A Practice-Based Interprofessional Emergent Writing Intervention: Impacts on Graduate Students and Preschoolers

Despite the importance of collaboration in schools, few studies have examined interprofessional education (IPE) interventions for graduate speech-language pathology (SLP) students designed to prepare them with the skills necessary to effectively work on school-based teams. The current pilot study im...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inTeaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders Vol. 6; no. 1
Main Authors Pfeiffer, Danika, Pavelko, Stacey, Allen-Bronaugh, Dannette, Dudding, Carol C, Timler, Geralyn
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders 2022
Subjects
Allied Health Personnel
Beginning Writing
Graduate Students
Interprofessional Relationship
Intervention
Occupational Therapy
Preschool Children
Speech Language Pathology
Writing (Composition)
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Summary:Despite the importance of collaboration in schools, few studies have examined interprofessional education (IPE) interventions for graduate speech-language pathology (SLP) students designed to prepare them with the skills necessary to effectively work on school-based teams. The current pilot study implemented a five-week practice-based IPE intervention with six SLP graduate students and three occupational therapy (OT) graduate students. Three SLP students were randomly assigned to the 'unpaired' condition and delivered emergent writing activities independently to a small group of preschoolers (n = 10). The other three SLPs were each randomly assigned an OT student to collaborate with in a 'paired' condition and conducted the same activities together with their assigned small groups of preschoolers (n = 11). Graduate students' emergent writing knowledge and interprofessional competencies were supported throughout the study by facilitated discussions and structured debrief sessions with their clinical educators using the DEAL model of critical reflection. Results indicated that SLP students from both conditions demonstrated positive gains in emergent writing knowledge, but the paired SLP students had a greater gain in self-reported interprofessional competencies. Preschoolers in both conditions demonstrated improvement on emergent writing tasks. Implications of practice-based IPE interventions for both graduate students and children are discussed.