Language Underpinnings and Curriculum Standards for Students Who Struggle: Important Work for New York SLPsMarch 15, 2013The Department of Communication Disorders and Sciences is sponsoring an all day 6 hour CEU workshop that focuses on Response to Intervention (RTI) and how Curriculum standards relate to the school based Speech Language Pathologist. Educators in schools are working hard to assist students to achieve high academic standards. They are under tremendous pressure to meet the demands of federal and state requirements, especially now with the escalating curriculum demands of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) adopted by New York. The only way to facilitate academic achievement for all students is for educators to share the responsibility for student success. In this light, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are called upon to play important roles in promoting academic achievement, especially of students with language impairment and those without impairments who struggle with language and literacy. Further, many school districts are in the throes of implementing these rigorous curriculum standards within the context of Response to Intervention (RTI) approaches. Therefore, SLPs need to be aware of CCSS as well as RTI constructs, as well as ways to integrate a focus on the two frameworks. In this workshop SLPs will learn how to use the CCSS as context for addressing language underpinnings with learners who struggle across RTI tiers. Special attention will be paid to differentiating roles of SLPs with curriculum in light of their the unique skill set. Techniques for teaching and assessing underpinnings will be highlighted. Barbara J. Ehren, EdD, CCC-SLP is a professor and chair of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Central Florida, as well as director of a doctoral program that focuses on language and literacy for learners who struggle. Prior to this position, she was a research scientist with the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning (KUCRL), where her emphasis was on strategic reading for adolescents, collaboration among professionals in schools, and school-wide literacy initiatives in secondary schools, including response to intervention (RTI). She was awarded the Strategic Intervention Model (SIM) leadership award by KUCRL. Her experience includes many years in public schools as a speech-language pathologist, teacher, and district administrator. She is an ASHA Fellow, Fellow of the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities and has served on several key ASHA committees, including the Ad Hoc Committee on Reading and Writing, and is currently chair of the ASHA Working Group on the Roles of Speech-Language Pathologists in Schools formerly the Ad Hoc Committee. She serves on several other committees and editorial boards, including the Advisory Board of the RTI Action Network and the International Reading Association Commission on RTI. Dr. Ehren was awarded the Clinical Career Achievement Award by the Florida Language, Speech and Hearing Association and is a Board Recognized Specialist in Child Language. She is the author of many publications on language and literacy, as well as school practice. She has a special interest in assisting school systems to build capacity at the school level for more effective literacy programs for diverse learners. A recurrent theme of her work is shared responsibility for literacy acquisition. She is a frequent consultant to states, school districts, and professional associations on literacy related issues. Her current research activities revolve around strategic reading with adolescents. Speaker Disclosures: |
