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Background. Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) are less prepared for school than typically developing children and are therefore at risk for academic, social, and behavioral difficulties when they enter school. To support these children, early family-centered intervention is recommended. However, access to effective care remains an issue. Researchers have therefore suggested to reconsider the place of individual specialized intervention within a broader systemic response to intervention (RTI) framework. The aim of this study is to explore the opinions of professionals and managers working with children aged 0–5 with language difficulties on strategies to better support their school readiness. Specifically, it explores the facilitators and barriers to school readiness in children with DLD as well as strategies to better prepare them for school. Finally, it examines how an RTI model can provide a framework for services to preschool children with DLD. Methods. Two focus groups were conducted with 15 professionals and managers in the health care and school systems in the province of Quebec (Canada). The interviews were analyzed using an analytical questioning strategy. Results. Five key elements in service delivery were deemed essential in supporting school readiness of children with language difficulties: (1) maximizing community initiatives, (2) training and supporting partners, (3) supporting change in practice, (4) offering flexible services adapted to children's needs, and (5) implementing mechanisms to ensure service continuity and information transfer between agencies. These key elements are conceptualized within the RTI model. Conclusion. The five key elements identified in this study should be part of an intervention model in order to optimize service organization and better support school readiness for children with DLD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the feasibility of training school teaching assistants to provide the treatment, Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cueing to treat childhood apraxia of speech (CAS, also known as developmental verbal dyspraxia). The study used a single case experimental design across behaviours and a qualitative evaluation of teaching assistant experiences using interviews. Two student-teaching assistant dyads participated. One child was aged 6;2 (6 years 2 months) and the other 5;6 at the time of the study. Both participants had speech characteristics consistent with the features outlined in the 2007 Technical Report on CAS from the American Speech and Language Hearing Association (ASHA). These included lengthened and disrupted coarticulatory transitions between sounds and syllables, inappropriate prosody and inconsistent errors on consonants and vowels. Treatment outcomes were measured using visual analysis and calculations of total-change improvement rate difference (TC-IRD) and composite IRD (C-IRD) based on percent of phonemes correct. Fidelity to the treatment protocol was measured using a Fidelity Score. Visual analysis of both child participant's data showed an upward trend for all treatment and similar words and a flatter trajectory for control words. Both child participants had a TC-IRD score of 100% for all treatment words. One child also had a TC-IRD score of 100% for their similar words and a TC-score of 25% for their control words. The second child had a TC-score of 67% for similar and control words. Both teaching assistants had a Fidelity Score of over 90%. Both teaching assistants reported positive experiences in conducting the program. Training teaching assistants may be an effective means of providing treatment to children with CAS while they are at school. Training teaching assistants also helps to improve their capacity which may have positive implications in their interactions with other children with speech sound disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]