Language matters: Describing “vulnerable” children and youth in speech-language pathology: A critical interpretive synthesis

PURPOSE: is defined in speech-language pathology research. This critical interpretive synthesis aimed to identify and describe the terminology used specific to vulnerable children and youth and to critically examine the application of the terminology. METHOD: OVID Medline, CINAHL, EMBASE, and ERIC were searched. Covidence software was used to deduplicate, collate, and extract articles. Information about the population and terminology was extracted and analysed. The Coin Model of Privilege and Critical Allyship (Nixon, 2019) was applied to analyse aspects of identity, power, and oppression. RESULT: 58 articles were included and 15 terms relating to vulnerability were identified. Across articles, general statements were made relating to vulnerability without specifying reasoning for their inclusion of the term(s). Many articles used these terms to discuss actions needing to be taken to better serve populations, encouraging a 'call to action' to address vulnerability. CONCLUSION: A myriad of terminology has been implemented in the speech-language pathology literature on children and youth to refer to vulnerability and was applied inconsistently across and within sources. Researchers should consider the systemic inequities that create and maintain vulnerability through a critical lens and engage with these concepts in co-creation of research.