Can Structured Literacy Be a New Dimension for Interprofessional Practice Between Teachers and SLTs? Perceptions of Irish SLTs on Their Capacity and Practices in Supporting Children With Literacy Difficulties

These findings highlight the need for interprofessional education (IE) initiatives for prospective teachers and SLTs to enhance multi-tiered systems of literacy support in schools. Structured literacy offers a focussed, equitable domain for such collaboration. Future research could explore SLT-teacher partnerships and the development of research scholarship in this area. Strengthening SLTs' role in structured literacy in Ireland could provide a meaningful avenue for interprofessional practice and improve literacy outcomes for children. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS?: What is already known on this subject We know that SLTs have unique linguistic knowledge in phonology, morphology and syntax, which are key domains of structured literacy. While an increasing body of international research is exploring the role of SLTs in literacy instruction, there remains a notable gap in the literature within the Irish context. What this paper adds to existing knowledge The study considers Irish SLTs' current practice and confidence in relation to supporting literacy outcomes. It shows a lack of clear consensus about the potential contributions SLTs can make to supporting literacy instruction and the multi-tiered systems of support model in schools and opens discussion on literacy as a domain of interprofessional education and practice in Ireland. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? We propose that Irish SLTs could offer more guidance to teachers and schools in relation to distinct areas of structured literacy instruction, as well as extend their collaborations with special education teachers (SETs) who work with dyslexic learners. However, without sufficient preparation, such collaborations have already been shown to be difficult to achieve. Our findings add to the growing support for the development of interprofessional education for prospective teachers and SLTs, and we propose that structured literacy could provide an equitable focus that such initiatives need.