Evaluating knowledge and self-rated competence of educational and speech-language professionals on language development and disorders

Purpose: Oral language abilities are essential for children's development and participation. Educational and healthcare professionals should know about language development and feel competent in delivering support to children with language problems or disorders. We evaluated the knowledge base, the self-rated competence and the reasons for this experienced competence in different groups of Dutch professionals, to gain insight in the qualities and needs in the educational support chain. Method: Respondents were 33 speech-language therapists (SLT), 57 ambulatory support professionals (ASP), 46 teachers and special educational needs coordinators (SENCo) at mainstream education and 23 teachers and SENCos at special education. In an online questionnaire, these professionals judged 24 statements concerning oral language and language disorders as being true/false to reflect the knowledge base. They also rated their competence in supporting children with language difficulties on a scale of 1-10 and were asked to indicate why they were able to provide this support, as well as when they would be better able to support these children. Results: There were no differences between the groups on the knowledge base task. The groups did differ on the self-rated competence (mainstream < special education and ASP < SLT). Scores on the knowledge base task and self-rated competence were not correlated. As facilitators to their self-rated competence, respondents referred mostly to their own knowledge, experience and training, whereas most barriers concerned problems within the educational and health care system. Conclusions: The findings point to the need for investing into the knowledge base and competence of the different groups of professionals, as well as removing external and collaboration-based barriers in the educational and healthcare context.