Inklusion und Sprachtherapie/Logopädie/Sprachheilpädagogik in Deutschland.

Background: In the course of implementing the UN CRPDquestions arise as to which services for children with special language and communication needs currently exist, and what systemic changes may be necessary. Objectives: The research project will first examine the status quo of services in schools for children and adolescents with special language and communication needs, as well as the working conditions of health care professionals. The survey will later be repeated in order to document future developments. For international comparison, the survey will be conducted in different countries. This paper focuses on results from Germany. Methodology: The main question is: What professional services for children and young people with special language and communication needs exist i in schools of participating countries? The Method of choice is a quantitative and qualitative online survey with repetitive measurement times. The three existing professional groups in Germany are compared: academic and college level speech therapists, and special education teachers specialized on language and communication needs. Results: The results for Germany show great similarity of the two speech therapists groups, but differences between these two groups and the special education teachers specialized on language and communication needs. Therapists tend to work with individual mainstream students outside of the school environment, with treatment rarely linked with the curriculum. Only 15.9 % of the therapists also work in schools, and only 8.8 % in the classroom. Special education teachers specialized on language and communication needs inherently provide group- and classroom-based intervention, particularly for children with special education needs. 76.3 % of these teachers offer speech therapy, linked mostly with the lessons. Almost all work directly in the classroom (92.4 %). Their educational methods show greater diversity than those of speech therapists. Conclusions: In the context of inclusion, due to their diversity, both speech therapists and special education teachers specialized on speech language impairments, will contribute as systemic resources with specific strengths to a functioning educational system in Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]