Methodology of Counceling in Speech-Language Pathology

Abstract

Counseling is one of the main directions in the activities of the professional profile of the speech and language therapist, along with the diagnosis and treatment of communication disorders. As a priority of the practice it is stated in documents of the International Association of Speech Sciences and Disorders (IALP), American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA), European Speech and Language Therapy Association (ESLA), Union of Private Practice Speech Language Therapists (UPPSLT), Bulgarian National Association of Logopedists (BNAL). While the methodology of speech pathology counseling has long been the subject of theoretical justifications in Western European and American scientific literature, in our country this is still an undeveloped field of science and practice. The purpose of the paper is to outline the methodological foundations of speech pathology counseling and to systematize its definition, goals, objectives and principles. The current views on the scope of speech pathology counseling and the theoretical statements on which its principles are based are analyzed. The paper is provoked by the need to develop guidelines for the Bulgarian speech and language therapy practice in providing counseling services. Its main conclusions can be used as a starting point in structuring a plan for counseling work with various communication disorders.