Inherent requirements for Speech Pathology

Speech pathology  is a profession that is governed by professional standards and a code of ethics and a  national code of conduct for allied health professionals in which speech pathologists are both accountable and responsible for ensuring safe and professional behaviour in all contexts.

Student demonstrates knowledge of, and engages in, ethical behaviour in practice.

Justification of Inherent Requirement:

Compliance with the codes, guidelines and standards facilitates safe, competent interactions and relationships for students and/or the people with whom they engage. This supports the physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual wellbeing of all.

Adjustments must ensure the codes, guidelines and standards are not compromised or result in unethical behaviour. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with a Disability Advisor.

Exemplars:

• Complying with the values, standards and duties of the profession as outlined in the Code of Ethics
• Demonstrating the ability to reflect on ethical dilemmas and issues and take responsibility for ethical behaviour in line with the Speech Pathology Australia Code of Ethics

Speech pathology is a profession mandated by legislation and professional standards to enable the safe delivery of care.

Student demonstrates knowledge of and compliance with Australian Law and professional regulatory requirements and standards, which dictate the scope of speech pathology practice.

Justification of inherent requirement:

• Knowledge, understanding and compliance with legislative and regulatory requirements and standards are necessary pre-requisites to clinical placements, to reduce the risk of harm to self and others.
• Compliance with the Australian Law and professional regulatory requirements and standards ensures that students are both responsible and accountable for their practice.

Adjustments must be consistent with legislative and regulatory requirements. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with a Disability Advisor.

Exemplars:

• Complying with professional standards relating to professional behaviour and competency in academic and clinical settings
• Complying with medico-legal requirements including informed consent, privacy, child protection and safety in academic and clinical settings

Effective and professional verbal communication, in English, is an essential requirement to provide competent delivery of care.

Student demonstrates:

• Respect for diversity during individual, family and community interactions
• Accurate and timely comprehension and processing of conversational speech, verbal instructions and feedback
• Clear expression with intelligible and appropriate instructions and feedback required for the communication context
• Capacity to provide an accurate and timely model of speech and language skills in clinical setting
• Effective presentation of information in a group/ team setting
• Ability to use interpersonal communication skills to positively interact and build rapport with others
• Ability to respond appropriately during communication interactions with others when ‘higher level’ language skills are required including understanding abstract concepts, humour and responding appropriately to cynicism or sarcasm
• Capacity to adapt own communication to provide accessible information and facilitate others to effectively communicate

Justification of inherent requirement:

• Verbal communication equivalent to an IELTS level 7 or above is a requirement for students enrolling in the B. Speech Pathology degree
• Verbal communication is a core element of speech pathology professional practice
• Communicating in a way that displays respect and empathy with others underpins effective professional relationships
• Comprehension of conversation, instructions and feedback is integral to clinical learning and practice
• Accurate, clear and appropriate speech and language models are required to provide effective therapy
• Presenting verbal information in group situations is consistently required in speech pathology workplaces
• Timely, accurate and effective delivery of instructions and feedback is essential for speech pathology management
• Speech pathology students will need to adapt their communication in response to clients’   communication needs
• Speech pathology practice may include communication in face to face and online environments

Adjustments must address effectiveness, timeliness, clarity and accuracy issues to ensure safety and appropriate care. Adjustments must enable effective verbal communication in individual, small and large groups (consistent with speech pathology practice).  Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with a Disability Advisor.

Exemplars:

• Participating in tutorial, simulation, clinical discussions and verbal presentations.
• Demonstrating verbal communication skills to convey complex clinical speech pathology information, concepts, assessment and management with individuals, families and communities
• Communicating effectively with peers, educators, and team members to plan, implement and evaluate speech pathology services

Effective non-verbal communication is fundamental to speech pathology practice and needs to be respectful, clear, attentive, appropriate, and professional.

