Speech-language pathologists (S-LPs) are essential members of educational teams who support students of all ages with speech, language, and communication challenges in achieving their academic and personal potential. Many S-LPS in Canada are employed in schools. Their job is to support children with communication disabilities in accessing the curriculum and achieving their academic and personal potential. In this new podcast series from Speech-Language and Audiology Canada, Dr. Lisa Archibald from Western University and our expert guests will discuss innovation in school-based speech-language pathology.
Dr Lisa Archibald speaks with speech-language pathologist Chelsea Van Tol and speech-language pathology assistant Kara Willie about their collaborative work at a First Nations school in Alert Bay, British Columbia. They discuss how culturally responsive practice, relationship-building, and community partnership shape speech-language services for students, with Kara sharing her perspective as a member of the Kwakwaka’wakw community. Chelsea and Kara also highlight their efforts to incorporate Kwak’wala into their work, supporting both children’s communication development and Indigenous language revitalization.
Dr Lisa Archibald speaks with Kierstin Lapointe, a speech-language pathologist who works in rural and remote communities in Northern Ontario, primarily in Indigenous schools, as a fly-in S-LP. In this episode, Kierstin describes her practice, the logistics of fly-in care, and working with Indigenous communities.
Dr Lisa Archibald speaks with Chelsea Van Tol, a speech-language pathologist who works in rural and remote communities, primarily in First Nation schools. In this episode, Chelsea describes her practice, the challenges and rewards, and work with communication health assistants from First Nations communities.
In this episode, Dr Archibald speaks with speech-language pathologists Dominique Lacasse and Megan Von Muhlenen. The two guests discuss the funding model for AAC in Ontario and how their teams of speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists provide services to children and their families who struggle to access them.
Dr Archibald welcomes Paula Filangeri, a speech-language pathologist from Leamington, ON. Paula introduces us to WH-questions, a practical tool for empowering parents and learners to support language. She delves into her strategies to support vocabulary and grammatical complexity from children in the classroom.
Speech-Language Pathologist Lindsay Sharpe from the Louis Riel School Division in Winnipeg, MB returns for a third episode to speak with Dr Archibald on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). She speaks to the challenges of AAC assessment and explores some of the tools she has tested and uses in her daily practice as a school speech-language pathologist.
In this episode, Dr Archibald welcomes Dr Sean Redmond, a professor at the University of Utah with almost 30 years of lecturing experience. Dr Redmond shares what he learned comparing kids with developmental language disorder (DLD) to kids who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). He discusses the co-occurrence of DLD and ADHD and what that looks like in terms of both language development and the progression of ADHD symptoms.
For help accessing the research listed above, please contact Professor Redmond at Sean.Redmond@health.utah.edu.
In this episode, Lindsay Sharpe, a speech-language pathologist who works in the Louis Riel School Division out of Winnipeg, MB, returns to continue her conversation on AAC use. She identifies the increase in the number of students with communication disorders in her school division and working to have sufficient intervention and programming for these students. She describes this new pressure put on school teams to ensure that they’re getting the programming, the intervention and the goals set for them that they really need. She explains how support teams can adapt to AAC users’ unique needs using this complex system of communication.
In this episode, Dr. Theresa Pham – a researcher and speech-language pathologist (S-LP), and Melissa Fiesser, a classroom teacher – team up as an S-LP and teacher team to discuss Talk Moves, sentence starters and gestures that students can use to join or invite others into conversations.
In this special episode, Dr Lisa Archibald speaks with Lindsay Sharpe, a speech-language pathologist who works in the Louis Riel School Division out of Winnipeg, MB. She describes her efforts in advocating for the use of AAC devices and for AAC consultants in the classroom. She also describes various tools, strategies, and assessments to maximize the use of AAC devices.
