McCormack, J.M. and Verdon, S.E. (2015) Mapping speech pathology services to developmentally vulnerable and at-risk communities using the Australian Early Development Census. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 17 (3). 273 - 286. ISSN 1754-9515
Abstract
Purpose: The Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) is a population-based measure of children's development across five domains in the first year of formal schooling. In this study, the AEDC data from two domains (Language and Cognitive Skills and Communication Skills and General Knowledge) were used to explore the extent and distribution of vulnerability in communication skills among children in Australian communities. Speech Pathology Australia (SPA) membership data were then used to explore the accessibility of services within those communities.
Method: The 2012 AEDC data were accessed for 289,973 children, living in 577 communities across Australia. The number of children identified as "at risk" (10-25<sup>th</sup> percentile) or developmentally "vulnerable" (< 10<sup>th</sup> percentile) in each of the domains was calculated, then the location of communities with high proportions (> 20%) of these children was determined. These data were mapped against the location of paediatric speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to identify the number of communities with little to no access to speech-language pathology services.
Result: Across Australia, there were 47,636 children (17.4%) identified as developmentally vulnerable/at risk in Language and Cognitive Skills and 69,153 children (25.3%) in Communication Skills and General Knowledge. There were 27 communities with > 20% of children identified as developmentally vulnerable/at risk in Language and Cognition in their first year of formal schooling. Of those, none had access to speech-language pathology services, according to current SPA membership data. There were also 27 local government areas with > 20% of children identified as developmentally vulnerable/at risk in the Communication Skills and General Knowledge domain. Of these, three had access to SLP(s) and these were in regional/metropolitan areas.
Conclusion: The AEDC provides a means of identifying communities where children are performing well and communities which may benefit from population-based prevention or intervention. Given the number of communities within Australia without access to SLPs, there is a need to reconsider how such population-based services could be delivered, particularly in the communities with higher levels of vulnerability in communication development.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2015 The Speech Pathology Association of Australia Limited. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | School-age children; language development; service delivery; speech-language pathology |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > Department of Human Communication Sciences (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 04 Nov 2015 16:10 |
Last Modified: | 25 Apr 2016 18:21 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/17549507.2015.1034175 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Taylor & Francis |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.3109/17549507.2015.1034175 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:91500 |