Self-reported knowledge on literacy of Israeli speech-language pathologists and special education teachers

The promotion of literacy skills is considered a cornerstone in the work of special education teachers (SETs) and speech-language pathologists (SLPs). The present study examined the self-reported literacy knowledge of Israeli 67 SETs and 72 SLPs along three dimensions: development, assessment and intervention, and emergent literacy. Participants in both groups completed an individually delivered Likert-based survey. The main findings indicated positive correlations between development, assessment, and emergent literacy in both groups and no differences in their knowledge about emergent literacy. In contrast, SLPs reported lack of knowledge in literacy development, assessment and intervention, compared to SETs. The relationship between language modalities - reading, writing, oral language – seems to determine the role of each profession in literacy. Furthermore, the perception of written language as a modality or as a style of discourse was not conclusive in both groups. Therefore, policy makers and training programs should continue to deepen the training of professional staffs, especially by encouraging and training SLPs to address written language. Furthermore, the demarcation of the field of linguistic literacy of each profession is not evident in practice and needs to be discussed and coordinated to achieve true and optimal inter-professional cooperation.