MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report

In recent years there has been a pressure to introduce an indirect “consultative model” to working with children with speech and language needs. It is favoured by educationists because it avoids the need to take children out of class and embeds any support children received in the curriculum. This paper reports the results of a recent study which indicates that Speech and Language Therapists are concerned about the universal application of this model of service delivery. It introduces and discusses a number of interrelated factors which need to be in place before the consultative model can be successfully introduced

Facilitating communication between education and health services: the provision for children with speech and language needs

In this article, James Law, Marie Gascoigne and Nina Soloff, of the Department of Language and Communication Science at City University, London; Geoff Lindsay and Sue Band, of the Institute of Education, University of Warwick; and Nick Peacey and Julie Radford, of the Institute of Education, University of London, explore provision for children with speech and language needs. The authors report the outcomes of Government-funded research into the provision of speech and language therapy services and identify 13 key themes which emerge from a review of these findings. They proceed to make a series of important and challenging recommendations, many of which focus on the need for enhanced collaboration at a range of levels

Are Health and Education talking to each other? Perceptions of parents of children with speech and language needs

This paper reports on the findings of a multi-centre, year-long study commissioned in July 1999 by the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE), Department of Health (DOH) and the National Assembly for Wales; the focus here is upon the perspectives of parents of children with a variety of speech and language needs, at various stages of assessment and provision within educational settings. Groups of parents were interviewed about their perceptions of the extent and nature of collaboration existing between the agents of health and education, and during the final ‘research into practice’ stage of the study, parents joined managers and practitioners from the two agencies in discussion groups aimed at generating innovative and practical ideas for facilitating future collaboration between the two agencies. Emphasizing their wish for a partnership relationship with professionals, some parents highlighted professionals' failure at times to communicate effectively with them. They perceived a lack of transparency in the process of assessment and provision, voicing concerns about continuity of provision, particularly at the stage of transition from primary to secondary education. In a context of insufficiently defined professional roles, some parents lacked confidence in a move towards a consultative model of speech and language therapy; they suggested a need for greater mutual understanding between teachers and speech and language therapists to provide a more secure basis for implementing therapy effectively