Student demonstrates:

• Capacity to recognise, interpret and respond appropriately to non-verbal behavioural cues by others
• Capacity to use non-verbal behaviours to facilitate positive interpersonal interactions with others
• Consistent and appropriate awareness of own behaviours during communication interactions
• Responsiveness to children and adults who communicate using multimodalities, augmentative communication and or Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices

Justification of inherent requirement:

• The ability to observe and understand non-verbal cues assists with building rapport with people and developing academic and professional relationships.
• Displaying consistent and appropriate facial expressions, eye contact, being mindful of space, time boundaries and body movements and gestures facilitates effective communication
• The ability to observe and understand non -verbal cues is essential for safe and effective observation of client communication and mealtime management
• Understanding and responding to multimodal communication, including the use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) by children and adults, is core speech pathology practice

Adjustments must enable the recognition and initiation of effective non-verbal communication and avoidance of inappropriate non-verbal behaviours. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with a Disability Advisor.

Exemplars:

• Recognising and responding appropriately to cues in the academic and clinical settings
• Using appropriate non-verbal communication to facilitate interactions with individuals and families.
• Interacting appropriately with clients who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)

Effective written communication, in English, is a fundamental responsibility in speech pathology with professional and legal ramifications.

Student demonstrates:

• Ability to process and construct written communication accurately and in a timely manner
• Ability to read and comprehend a range of literature and information
• Capacity to construct written communication with cohesion, grammar, and spelling

appropriate to the academic or clinical context

• Capacity to administer and analyse client assessments that include written textual components
• Capacity to adapt written communication to meet the communication needs of clients, families and the community

Justification of inherent requirement:

• Accurate processing of client notes, reports and feedback is vital to provide consistent and safe client care
• Construction of written text-based assessment tasks to reflect the required academic standards are necessary to convey knowledge and understanding of relevant subject matter for professional practice
• Accurate written communication, including record-keeping and client notes which meet legal and ethical requirements, is vital to provide consistent and safe client care
• Assessment of clients’ reading and writing is required during speech pathology practice
• Written communication needs to be adapted so that information is accessible for clients, families and communities.

Adjustments must meet necessary standards of clarity, accuracy and accessibility to ensure effective recording and transmission of information occurs in both academic and clinical environments and that competent literacy support may be provided to speech pathology clients. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with a Disability Advisor.

Exemplars:

• Constructing an essay (or academic writing task) to academic and professional standards
• Constructing client notes, reports, and educational information in a timely manner that meets medico legal, ethical and professional standards
• Providing written material using style and content that is accessible for individuals, families and communities

Consistent knowledge and effective cognitive skills must be demonstrated to provide safe and effective speech pathology management.

Student demonstrates:

• Capacity to locate appropriate and relevant information
• Ability to process and recall information relevant to practice
• Ability to integrate and implement knowledge in practice in a responsive manner
• Ability to reflect on performance and develop action plans
• Capacity to develop clinical reasoning skills

Justification of inherent requirement:

• Safe and effective delivery of speech pathology management is based on comprehensive knowledge that must be sourced, understood and applied appropriately
• Reflection, reasoning and professional development are essential for speech pathology practice

Adjustments must ensure that a clear demonstration of knowledge and cognitive skills is not compromised or impeded. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with a Disability Advisor.

Exemplars:

• Conceptualising and using appropriate knowledge in response to academic assessment items
• Appropriately applying knowledge of theory, research evidence, policies and procedures in the clinical setting
• Capacity to learn or change behaviours in response to feedback

Competent literacy skills are essential to provide safe and effective speech pathology practice.

Student demonstrates:

• Ability to acquire information and accurately convey appropriate, effective messages
• Capacity to understand and implement academic conventions to construct written text in a scholarly manner

Justification of inherent requirement:

• The ability to acquire information and to accurately convey messages is fundamental to ensure safe and effective assessment, treatment and delivery of care
• The ability to read, decode, interpret and comprehend multiple sources of information is fundamental for safe and effective delivery of care
• Literacy skills are necessary to provide effective speech pathology services to children and adults

Adjustments must demonstrate a capacity to effectively acquire, comprehend, apply and communicate accurate information. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with a Disability Advisor.

