Speech-Language and Hearing Therapy

Permanent URI for this community

https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/100731

Browse

Browsing Speech-Language and Hearing Therapy by browse.metadata.advisor "Dawood, Gouwa"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Language assessment practices in the diagnosis of specific language impairment in school-age children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds : a scoping review
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2024-03) Moosa, Farzaana; Dawood, Gouwa; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Dept. of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences. Speech-Language and Hearing Therapy.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: Background: As cultural and linguistic diversity increases due to the rise of global migration, the emphasis on providing equitable speech therapy services intensifies. The diverse nature and complexity of each language makes it challenging for clinicians to accurately diagnose Specific Language Impairment (SLI) in children from diverse backgrounds. It has been an active topic in the literature for more than a decade, yet appropriate countrywide assessment practices have still not been clearly defined, due to the cultural and linguistic diversity (CLD) of South Africa. Speech language therapists (SLTs) face universal challenges regarding the lack of appropriate and comprehensive assessment measures that accurately represent the CLD population and are unbiased. The challenges further include navigating diagnostic procedures for use by clinicians who do not possess proficiency in their client's home language, as well as a shortage of explicit guidelines. Research aim: Given the limited clinical guidelines available to assess this population, the scoping review aimed to determine the extent of available research regarding language assessment practices for the diagnosis of SLI in CLD school-aged children. The study further aimed to investigate the perception of South African SLTs concerning the feasibility of the assessment practices identified in the review. Method: The scoping review consisted of two phases. Phase one comprised the literature review investigating language assessment practices for the diagnosis of SLI (steps one to five). Thereafter, Phase two, the consultation phase (step six), was conducted using questionnaires. Eight South African SLTs working within the private and state sectors with school-aged learners from CLD backgrounds participated in the stakeholder consultation phase. Findings: A total of 32 articles were reviewed and included in the scoping review. The following themes were identified based on the literature: criteria for the diagnosis of SLI, procedure of assessment, and language assessment tools for the diagnosis of SLI. Although the eight SLTs who were consulted shared standard criteria for diagnosis, there were differences in the procedures and materials used for assessments. Conclusion: This scoping review provides summarised evidence from existing literature about assessment practices and drawing together the experiences of South African SLTs, who have resorted to informal language assessment approaches by amending existing tests to be more culturally inclusive. The current review highlighted the need for CLD-appropriate language assessment resources and specific evidence-based guidelines for the diagnosis of SLI in children from CLD backgrounds. These resources should optimally include contextually relevant norms in each language, which would ensure a more precise determination of diagnostic criteria cut-off points on language assessments.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Speech-language therapy treatment practices for multilingual speakers with aphasia : a scoping review
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-03) Heunis, Ingrid; Bardien, Faeza; Dawood, Gouwa; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Dept. of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences. Speech Language and Hearing Therapy.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY : The management of multilingual aphasia, a multi-layered phenomenon, is a growing and complex field in speech-language therapy. Researchers and clinicians are often faced with many challenges and questions when making clinical decisions. The decision-making process includes the following considerations: which language(s) to treat; the transfer of therapeutic benefits between the treated and untreated language(s), or not, and whether there is little or no effect in the untreated language. Despite demographic and epidemiological trends such as increased migration patterns and the linguistic diversity in South Africa (11 official languages), a comprehensive inquiry regarding clinical practices employed by speech-language therapists (SLTs) with multilingual speakers with aphasia has not been conducted yet. Given the limited clinical guidelines available for managing this clinical population, this scoping review was conducted to explore, describe, and summarise reported speech-language therapy treatment practices used with multilingual speakers with aphasia. The scoping review included two phases. Phase one was a literature review investigating international trends in the treatment of multilingual speakers with aphasia (step one to step five). This was followed by the consultation phase (step six) in the form of semi-structured interviews with five South African SLTs working with adult multilingual speakers with aphasia. Content analysis was the primary means of analysis with a quantitative approach in phase one and a qualitative approach in phase two. The scoping review revealed a range of information regarding treatment practices for multilingual speakers with aphasia. There was variability in the practices employed and broad definitions of the terminology used. The primary concern in the stakeholder consultation process was the mismatch between the linguistic diversity amongst SLTs and most of the multilingual population in South Africa. The need for including interpreters in clinical work was also noted. These findings highlight the need to develop local research that includes evidenced-based guidelines regarding treatment practices for multilingual speakers with aphasia, despite the complexity and challenge of the heterogeneous composition of South Africa.