This unit will cover two key areas: speech pathology in educational contexts and children with diverse and complex communication and learning needs.
Students will build on their understanding of early speech and language development to consider the impact of communication skills on the acquisition of literacy and achievement of academic success. Students will consider speech, language, and literacy development within the context of the classroom environment and the demands of the academic curricula, as well as the implications of a communication impairment for a child's educational, occupational, and social outcomes.
Students will develop their knowledge and skills in assessment, planning and management of children and adolescents with diverse and complex communication and learning needs, including autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, hearing impairment, and cleft palate. Students will also gain skills in working with children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
Across the unit, students will develop an understanding of the roles of the speech pathologist and other professionals involved in a child's care team, including their contribution to assessment and management in these contexts and in the classroom environment.
This unit includes a mandatory 5 day residential school.
PRESCRIBED TEXT - LANGUAGE DISORDERS FROM INFANCY THROUGH ADOLESCENCE : LISTENING, SPEAKING, READING, WRITING, AND COMMUNICATING
