clinical placement. She joined the Small Talk project in August 2009 as
the paediatric speech pathologist and her role includes assessment of up to 150 vulnerable children,
clinical supervision of 4th year speech pathology students and writing and presenting on the results
ADDITIONAL AUTHOR/S
Margarita Frederico, School of Social Work & Social Policy, La Trobe University
Email: M.Frederico@latrobe.edu.au
Beverly Joffe, School of Human Communication Sciences, La Trobe University
Email: B.Joffe@latrobe.edu.au
Peter Lewis, Victorian Aboriginal Childcare Agency
Email: pl@vacca.org.au
Muriel Bamblett. Victorian Aboriginal Childcare Agency
Carly Black, Berry Street, Take Two
Email: cblack@berrystreet.org.au