Speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) are prevalent among primary school aged children. Collaboration between speech-language therapists (SLTs) and teachers is beneficial for supporting children's communication skills. The aim of this study was to investigate the needs of both professional groups and their preferences for service delivery when working with mainstream, primary school aged children with SLCN. This study was undertaken within one education region in New South Wales, Australia, using a mixed-methods research design. In Phase 1, all teachers (schools n=156) and all SLTs (n=36) working within the region were invited to complete a questionnaire. Responses were obtained from 14 teachers and 6 SLTs. In Phase 2, a subsample of participants (n=4) contributed to a focus group. Within the study sample, minimal collaborative practice was reportedly occurring. Teachers and SLTs expressed a desire for increased training and knowledge and more collaborative practice. Teachers and SLTs also expressed frustration at perceived systemic inadequacies with regard to funding, personnel and resources. Findings from this study suggest that change to service delivery needs to be considered at an individual, interpersonal and organisational level to enable better outcomes for children with SLCN and increased support for their families and the professionals who work with them.3 Speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) are highly prevalent (Law et al., 2000a), affecting between 12% and 13% of primary and secondary school children (McLeod and McKinnon, 2007). Indeed, SLCN is reportedly more prevalent than other areas of learning need including behavioural/emotional difficulty, physical/medical disability, intellectual disability, hearing and visual impairment (McLeod and McKinnon, 2007).Children with SLCN often have difficulties with literacy, academic achievement and socialisation throughout their school years (Felsenfeld et al., 1994;McCormack et al., 2011).Persistent SLCN has been linked to reading difficulties (Catts, 1997), problems with literacy (Dockrell & Lindsay, 2000;Schuele, 2004), educational underachievement (Snowling et al., 2001, and behavioural difficulties (Botting and Conti-Ramsden, 2000). In addition, children with SLCN have been found to receive lower ratings of social acceptance than typically developing peers (Lindsay and Dockrell, 2002). Difficulties may be due to the impact of SLCN on children's ability to "access the curriculum and interact with their peers" (Dockrell and Lindsay, 2000: 25).In Australia, the presence of SLCN has been identified by teachers as the most important predictive factor for their recommendation that students required a high level of support in the classroom (McLeod and McKinnon, 2010). However, teachers have also reported that the majority of students identified as having SLCN receive no involvement from outside agencies (i.e. speech and language therapists or professionals other than teachers) (McLeod and McKinnon, 2007). Whilst early and timely ...

The World Health Organization's equity objective states that there should be equal access to healthcare for equal need, regardless of location. Disparities between health services and challenges to achieving the equity objective have been documented both in Australia and around the world. However, little is known about the extent to which this objective has been met in the field of speech-language pathology in Australia. This study used structured interviews with 74 speech-language pathologists working in rural areas of New South Wales and Victoria. The data obtained were used to develop maps to describe the availability of paediatric speech-language pathology services through consideration of location and frequency. The findings show that 98.60% of localities are unserviced at the ideal frequency of weekly or more often. It is important to note that these percentages include all localities in the represented rural areas of New South Wales and Victoria, some of which are minimally populated. The maps also depict travel and distance as barriers to the accessibility of services and have been used to suggest a critical maximum distance for paediatric outpatient speech-language pathology services in rural New South Wales and Victoria. From the data collected, 50 kilometres was suggested as the critical maximum distance past which consumers become unable or unwilling to travel to access weekly rural speech-language pathology services in rural New South Wales and Victoria. Thus, people living in almost one third of rural localities in rural New South Wales and Victoria lie beyond what is considered by rural speech-language pathologists to be a reasonable travel distance to weekly speech-language pathology services. These results highlight barriers to the achievement of equitable services in rural areas. The results also provide an essential foundation to inform policy development and assist health service planning to meet the needs of rural consumers.

It is acknowledged that a team approach to management of stroke is essential to improving patient outcomes. For the speech-language pathologist (SLP), communication and swallowing are key concerns in stroke rehabilitation. However, little is known about how services are provided following stroke in non-metropolitan areas. This paper presents findings from a study investigating issues related to the provision of dysphagia services in non-metropolitan New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria. The theme 'You've got to have an impact' was one of the major themes identified from analysis of data gathered via semi-structured interviews with eight SLPs. Participants in this study highlighted compliance with recommendations as a point of breakdown in the care of the patient with dysphagia. Underlying compliance were issues related to team functioning that could hold the key to improving outcomes. These findings have implications for non-metropolitan SLPs' ability to participate within a stroke team, for the way care for patients with dysphagia is conceptualized, and for improvement of compliance with SLP recommendations.

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Introduction: Allied health professionals require skills in interprofessional collaboration to work effectively to achieve person-centred health outcomes. Simulated interprofessional experiences provide students with unique opportunities in a supported environment to develop the necessary skills required for future practice.  Methods: An exploratory cross-sectional study using a qualitative survey design was employed to understand the attitudes and perceptions of allied health students after completing a university based, cross-campus, interprofessional simulation experience. Results: Over 200 students from four disciplines across three campuses of a regional Australian university were involved in a simulated experience that included a range of different interprofessional activities. Post-experience survey data from approximately 40% of students suggested that students perceived the experience had several positive learnings, including a better understanding of their own and other professions and the value of interprofessional collaboration and teamwork in client care; increased confidence, particularly in communicating with other healthcare professionals; and a broader understanding of healthcare, including eHealth. The results also highlighted the challenges of implementing a project across multiple disciplines and campuses and provided useful suggestions to further improve the experience.  Conclusion: The findings of this research suggest that carefully developed and authentic interprofessional experiences through simulation can provide allied health students with the opportunity to develop valuable skills in communication and teamwork as well as an emerging appreciation of the benefits of a coordinated team approach to person-centred healthcare.