Communicative Participation for Children With Speech, Language and Communication Needs: Components and Factors Influencing Success, 2021-2022

The coding matrix contains the views of young people with speech language and communication needs (SLCN), parents, speech and language therapists and teachers on the definition of communicative participation proposed by Eadie and colleagues in Eadie, T. L., Yorkston, K. M., Klasner, E. R., Dudgeon, B. J., Deitz, J. C., Baylor, C. R., Miller, R. M., & Amtmann, D. (2006). Measuring communicative participation: a review of self-report instruments in speech-language pathology. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 15(4), 307–320. The definition was split into constituent phrases. Respondents discussed the fit of the definition with the communicative participation of children and young people with SLCN.

One child in ten has persistent difficulties producing speech sounds, understanding or using language, or following the social rules of conversation. These children often have extra help at school from teachers and from health professionals, such as speech and language therapists and psychologists. Children, their families and the professionals supporting them agree that the most important result of any input is that children communicate more easily and independently and use their communication skills to take part in activities at home, school and in their communities. But, children's progress is often measured by the sounds they say and the language they use and. This project brought together children and young people with speech and language difficulties, parents, researchers, and practitioners from education and health to explore their views on children's successful everyday communication and how that success should be measured. It aimed to build a sustainable network of individuals interested in this aspect of intervention impact, and to raise broader awareness of communicative participation as a key outcome. Virtual meetings of the network steering group were held monthly and focused on: 1. Building a robust and sustainable network. 2. Defining what successful daily communication entails for and validating that definition with key stakeholder groups. 3. Creating a website to house information on tools, interventions and expertise on children's communication skills in the UK and Ireland. 4. Identifying priorities for research to promote the development and evaluation of children's success in daily communication. Members of the network plan future research collaborations.