In this episode, Dr. Archibald speaks with Karla Gutierrez, a speech-language pathologist at the Louis Riel School Division in Winnipeg, MB. Karla discusses her eight-year journey in supporting teachers to teach literacy in the classroom through a foundation of relationships and co-teaching. She also discusses the importance of teaching across skills (phonemic awareness, vocabulary, reading, writing) and her work on a district-wide literacy team.
Vibhuti Jethava – adjunct lecturer at the University of Toronto and speech-language pathologist – teams up with Jocelyn Kadish – who has lecturing experience at McMaster University, the University of Toronto, and the University of Cape Town – to speak with Dr Lisa Archibald on the speech-language pathology work setting of providing assessment and consultation for children with mental health needs.
They discuss topics on identifying language needs, providing mental health therapy through language mediation, the impact of language on social functioning, the use of language on self-regulation of emotion and behaviour, and more through the lens of speech-language pathologists.
In this episode, Dr. Archibald speaks with Tara Ross and Kristen Smith, S-LPs from the Upper Grand District School Board. They discuss the unique way of combining deep learning with declarative language strategies, working students at a Tier One level around building social, emotional, and social communication and co-regulation.
In this episode, Dr. Archibald speaks with Michelle Cowan and Kiran Bagri, two Peel District School Board speech-language pathologists. They discuss their Classroom Literacy Resource, activities to practice letter sounds with kids, taking handwriting tips from books, and more.
Olivia Colosimo and Leah Schwartzentruber, guests from Episode 27, return in this special episode to continue discussing their work with the Thames Valley District School Board. They describe their resource on Literacy-Based Language Intervention, a multi-tiered system of support that provides services and connects communication-based goals to classroom-based expectations.
In this episode, Dr. Archibald speaks with two speech-language pathologists from Saskatchewan, Sherry Bockus and Cheryl Turner. They likened intervention for kids with speech-language disorders to insulin for those with diabetes, arguing that therapeutic intervention is necessary. This philosophy leads them in their work as they encounter mixed results trying to advocate for the need for speech-language services in schools and the subsequent challenges and successes.
In this episode, Dr. Lisa Archibald speaks with Ashley Champ, S-LP at the Upper Grand District School Board. Champ talks about her current role on a special education literacy team and then discusses the tools and methods she and her team use to identify children’s literacy needs and provide intervention in the classroom.
Dr. Lisa Archibald talks with Olivia Colosimo and Leah Schwartzentruber, S-LPs from the Thames Valley District School Board, about their work in early literacy and vocabulary instruction in primary schools. They share expertise on oral language development and evidence-informed instructional practices useful for S-LPs in schools.
In this episode, Dr. Lisa Archibald speaks with Lisa Kohel and Lyndsay Bordeau, collaborating S-LPs out of St. Alberta, AB. Our guests explore their work in schools, supporting kids with trouble with speech intelligibility and speech sound disorders. They talk about major challenges they’ve seen regarding speech-language services for these children and how that affects every aspect of their lives at school.
Ahead of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Dr. Lisa Archibald sits down with Dr. Jessica Ball, MPH, PhD for the latest episode of SAC’s Shining Lights podcast. Dr. Ball, whose work on speech-language issues in Canada was in the context of First Nations in land-based communities, describes the speech-language challenges she witnessed these Indigenous communities faced. She also dives into the cultural context of speech-language assessments, working with First Nations’ English dialects, applying cultural safety concepts, and more in this episode.
In this episode, Dr. Lisa Archibald welcomes back Melinda Hinch, veteran speech-language pathologist with the Greater Essex County District School Board. In this episode, Melinda explores new challenges working with students in a tiered early intervention speech and language model.
In this episode, Dr. Lisa Archibald hosts Sarah Smith-Banstra and Rikky Côté, speech-language pathologists working in Ontario’s school-based rehabilitation services in the Durham region. They describe their work in helping individuals with speech sound disorders, stuttering concerns, or voice and resonance disorders.
