Preparing Professionals to Serve English-Language Learners with Communication Disorders

Abstract

The diversity of the nation's school-age population is increasing rapidly. The challenge of assuring that all students have access to appropriate opportunities for literacy development and academic instruction requires comprehensive educational reform and collaboration among professionals at all levels and across disciplines. The power of collaboration lies in the capacity and willingness of individual professionals to develop their own areas of expertise as well as to merge skills to develop cadres of personnel who can collaborate in promoting student achieve ment. This article discusses both the challenges and opportunities the nation faces in attaining educational equity through the preparation of cadres of professionals to meet the educational needs of English-language learners with communication disorders. When 7-year-old Brian arrived from Puerto Rico, I noticed that he didn't participate with the other students in my first-grade class. Most of the time he was quiet. Because I thought he was just beginning to learn English, I wasn't initially concerned. Although he was receiving English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) for 2 hours a day, he wasn't making progress in English, and I became concerned. I discussed the difficulties with his mother, and we decided to refer him for assessment. After testing, the speech-language pathologist reported that Brian had language delays and articulation errors in Spanish and that he was expe riencing similar difficulties in English. In addition to continuing ESOL, speech-language services in English and Spanish were recommended. As Brian's teacher, I want to be part of the "team" to help Brian become a successful student, but I don't know what to do. I've never had a student like Brian before. (teacher interview)