An action research study on the provision of training for special needs support assistants by a speech and language therapy department*

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study describes an investigation into the efficacy of a training strategy for education support assistants working with children who had Statements of Special Educational Needs. There is a lot of recent evidence that improving the quality of the language environment for children with learning and communication disabilities is an effective use of speech and language therapists' time. However, a pilot study had shown this form of therapeutic approach does not appear to meet the expectations of unqualified support assistants in schools. In the locality studied, the speech and language therapists work closely and frequently with support assistants and use them to deliver children's therapy programmes within the daily classroom environment. Training has become an increasing activity in the day‐to‐day duties of speech and language therapists. The author examined whether training courses are an effective and efficient use of clinical therapeutic time in this context. Nationally, there is very little evidence of any form of training available for education support assistants, either on the job, through in‐service training from therapists, or the employing Education Authorities. The project used the qualitative research technique of in‐depth tape‐recorded interviews to investigate the views, feelings and perceptions of participants in the study. It followed an action‐research methodology. The action‐research strategy followed a three‐stage cycle: (1) Identification of the support assistants' training needs from the Speech and Language Therapy Service by use of a questionnaire, interviews with Education Officers about the level of provision in the Education Authority training programme about language development, and an examination of available documentation; (2) The design, planning and delivery of a series of courses by the Speech and Language Therapy Service incorporated the information obtained, with the collated views about training provision for support assistants given local therapists presenting the courses; (3) An evaluation of whether the courses met the stated training needs of the support assistants and whether this form of training package is art effective means of raising the awareness of support staff that enhancing the language environment is a valuable approach for children with communication disabilities. This information was mainly obtained by interviews with groups of support assistants working in different educational settings. The information was triangulated with information from the interviews with speech and language therapists who presented the courses. It was also supplemented by observations and field notes over the term following the course presentations. The paper questions the effectiveness of the model of training used for this staff group. It also discuss the efficacy of the strategy and its value as part of the duties of a speech and language therapist.