L&L Therapy Services, LLC

Bullying in schools is a worldwide problem. School personnel, including speech-language pathologists (SLPs), play a critical role in the prevention of, and intervention in, bullying incidences. In this study, the authors examined SLPs' perceptions of bullying and endorsement of potential strategies for dealing with bullying as it relates to English language learners (ELLs). A survey was developed and mailed to 1,000 school-based SLPs. Eight vignettes describing unobserved and observed episodes of physical, verbal, relational, and cyber bullying were included. Survey data from 390 SLPs were analyzed. SLPs perceive physical, verbal, and cyber bullying as serious problems and report the likelihood of some type of intervention. In contrast, relational bullying (e.g., social exclusion, rejection) was rated less serious and likely to require less intervention. The majority of SLPs recommended ELLs should "try to blend in better," "not be bothered by the bully," "be more aggressive," or "ignore the bully" when dealing with relational bullying. This study extends the literature on perceptions of school personnel, specifically SLPs, and their role in preventing student victimization. Many SLPs are likely to assist clients in dealing with physical, verbal, and cyber bullying, but may need further education regarding the seriousness of, and need for intervention in, relational bullying.

The Perspectives program is a unique collaborative social communication intervention for adolescents with Asperger's syndrome and similar learning profiles. Clinicians use radio interviews as the vehicle to explicitly teach the process of social communication. Social skill objectives are addressed through this process approach, which was adapted from the framework of Social Thinking (Winner, 2002)

The authors describe an innovative clinical education program that emphasizes the provision of written language services by preservice speech-language pathology graduate students at Radford University in Virginia. Clinicians combined academic coursework in language acquisition in school-age children and clinical experiences that target children's written language development to promote future literacy-based leadership roles and collaborative efforts among school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs). These literacy-based experiences prepare SLPs to serve in the growing numbers of American public schools that are implementing Response to Intervention models.

Language underlies learning in school settings. This paper describes a collaborative project to address the language of testing that children need to master to demonstrate their skills on statewide assessments. Two schools developed transdisciplinary teams to focus on the language of testing. School 1 focused on language skills in the area of reading for fifth graders and school 2 focused on language in the area of mathematics for children in the third through fifth grades. The methods and materials used are described in detail. Resources are provided that can be used to help children learn vocabulary and strategies needed for success on statewide assessments.