References regarding which clinical indicators are important risk factors of persistent stuttering:
1) Yairi, E. & Ambrose, N.G., (1999). Early Childhood Stuttering I: Persistency and Recovery Rates. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 42(5), 1097-112.
DOI: 10.1044/jslhr.4205.1097
https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/jslhr.4205.1097
2) Månsson, H. (2000). Childhood stuttering: Incidence and development. Journal of Fluency Disorders, 25, 47-57.
DOI: 10.1016/S0094-730X(99)00023-6.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/223142354_Childhood_stuttering_Incidence_and_development
3) Ambrose, N. G., Cox, N. J., & Yairi, E. (1997). The Genetic Basis of Persistence and Recovery in Stuttering. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 40(3), 67-80.
DOI: 10.1044/jslhr.4003.567. PMID: 9210115.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9210115/
References for early parent-driven treatment effectiveness:
1) Lidcombe Effectiveness:
Jones, M., Onslow, M., Packman, A. et al. (2005), Randomised controlled trial of the Lidcombe programme of early stuttering intervention. BMJ, 331(7518), 659.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16096286/
Jones, M., Onslow, M., Packman, A. et al. (2010). Extended follow-up of a randomized controlled trial of the Lidcombe Program of Early Stuttering Intervention. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 439(6), 649-661. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13682820801895599
2) Indirect Treatment Effectiveness:
Franken, M., Kielstra-vn der schal, C., & Boelens, H. (2005). Experimental treatment of early stuttering: a preliminary study. Journal of Fluency Disorders, 30(3):189-99.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jfludis.2005.05.002
Millard, S., Nicholas, A., & Cooke, F. (2008). Is parent–child interaction therapy effective in reducing stuttering? Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research 51(3):636-50.
https://doi.org/10.1080/17549500802603895
In this episode, Allyson Cousineau-Grant and Caroline St-Jean explain how they have integrated the science of reading into their school board in the Ottawa, ON region, at different levels of response to the intervention.
Resources and transcript only available in French.
In episode 21, join Dr Lisa Archibald as she speaks with Sarah Dowling, a speech-language pathologist with years of experience in Canada and the UK. She speaks on how she helped develop a workload approach model via a three-tiered continuum of support to improve the balance of working with students.
Resources
In episode 20, join Dr Lisa Archibald as she speaks with Chris Matthews and Donna Moser, an S-LP duo working at Thames Valley District School Board out of London, ON. They specialize in working with patients that have complex communication needs. They also discuss their role in teaching kids with special needs how to read – through the science of reading.
Resources
During this episode, Chantal interviews the winners of the 2023 Desjardins Social Innovation Award who discuss their research and experiences, particularly on language development disorder.
In episode 18, join Dr Lisa Archibald as she speaks with Megan Norris and her team of speech-language pathologists at the First Nation School Board in Yukon. Together, they share details of their work with Yukon communities.
During this episode, Michèle Minor-Corriveau, speech therapist and associate professor at Laurentian University, as well as Alex-Andrée Madore, clinical and school psychologist, present a range of resources they have developed to address a gap in the area of written language re-education, with a particular focus on the AlphaGraphe resource. This resource, released on January 13, 2023, offers users a structured learning sequence for the effective teaching of reading and writing knowledge and skills.
In episode 16, join Dr Lisa Archibald as she speaks with Kelsey Kerr, president of the Yukon Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Association’s executive committee. Kelsey explores her role with the Yukon First Nation Education Directorate’s Mobile Therapeutic Unit, going into communities and reaching out to families to provide developmental guidance for Indigenous people ages 0 to 18 years old.
In the second French episode of the SAC Shining Lights podcast, Dr. Chantal Mayer-Crittenden from Laurentian University speaks with Jessica Gallant, a speech therapist for CSAP (Conseil scolaire acadien provincial). Jessica talks about ‘Grandir en français’, a project she was involved with to provide educators with strategies to work with children attending preschools or French-language schools in minority language settings.
