Teaching Active Listening Skills to Pre-Service SLPs — Publication

Thistle, J. & McNaughton, D. (Nov. 2014).   Teaching Active Listening Skills to Pre-Service Speech-Language Pathologists: A First Step in Supporting Collaboration with Parents of Young Children who Require AAC.   Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools. doi:10.1044/2014_LSHSS-14-0001
This study examined the effect of instruction in an active listening strategy on the communication skills of pre-service speech-language pathologists (SLP).  Participants were video-taped during a simulated parent meeting before and after the strategy instruction. Simulated parent meetings addressed issues parents of children who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) may face.  Social validity measures were gathered from the participants and from parents of children who use AAC.
Pre- and post-instruction use of the active listening strategy was scored and compared with statistically significant results. Post-instruction scores were significantly higher than pre-instruction scores, providing evidence of the effectiveness of the instruction. Furthermore, participants and parents of children who use AAC described the post-instruction interactions more positively than the pre-instruction interactions, suggesting that the pre-service SLPs benefited from the instruction.
In conclusion, the current study provides evidence of the effectiveness of strategy instruction in active listening skills that may be incorporated into SLP preparation programs.
More information:
Teaching Active Listening to Pre-service Speech Language Pathologists — Presentation at ISAAC 2012