Abstract
Educational equality and the reduction of discrimination are among the UN’s Sustainability Goals. Previous studies as well as policy recommendations suggest that the extent to which these are implemented in the field of speech and language therapy for multilingual children depends on sufficient knowledge and material. To this end, an online survey was carried out with 300 Speech and Language Therapists (SLTs) from Austria, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, investigating their attitudes and approaches regarding the service provision for multilingual children. Their responses were analyzed taking the SLTs’ language background, experience, and country of origin into account. Results were interpreted in the context of country-specific SLT service-related policies and SLT training as well as migration history. There seems to be a gap between the SLTs’ knowledge about the specific requirements for providing Speech Language Therapy (SLT) for multilingual children and their common practice, which—despite the continuous need of further training—points to sufficient awareness but a lack of materials or resources. We found experience in working with multilingual children to be the most influential factor on attitudes and approaches towards multilingualism. This suggests the importance of improving pre-exam and early-career professional experience to foster SLTs’ development of mindful attitudes and appropriate approaches towards multilingualism in their clinical practice.
Highlights
Among Speech and Language Therapists (SLTs) from German-speaking countries (n = 197; the question about years of professional experience was only included in the German questionnaire), 20.8% had less than 5 years of overall professional experience in providing SLT services, 25.9% had between 5 and 10 years, 21.8% between 10 and 20 years, 31.5% had more than 20 years of overall professional experience in providing SLT services to children (Q25)
Our data suggest that neither duration of education nor duration of overall professional experience but experience in SLT service provision for multilingual children is associated with the respective attitudes and approaches towards multilingualism in SLT
In spite of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 10 “Reduce inequalities” [3], there is a risk for residual inequalities in the provision of SLT to multilingual children that should be addressed
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Children’s academic and future professional achievements are known to depend, among other factors, on successful language acquisition [1,2]. Being able to detect and address atypical language development as early as possible has become increasingly crucial. Appropriate language competence is relevant in family and academic contexts in order to allow for the development of a cultural and social identity as well as cognitive development. This topic—among others—is addressed at an international level by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [3], 17 goals that were determined by the United
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 callDisclaimer: 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.