On October 20, we recognize Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) Awareness Day with a special DLD episode of SAC’s Shining Lights podcast! In episode 14, Lisa Archibald talks with Miliana, a grade-6 student from Quebec with DLD, a persistent language difficulty with a significant impact on everyday interactions and school learning. Miliana shares her experiences of living and learning with DLD, working with her S-LP, and her passion for raising awareness of DLD.
Downloadable Resources
In this very first French episode, Monique Dubreuil, Executive Director of Consortium pour les élèves du nord de l’Ontario (CÉNO), and Annie Demers, lead Speech-Language Pathologist for the CÉNO, tell us about the creation of CÉNO, its role in North-East Ontario and its impact on the provision of school-based speech therapy services. We also discuss the Regroupement des orthophonistes du Nord de l’Ontario (RONO). RONO brings together speech-language pathologists from the 6 Francophone school boards in Northern Ontario, offering them a space to reflect on different themes and issues, as well as to exchange ideas, among others.
If you are interested in setting up a consortium of school services in your area, or even a group for speech therapists, this is an episode not to be missed!
In the twelfth episode, join Dr. Lisa Archibald of Western University as she speaks with Pat Blundon, who talks about her experience with Indigenous communities and working with what she calls language “varieties”.
In the eleventh episode, join Dr. Lisa Archibald of Western University as she speaks with Helen McKay, who talks about her 35 years of experience as an S-LP, 18 of those years with the Waterloo Region District School Board.
In the tenth episode, join Dr. Lisa Archibald of Western University as she speaks with Janine Chesworth, a speech-language pathologist working out of Edmonton, AB. Janine speaks on her experience in elementary schools, the English language in Indigenous contexts, and more.
In the ninth episode, join Dr. Lisa Archibald of Western University as she speaks with Jillian Gordon, a speech-language pathologist in a growing district in the lower mainland of British Columbia. Jillian speaks about her experience working in the school district, the district’s use of the new SWAP, and more.
Episode 8 of the SAC Shining Lights Podcast is now available! Join Dr. Lisa Archibald as she speaks with Sandrine Umunoza, Owner of Cabinet d’orthophonie l’Envol, who shares her experience working as an S-LP, particularly with Innu Indigenous communities.
In the seventh episode of SAC Shining Lights: School-based S-LP Podcast, Dr. Archibald is joined by Denise Kollee and Andrea Borg from Halton Catholic District School Board. Denise and Andrea discuss their work within the board and services for students using Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices.
In the sixth episode of SAC Shining Lights: School-based S-LP Podcast, Dr. Archibald is joined by Lisa Kohel and Lyndsay Bourdeau, private practitioners who support both schools and school divisions in Alberta. Lisa and Lyndsay discuss their experiences developing services in and with schools, and their work with educators.
In the fifth episode of SAC Shining Lights: School-based S-LP Podcast, Dr. Archibald is joined by Sylvia Cutmore from Peel District School Board. Sylvia discusses her work within the board, the consultation model she follows, a structured literacy model, and much more!
In our fourth episode, Dr. Archibald is joined by Debbie Maund from SpeechPATH4U in Moncton, NB and Elsipogtog School on Elsipogtog First Nation. Debbie discusses her service delivery model and the way she created a system responsive to the needs of a community based school.
In the third episode, Lisa Archibald is joined by MaryAnn Schouten from the Upper Grand District School Board. MaryAnn discusses her language intervention program LITES, and the way it is supporting children’s oral language to achieve social and academic success.
In this episode, Lisa is joined by Melinda Hinch who has been providing speech-language services with a focus on literacy in the Windsor Essex County District School Board. They discuss how critical thinking, school board changes and even the pandemic have shaped the way speech-language services are being delivered in schools.
In this episode, Lisa talks with Carolyn Hovey-Johnson from the Peace Collaborative Services in Alberta. They discuss their way of working in a team and in interdisciplinarity.
