Maintaining a Therapeutic Focus and Sharing Responsibility for Student Success

Abstract

Although speech-language pathologists in the schools are being encouraged to provide services more inclusively, they often express concern that they are becoming like classroom teachers and are “watering down” the therapy they should be providing to students on their caseloads. This article explores these concerns and offers solutions to the role confusion and dissatisfaction of many speech-language pathologists who provide in-classroom speech-language services. Two key principles are offered to preserve the speech-language pathologist’s role identity and the integrity of services provided: maintaining a therapeutic focus and sharing the responsibility for student success.