The methods of assessment used by speech-language therapists for learners with multiple disabilities in schools in Gauteng.

• Main Author: Parsot, Sima
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Assessment; Multiple disabilities; Schools
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10539/12442

School-based speech-language therapists play a significant role in terms of education and rehabilitation in the lives of learners with multiple disabilities. Assessment forms a critical part of a speech-language therapist’s post description and is the cornerstone of any type of intervention. The assessment of learners with multiple disabilities poses as a great challenge to speech-language therapists. These challenges include a lack of guidelines, resources, appropriate standardized tests and the heterogeneity of the group of learners labelled as multiply disabled. This research project aimed at describing the methods of assessment that school-based speech-language therapists use when assessing learners with multiple disabilities. Additionally, these methods were compared to international best practice. The first phase of the study consisted of compiling a set of guidelines with the purpose of providing a framework for a proposed set of guidelines for the assessment of learners. These guidelines were based on the principles as recommended by the literature regarding best practice. Because a qualitative approach was adopted for this research project, the second phases consisted of data collection, utilising eight focus groups as well as document reviews. On average, each focus group consisted of two to four participants. The data was then analysed thematically and compared to a checklist. The results indicated that speech-language therapists encountered many obstacles when assessing learners with multiple disabilities. It was evident that the participating speech-language therapists assessed within a multidisciplinary team and that they used formal as well as informal methods of assessment with learners with multiple disabilities. Discrepancies were found between the collected data and the guidelines. The guidelines were then used to propose a way forward for speechlanguage therapists when assessing learners with multiple disabilities in schools in Gauteng.