Filling the Gap: Development of Best Practice Guidelines to Support Speech-Language Pathologists Working with Autistic Clients

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are among the most important clinicians involved in providing assessment and therapy services for autistic children. Yet, a study found that 60% of graduate students in speech-language pathology only had one week of coursework that focused on autism. Our project aims to address this gap, by working with SLPs working in the community to create a best-practice-guidelines web-based tool SLPs can use to supplement their learning and inform their decision-making when assessing and providing support for autistic individuals. We used three phases to incorporate research and expert opinions to answer the question “What are considered best-practices when providing SLP services to autistic clients?”. In Phase 1, 48 documents were reviewed and main themes were extracted to create a policy-informed framework. In Phase 2, a targeted literature review of 134 documents was conducted for the main themes extracted in Phase 2. In Phase 3, 5 interviews were conducted with community SLPs from the Ontario Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists’ Autism Interest Group. An additional 53 documents were reviewed based on feedback from the clinicians. The multi-phase review yielded four major themes. SLPs’ assessment and intervention practices should be inclusive, diversified, collaborative and individualized. Clinical recommendations aligned with each theme are provided within the best-practice guidelines document. Next steps for the web-based tool include the development of a knowledge hub and tools to support dissemination and implementation and the examination of impact on client outcomes.