Abstract
Clinical reasoning skills underlie the decisions speech-language pathologists (SLPs) make during practice. Although clinical reasoning is included in speech-language pathology accreditation standards in the United States, there is limited research on preservice SLPs’ development or use of clinical reasoning skills. Because clinical reasoning skills specific to augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) service provision have not been identified or reported in depth, this qualitative study focused on two cases of children with developmental disabilities who used AAC systems. Eight novice (i.e. preservice) SLPs and eight expert SLPs completed think-aloud tasks while they developed intervention plans, which made their clinical reasoning skills observable. Responses were transcribed for qualitative analysis. Six clinical reasoning skills were identified: summarizing, interpreting, hypothesizing, rationalizing, comparing and deferring. Expert and novices used four of these clinical reasoning skills similarly; however, there were differences among the remaining two skills. Novices deferred more frequently during the tasks and were limited in their ability to make comparisons to the fictional cases as compared to the experts. The expert-novice gap in clinical reasoning presents implications for teaching preservice SLPs in the classroom and the clinic.
Highlights
This scholarship of teaching and learning research is available in Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders: https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/tlcsd/vol4/iss2/7
Experts in communication sciences and disorders (CSD), along with other health professions, have recognized the importance of preservice professionals’ development of clinical reasoning skills, which is evidenced by recent additions to accreditation standards in the United States
Graduate speech-language pathology programs accredited by the Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (CAA) are required to provide students with learning opportunities that develop clinical reasoning skills
Summary
This scholarship of teaching and learning research is available in Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders: https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/tlcsd/vol4/iss2/7. Experienced SLPs deferred (i.e. revealed a lack of knowledge or experience) because they had not worked recently with a type of client, whereas preservice SLPs’ comments revealed more limited clinical experiences and knowledge overall (Ginsberg et al, 2016) These studies offer preliminary investigations of the clinical reasoning skills SLPs use during diagnostic tasks, but an understanding of the clinical reasoning skills related to augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) service provision presents a notable gap in the literature. General practice SLPs, clinical specialist SLPs, and research/policy specialists have reported using multiple procedures and considerations when planning for AAC assessments: case history, prep-time, language and communication assessments, symbol assessments, device trials, access methods, multi-modality approaches, instruction, and personalization (Dietz et al, 2012). When interviewed about their assessment approach for two children who might benefit from AAC, SLPs described
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
