The Adverse Childhood Experiences Identification Gap in Speech Language Pathology

Children exposed to adverse childhood experiences, a variety of potentially traumatic events occurring within the first 18 years of life, are at increased risk for speech and language disorders. Due to the high prevalence of trauma and its lasting effects, it is almost guaranteed that children who are experiencing the ongoing effects from adversity will be found on practicing Speech Language Pathologists’ caseloads. This scoping review was designed to identify current screening practices of Speech Language Pathologists (SLP) in comparison to other professionals (e.g., allied health and education), as well as additional information related to screening procedures for SLPs. The researcher used the instructive work, Scoping Studies: Toward a Methodological Framework (Arksey & O'Malley, 2005), to search multiple databases resulting in screening articles’ titles, abstracts, and full text articles for inclusion in this review. A total of 45 studies were identified. The results of the scoping review indicated that screening practices are not currently used by speech language pathologists. However, a variety of other professions do screen for adverse experiences in childhood. When examining screening characteristics across professions, the most consistent results yielded a screener that was self-reported, a survey or interview, and was provided in any medium (e.g., paper, online, hybrid). This study provides preliminary evidence related to adverse childhood experience screenings across professions, specifically how to begin implementation of screening procedures by speech language pathologists. The results of this review point to the need for more research related to current informal screening practices of speech language pathologists. Advisors: Judy Harvey and Adrienne Pitt