Speech Pathology in Education
Speech Pathology Australia (the Association) has produced a series of resources for speech pathologists who work or wish to work in schools.
Speech Pathology in Education Practice Documents – now available 
The Association is pleased announce the release of the revised Speech Pathology in Education Practice Documents.
These documents which include the Position Statement and Practice Guideline have been updated to reflect contemporary speech pathology practice in education and current best practice principles, and broaden the scope of the documents to include speech pathology in early childhood education settings.
The Practice Guideline identifies a range of professional practices and guiding principles that inform the provision of best practice speech pathology services in education to improve outcomes for children.
The Association is also please to direct members to the Speech Pathology in Education Overview.
This self-paced learning program is designed to enhance engagement with the revised Practice Guideline. The program serves as a ‘guided reading’ resource and incorporates a read and reflect approach. It is designed to assist speech pathologists to become familiar with the contents of the Practice Guideline and support the adoption of practice that will enhance speech pathology practices in education.
A comprehensive Speech Pathology in Education learning series is also under development and members will be alerted when this is available.
As part of the process of review the Association engaged in stakeholder consultation via an online survey. View the results of this consultation 
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Video resources
Speech Pathology in Schools – A whole school approach
The Speech Pathology in Schools video discusses the best practice approach to supporting students with speech, language and communication needs through a whole school collaborative approach. Teacher, principals and speech pathologists share their experiences of working within a whole school approach and outline the benefits of having speech pathologists working as part of school teams. View the Speech Pathology in Schools - A whole school approach 
.
This video is available to members to support their work within schools and assist in advocating for the essential role that speech pathologists have within the education sector.
Listen to the Speak Up podcast: Response to Intervention – From theory to practice. 
Interviews
This is a series of videos interviews with speech pathologists, principals, teachers, and parents discussing the benefits of speech pathologists using a whole school approach in schools. Explore this series of video resources .
Other Resources for Speech Pathologists in Schools
Early Childhood Initiatives
Speech Pathology Australia is proud to support the following Early Childhood Initiatives.
Podcast
Listen to the Speak Up podcast: Early childhood and care – Giving children a good start.
National Early Literacy and Language Strategy
The National Early Literacy and Language Coalition represents a broad cross-section of stakeholders in the sector, working together to progress a National Early Literacy and Language Strategy.
The Coalition includes the following partners: Speech Pathology, Australian Library and Information Association, The Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation, Australian Literacy Educator’s Association, Early Childhood Australia, National and State Libraries Australia, The Smith Family, Indigenous Literacy Foundation and Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth.
The coalition has the support of the Ian Potter Foundation, which has provided funding for a three-year project “Early Language and Literacy: Reviewing the evidence, good practice guidance, and developing a national strategy.”
Release of the Proposed National Early Language and Literacy Strategy
As a partner of the National Early Language and Literacy Coalition, Speech Pathology Australia co-released Australia’s first national strategy to support children’s language and literacy development.
Over the past three years the Association has worked with 10 coalition partners to develop this important strategy with the aim of ensuring that Australian children start school with the fundamentals in language and literacy to set them up for success, and to reach their full potential as adults.
Right now, about 1 in 5 children are developmentally behind before they even start school. Research shows that children who start school behind never catchup.
Speech Pathology Australia, with the coalition, is urging the federal, state and territory governments to adopt the proposed strategy, and take it to the next level by confirming that development of children’s language and literacy skills are a national priority.
Read the full proposed National Early Language and Literacy Strategy.
Thrive by Five
Thrive by Five is an initiative of the Minderoo Foundation that is campaigning to make our early learning childcare system high quality and universally accessible. Speech Pathology Australia is a partner in this initiative and has supported a letter to the federal government.