PhD project:
Interprofessional collaboration in ECEC focusing on young children with speech language and communication needs
The aim of this project is to investigate relations between interprofessional collaborative practice for young children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) and their families and child-related outcomes by using a mixed-methods research design.
The advent and growth of inclusive ECEC for young children has made interprofessional collaboration (IPC) between childcare and health support services an important theme. In order to realize social inclusion for all children, including those with speech, language and communication needs, IPC is regarded to be a crucial factor in the optimal support of these children and their families.
Prevention, early detection and early intervention concerning children with SLCN currently already take place within the ECEC context in some European countries, Northern America and Australia, partly due to the influence by The Salamanca Statement on Education for All (Unesco, 1994). Although national policies and legislation, health care systems, the structure and organization of Early Childhood Education and Care differ from country to country, professionals from different diciplines, including early childhood teachers, are involved in the facilitation of the speech, language and communication development of young children, have a signalizing task and are becoming more and more an integrated part of the provision of early intervention.
However, questions about associations between the organization of health service delivery and underlying philosophical and social-relational perspectives, the practical support for these children and their families and the associations with child and family and professional outcomes are still insufficiently answered. A cross-national study provides a unique context to study the design, context and consequences of IPC related to SLCN.