Exemplars:

• Critically reviewing evidence on assessment and therapy approaches in speech pathology practice in academic and clinical contexts

Competent and accurate numeracy skills are essential to provide safe and effective speech pathology management.

Student demonstrates the ability to interpret and correctly apply data, measurements and numerical criteria.

Justification of inherent requirement:

Competent application of numeracy skills is essential to facilitate the safe and effective delivery of speech pathology services

Adjustments must demonstrate a capacity to interpret and apply concepts and processes appropriately in a timely, accurate and effective manner. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with a Disability Advisor.

Exemplars:

• Recording accurate data in client notes
• Scoring and analysing speech pathology assessments

Adequate visual acuity is required to provide safe and effective speech pathology management.

Student demonstrates sufficient visual acuity to perform the required range of speech pathology skills.

Justification of inherent requirement:

• Sufficient visual acuity is necessary to demonstrate the required range of skills, tasks and assessments to maintain consistent, accurate and safe care of self and to others
• Visual observations, examinations and assessment are fundamental to safe and effective speech pathology practice

Adjustments must address the need to perform the full range of tasks involved in clinical practice. Any strategies to address the effects of the vision impairment must be effective, consistent and not compromise treatment or safety. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with a Disability Advisor.

Exemplars:

• Observing and examining the functioning of oral muscles required for communication and swallowing
• Observing and interacting with clients using multimodal communication

Adequate auditory ability is required to provide safe and effective speech pathology practice

Student demonstrates sufficient auditory function to undertake the required range of skills.

Justification of inherent requirement:

• Sufficient auditory ability is necessary to monitor, assess and manage an individual’s speech pathology needs consistently and accurately
• Assessments and observations that rely on auditory perception and processing are fundamental to safe and effective speech pathology practice

Adjustments must address the need to perform the range of tasks involved in clinical practice. Any strategies to address the effects of hearing impairment must be effective, consistent and not compromise treatment or safety. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with the  Disability Advisor.

Exemplars:

• Ability to discriminate speech sounds in a range of communication environments
• Responding appropriately to a client’s responses during assessment and management in a range of clinical context
• Ability to accurately model speech sounds in a range of communication environments

Sufficient tactile ability is required to perform competent and safe speech pathology management

Student demonstrates sufficient tactile function to undertake the required range of skills and assessments.

Justification of inherent requirement:

• Sufficient tactile ability is necessary to monitor, assess and detect clients' physical functioning during communication and meal times for appropriate speech pathology management
• Tactile assessments and observations are fundamental to safe and effective speech pathology practice

Adjustments must have the capacity to make effective assessments of physical characteristics and abnormalities within safe time frames. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with a Disability Advisor.

Exemplars:

• Assessing changes in oral muscular functioning
• Palpating muscles required for swallowing and detecting anatomical or movement abnormalities
• Demonstration of treatment techniques e.g., swallowing rehabilitation

Speech pathology practice requires physical and cognitive  performance at a consistent and sustained level to meet individual needs over time

Student demonstrates:

• The ability to perform diverse tasks with a level of concentration that ensures a capacity to focus on each activity until it is completed appropriately
• The capacity to maintain consistency and quality of performance throughout the designated period of time

Justification of inherent requirement:

Sufficient physical and mental endurance is an essential requirement needed to perform multiple tasks in an assigned period to provide safe and effective speech pathology management

Adjustments must ensure that performance is consistent and sustained over a required period. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with a Disability Advisor.

Exemplars:

• Actively participating in tutorials, practicals and lectures
• Managing attention and fatigue to provide consistent speech pathology management over a negotiated time frame while on clinical placement