Schwartz, H., & Drager, K.D.R. (2008).  Training and knowlege in autism among speech-language pathologists:  A survey.  Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in the Schools, 39, 66-77.

• communication is a diagnostic criterion for autism - SLPs should be aware of the needs of children on the spectrum
• ASHA - series of guidelines/competencies of SLPs serving children with autism
  • diagnosis
  • assessment
  • treatment
    • central to screening, diagnosis and intervention
    • Child Neurology Society and American Neurology Society concur
• 82.8% of SLPs in the school serve children with autism and PDD
  • important to be competent in service delivery
  • must develop the skills necessary to work with individuals with autism
• body of literature looking at other populations - SLPs tend to feel underprepared
• 1987 - Stone - survey of SLPs and autism specialists (nonspecific as to who they were)
  • SLPs considered autism to be an emotional disorder
    • unable to show emotion
    • special talents
    • temporary disability in childhood
• autism is no longer a low-incidence disorder
  • Cascella and Coella (2004) - survey of SLPs in Connecticut
    • need more professional training
    • possible sampling bias
• more national assessment needed
• Research questions
• SLP knowlege of autism
  • education and clinical training
  • confidence to work with kids and families with ASD
• Method
  • original survey completed
    • part I - background information - experience
    • part II - clinical and educational training - undergraduate and graduate as well as practica
    • part III - characteristics of autism - characteristics, myths, and etiology of autism
    • part IV - competency in autism - were SLPs confident in their ability to provide appropriate services?
      • also - would autism specialists be helpful and used as a resource?
  • participants recruited through two methods
    • ASHA listserv
    • email mailing list to ASHA membership directory
  • responses were put into a spreadsheet
  • only means were analyzed - no other statistics done on the sample
• Results
  • 67 participants from 33 states
    • 94% Master's degree - rest a doc
    • 10.4% degree 1970-1979
    • 26.9% degree 1980-1989
    • 35.8% degress 1990-1999
    • 26.9% 2000-2004
      • majority - r/c highest degree in the past 15 years
      • years spent in school related to how long they had had their degree
    • worked in many different settings 43% worked in more than 1 setting
  • all participants - had worked with at least one child with autism
  • caseloads varied between 0 and more than 16 students. 28.4% worked with 4-6 students with autism
  • 29% had worked with more than 30 students with autism across their career
  • Clinical and Educational Training
    • 54 different programs in 27 states
    • 55% - undergrad and grad from the same place
      • undergrad - none had courses that specifically addressed autism
      • 56.7% - one to two courses that included autism
        • 68% were general speech pathology of language disorders course (mandatory courses)
        • usually covered one week's worth of autism
      • 37.3%  - no coursework at all
      • graduate work - 2 responded they had course in autism
        • number of people who responded that they had no coursework in autism decreased to 22.4%
        • 78.3% said they had autism covered somewhere in their coursework
    • 55% - no practicum experience with children with autism
    • 50% - 2-5 clients with autism
  • Characteristics of autism
    • 21% of participants said that impairment in social interaction is not necessary for a diagnosis of autism
    • 50% of participants said that stereotyped behaviors were also not necessary
    • all but 1 knew that SIB was not a diagnostic criterion
    • appeared have more accurate knowledge of myths and characteristics
      • knew that there were more boys than girls
      • some kids have sensitivity to pain stimuli
      • uneven gross and fine motor development
      • disagreed that kids with autism never make eye contact
    • 43% manifested between 18-24 months
    • 74% manifested within the first two years of life
      • COULD BE WORDED INCONSISTENTLY?  SOUNDS LIKE A TRICK QUESTION.
    • seem to strongly disagree that autism is an emotional disorder
    • split on whether autism was a developmental disorder
    • disagreed on the "myths about autism" - some of the facts seemed to be myths, too?
  • Competency in autism
    • 25.3% did not feel competent to determine goals and interventions
    • 32.8% were not comfortable talking with parents about autism
    • 73.1% felt that they were well trained to work with parents and kids with autism
    • 91% felt they could have benefitted from more coursework
    • 85% felt that they could use an autism specialist if it were available
• Discussion
  • more encouraging than those of Stone
    • still a lot of confusion as to what autism is
    • SLPs seem to feel a lot more confident than expected
    • little time spent in undergraduate and graduate training for the majority of the participants
    • 37% received their training before the DSM IV criterion were released
  • we should be taking a cue from the educational field
    • Schuermann, Webber, Boutout, & Goodwin, 2003
    • Simpson, 2004
    • work with the ASHA guidelines to provide more specialized training and competency
• Future directions
  • in general there is a shortage of autism providers
  • coursework and practica should be available
  • what about post-professional training and inservice (e.g., continuing education)
• Limitations of the current study
  • small N size might indicate a sample bias
    • the experience of the respondents and the responses that they gave make this even more of a concern.  If these are the people interested in autism....
  • survey did not address postgraduate training
  • survey was not validated
  • could have been talking about autism as ASD as opposed to autism 299.0