News!

I got news this week that a group of therapists/administrators will be gathering to discuss high caseloads in my IU. This was a brainstorm at one point, now it seems like it will come to fruition!   I will be a part of this group!  What a wonderful collaboration opportunity and a way to get interest in participating in my dissertation which is highly related to this topic.  Let's see what we come up with on how to solve this issue of high caseload numbers for speech pathologists in PA!

My Dissertation Research Problem (initial working draft)

Topic- Reduction /Management of School Speech Language Pathology Caseloads

Research Problem-  Speech Language Pathology caseloads in IU#13 districts continue to be heavy despite the use of interventions to reduce them.

Justification-  In the past couple weeks I was asked by my special education director  to have some discussions with other professionals in the IU who have concerns about high caseloads for SLP's.  This group of people has not yet been identified, nor have they decided to put together an action group, but there was a need identified.  I decided that this would be a good topic for a dissertation and approached her about the possibility.  This research question is the result of that discussion. 

I did a limited literature review to determine if there were journal articles justifying there is a need not just in our districts, but nationwide.  The following are a start...

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2010).  Schools survey report: speech language

    pathology caseload characteristics trends 1995-2010.  Available from www.asha.org

Dowden, P., Alarcon, N., Vollan, T., Cumley, G.D., Kuehn, C. M. & Amtmann, D. (2006).  Survey

    of speech language pathology caseloads in Washington state schools: implications and strategies for

    action.  Language, Speech & Hearing Services in Schools, 37, 104-117.

Edgar, D. L. & Rosa-Lugo, L. I. (2007).  The critical shortage of speech-language pathologists in the

     public school setting: features of work environment that affect recruitment and retention.  Language

    Speech & Hearing Services in Schools, 38, 13-46.

Giangreco, M. F., Prelock, P. A., & Turnbull, R. H. (2010).  An issue hiding in plain sight: when are

    speech language pathologists special educators rather than related service providers?  Language,

    Speech & Hearing Services in Schools, 41, 531-538.

Hutchins, T. L., Howard, M., Prelock, P. A. & Berlin, G. (2010).  Retention of school-based speech

    language pathologists: relationships among caseload size, workload satisfaction, job satisfaction and 

    best practice.  Communication Disorders Quarterly, 31(3), 139-154.

Katz, L. A., Maag, A., Fallon, K. A., Blenkarn, K., & Smith, M. K. (2010).  What makes a caseload

    (un)manageable?  school-based speech-language pathologists speak.  Language, Speech & Hearing

     Services in Schools, 41, 139-151.

Deficiencies Found in the Evidence

     When reviewing the literature in my mini literature review, I discovered five studies that reported deficiencies in the literature surrounding my research problem.  Dowden et. al. (2006) reported research is needed on efficiency of caseload management strategies in schools.  Edgar et. al. (2007) stated that research is needed to find the best ways to facilitate successful recruitment of SLP's (caseload being one of the variable against retention).  Hutchins et. al. (2010) implied that further exploration of relationships of retention of SLP's including job satisfaction, caseload size, workload satisfaction and best practice be investigated further.  Giangreco et. al. (2010) reported that there is a need for more intra and interdisciplinary studies about the roles of SLP's as special educators and as related service providers.  Last, Katz et. al. (2010) reported the need to determine how SLP's working in schools using the Response To Intervention (RTI) program are using the model and managing their caseloads.

Welcome to my blog!

I am still in the process of refining my research problem and questions, so bear with me!  I am currently seeking IRB approval to move ahead with my research question for real.  I will post more later when everything is ironed out.  In the mean time, this blog was requested by my Methods of Inquiry class to allow us to talk to others about our experiences as we go through the dissertation process, so join me through this journey.  Enjoy the ride!~  H. Harnly, MS/CCC-SLP