Collaboration to Support Language and Learning Outcomes for Students With Disabilities

School-based speech-language pathologists (SLP) provide services through a variety of delivery models that can occur inside and outside of the general education classroom. While services outside of the classroom, including intervention sessions that involve removal from the general education setting (e.g., pull-out services), can provide students with targeted, intensive supports, SLPs also provide services in the general education classroom through collaboration and consultation. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (2010) details the roles and responsibilities of SLPs in schools, and specifically highlights collaboration as a key-role category of the school-based SLP’s profession. Given the importance of inclusion for students with disabilities (e.g., learning disabilities, autism, emotional and behavioral disorders) as championed by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (1990), the 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, and the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015), interprofessional collaboration provides an avenue to maximize the utility and effectiveness of services in inclusive education settings. Failing which, the services that students receive from SLPs under the purview of their individualized education program (IEP) may not be aligned with the least restrictive environment (LRE).

The LRE is determined individually for each student, and it is the setting that is closest to the general education classroom alongside their typical peers, where the individual student can make documented, data-based educational progress. Although it is important to recognize that, in some cases, pull-out services and separate settings are necessary for students to learn and demonstrate educational progress, intentional efforts to ensure that students who can thrive in the general education are supported to do so. A collaborative and data-based approach to ensuring adherence to the LRE provision of IDEA is the multitiered systems of support (MTSS) framework. By design, this tiered approach to data-based instruction supports students learning by ongoing progress-monitoring that allows for educators to determine if and when students need additional support. This approach is proactive and is adaptive to individual student needs as opposed to a reactive, “wait to fail” approach.

One collaborative relationship that has high potential to improve language and learning outcomes for students with disabilities is between classroom teachers and SLPs (Bauer et al., 2010; Chow & Hollo, 2021; Wallace et al., 2022). Reviews of the literature have also concluded that there is a reasonably compelling research base for improving language outcomes through this specific collaborative partnership (Archibald, 2017; Cirrin et al., 2010). In the first two articles in this special series, authors focus on: How classroom teachers and SLPs can collaborate to maximize outcomes for students with disabilities. Though specific to students with learning disabilities and speech or language impairments, applications of the collaborative practices outlined in each article have the potential to translate to other interprofessional partnerships and students with or at risk for disabilities and their peers.

One strategy that exemplifies inclusive education is co-teaching. Zimmerman et al. provide an overview of co-teaching as an instructional strategy that leverages the expertise of two complimentary educators to provide language-rich instruction in the general education classroom. Specifically, the authors focus on two models of co-teaching, team teaching and station teaching, and provide definitions, unique considerations, and applied examples for planning and implementation for both strategies. In the second article, Murphy et al. demonstrate how teachers and SLPs can collaborate using shared book reading and evidence-based early literacy intervention to support the language and literacy needs of young children with or at risk for learning disabilities. The authors detail specific collaborative roles each educator can play in the context of planning and implementing shared book reading, including structuring sessions, choosing books, selecting instructional targets, and implementation strategies. Together, these two papers highlight teaching strategies and structures that can improve the efficiency and maximize the knowledge and expertise of both teachers and SLPs and include a specific content area example using shared book reading—an evidence-based instructional practice for improving early language and literacy outcomes.

Inclusive classrooms increasingly represent a diverse student body. Multilingual students are a rapidly growing part of the diversity of students in schools in the United States, but unfortunately, are often misidentified for special education services for learning disabilities (Samson & Lesaux, 2009). An important question here is: How can teachers and SLPs work together to ensure that multilingual students are accurately assessed with considering the possibility of a learning disability? In the third article Goodrich et al. use collaboration to provide guidance on how educators can use each other’s expertise to accurately assess language and literacy skills of multilingual students. The authors present five key lessons learned from the intersection of multilingual students, language background, and the current evidence base on assessment and identification of language disorders. This guidance article concludes with a discussion of why the recommendations and lessons learned are important and consequential when screening multilingual leaners for learning disabilities.

The fourth and fifth articles reach beyond the classroom and focus on how additional collaborative networks can improve outcomes for students with autism. Integral to these networks are teachers and SLPs, and for children and youth with autism, additional supports and intentional efforts to collaborate can bolster the unique social and communication needs of this population. Specifically, What is the role of the family and broader social community in a successful, collaborative school-based partnership? In the fourth article, Biggs addresses the challenges around accessing high-quality augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) for students with autism. Some of these challenges arise due to limited expertise and lack of collaboration. By focusing on interdisciplinary collaboration for communication services, this article offers practical recommendations for building strong professional networks in an effort to improve student communication outcomes through improving educators’ skills, confidence, and joint commitment.

Specific to early intervention contexts, collaboration may include pediatricians, families, and teams that must ensure a family-centered interprofessional collaborative approach (Coufal & Woods, 2018). In the final article of this special series, Hampton et al. provide recommendations to teachers and clinicians that foster partnerships to improve outcomes for young children with language delays. The authors take a family-focused approach model for building, increasing, and maintaining the implementation of language strategies through effective parent–clinical partnerships. They provide step-by-step guidance for clinicians on getting to know the family, understanding how adults learn, and building a system and routine for ongoing communication. Through these steps, clinicians can engage in family-centered practice with clear and consistent communication to build and sustain a successful collaboration to improve language outcomes in young children.

Of course, administrative and district support is essential for effective collaboration (Heisler & Thousand, 2021; Watson & Bellon-Harn, 2014), so the uptake, implementation, and sustainability of efficacious partnerships between stakeholders should be facilitated by a strong commitment from leadership. This commitment is important and timely. As the amount of time students with disabilities spend in the general education setting increases, it is likely that the support needs and expertise in these inclusive settings will increase accordingly. Proactive partnerships that leverage the expertise and experiences of important stakeholders can bolster classrooms, schools, and systems with resources that can address the varying language and learning needs of students (Chow & Wallace, 2021; Koenig & Gerenser, 2006). These types of partnerships involve but are not limited to intentional, student-centered collaboration, a focus on preparing teachers to address the language and learning needs of all students, and fostering and sustaining meaningful and caring partnerships with families and other stakeholders.