Literacy survey of speech-language pathologists (Yi & Erickson, 2024)

Purpose: This study examined the clinical practice, self-efficacy, and beliefs about assessing and treating written language among speech-language pathologists (SLPs) working with school-aged clients (aged 5–21 years) in school and nonschool settings in the United States.

Method: A survey was completed by a nationwide sample of 344 SLPs working with school-aged clients in the United States. Statistical analyses were conducted to determine differences between (a) SLPs’ self-efficacy in assessing and treating spoken versus written language and (b) school-based and non–school-based SLPs’ clinical practice, self-efficacy, and beliefs about their roles with written language.

Results: All respondents reported significantly lower rates of self-efficacy in assessing and treating written language compared to spoken language, and their self-efficacy had a significant, positive relationship with the amount of clinical time devoted to written language. School-based SLPs devoted a significantly lower percentage of clinical time to written language, had significantly lower self-efficacy in addressing written language, and had lower rates of agreement on statements about their roles and responsibilities with written language compared to non–school-based SLPs. These differences were not found with spoken language. The most prevalent written language needs on respondents’ workloads were reported as written expression (69.3%) and reading comprehension (66%).

Conclusions: School-based and non–school-based SLPs report different levels of clinical time devoted to written language, self-efficacy in addressing written language, and beliefs about their roles in addressing written language. There is a need to investigate the reasons for these differences and the potential impact of preservice and in-service training in ameliorating them.

Supplemental Material S1. Survey feedback document for focus group.

Supplemental Material S2. Content validity document.

Supplemental Material S3. Questionnaire.

Yi, J. J., & Erickson, K. A. (2024). Written language practice, self-efficacy, and beliefs: A survey of speech-language pathologists working with school-aged clients. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 55(3), 741–755. https://doi.org/10.1044/2024_LSHSS-23-00029