Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Spring 2025
Abstract
Purpose:
This study aimed to investigate Speech-Language Pathologists’ understanding of dyslexia, their involvement in interprofessional practice (IPP), and the potential correlation between their knowledge of dyslexia and the extent to which they engage in IPP. By examining SLPs’ perspectives on collaboration and their confidence in working with individuals with dyslexia, this study advocates enhanced interdisciplinary cooperation in developing comprehensive programs for dyslexia intervention.
Method:
An online survey (n = 87) assessed SLPs’ experiences with IPP and dyslexia. Descriptive and statistical analyses were performed on the data.
Results:
The IPP survey revealed that 72% of SLPs had prior training in working collaboratively with other professionals, and 52% felt that time constraints and scheduling were the most significant barriers to IPP. In the dyslexia survey, the SLPs answered with 98% accuracy the question “Dyslexia is a learning difficulty in the area of reading”; however, only 33% knew that dyslexia has a genetic origin. A slight positive correlation was found when compared using statistical correlation, indicating that the more SLPs collaborate, the more knowledge they possess regarding dyslexia. However, these differences were not statistically significant.
Conclusions:
SLPs struggle to collaborate because of time constraints, caseload sizes, and other barriers. However, they want to strive to find the resources and time to do so. The results of the dyslexia survey mirror those of other studies that have shown that the level of knowledge of dyslexia among SLPs is insufficient, and more training in this area is needed. The comparison of the two surveys indicates that, although the results were found to be insignificant, the results showed that the more collaboration there was, the more dyslexia knowledge there was. This finding supports the original hypothesis that SLPs will have a sufficient understanding of dyslexia if they collaborate.
Recommended Citation
Tellier, Heather and Fletcher, John, "Speech-Language Pathologists' Understanding of Dyslexia and Collaborative Practice" (2025). Special Education Faculty Publications. 1.
https://digscholarship.unco.edu/edsefaculty/1
Comments
This article is a preprint to be published in the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.
The pdf called Data from Qualtrics is the raw data collected from the survey.
The Excel table is a PDF containing all the data analyzed to perform statistical analysis within the IPP and Dyslexia and then used to compare the two.