1326L - Children Living in Poverty: Culture, Relationships and Clinical Practice

This session is developed by, and presenters invited by, Leadership and Professional Issues. Children living in poverty bring more than communication differences and disorders to their therapy sessions. Different types of poverty have differential effects on children’s preparation for school, their literacy skills development, and their progress in speech and language therapy. There is evidence that poverty may affect children’s brain development. To help students acquire mainstream speech and language skills speech-language pathologists must understand the life issues related to poverty and how they affect students. This enables planning and implementation of successful assessments and interventions to achieve desired outcomes. This session will explore the cultural realities that influence communication development and school readiness in children living in poverty. Information on how to develop evidence-based assessment and intervention strategies for successful therapy outcomes is presented.