The MBAEA Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) department, consisting of 56 SLPs and one communication assistant, has taken on extensive high-level learning this year. As a whole group, SLPs have been digging deep into evidence-based practices in the area of speech sound assessment and intervention. SLPs department-wide are actively engaging in identifying students’ phonemic (meaning) and phonetic (sound) inventories to choose the most productive and change-making targets and approaches to use in therapy. Students throughout MBAEA are demonstrating improved learning outcomes and more intelligible speech as a direct result of these shifts in SLP practice.
A portion of the department has committed to learning about literacy strategies for our learners with the most complex communication needs as part of an additional professional development opportunity. Following studying Karen Erickson’s and David Koppenhaver’s book Comprehensive Literacy for All: Teaching Students with Significant Disabilities to Read and Write, SLPs are sharing knowledge with administrators, teachers, staff members, and families that support all learners in their journey to reading and writing.