Childhood trauma can impact a student in a number of ways, including affecting their language development. As a school-based speech-language pathologist (SLP), you may find yourself working with children who have adverse childhood experiences. Our latest Special Collection combines recent and trending articles from ASHA Journals with resources from around ASHA to help school-based SLPs provide trauma-informed care.
Elevate Your Trauma-Informed Care and Competence
The collection opens with two forums published in the last year. The “Addressing Childhood Trauma and Maltreatment Through the Lens of the ICF” Forum1 highlights the effects of trauma on language development and how to tailor interventions to meet the needs of children who have experienced trauma.
“Forum on Trauma” provides resources for clinicians looking to expand their trauma-informed practices. The articles focus on helping clinicians develop trauma-informed competence and provide services that are responsive to all children, regardless of their background.
Additional articles in the Special Collection touch on unique topics such as vocal biomarkers of childhood trauma and traumatic stress in children with craniofacial conditions. Together, these articles can help clinicians of all experience levels provide effective trauma-informed care in schools.
Personal Experiences From Clinicians
Two videos from Lesley E. Kokotek and Carol Westby, guest editors of the ICF forum, share personal experiences from clinicians. The first video highlights the forum’s origins and goals. In the second video, Kokotek discusses her personal connections to the topic and the SLP’s role in providing these children with care, protection, and opportunity.
The collection also contains a link to an ASHA Voices episode focused on how tragedy led a school-based SLP to become an advocate for trauma-informed care. Four articles from The ASHA Leader highlight personal stories from SLPs on the importance of trauma-informed care in the classroom.
Additional Resources From ASHA
ASHA has a number of webpages sharing resources on trauma-informed care and promoting inclusive, safe school environments. You can also watch the recording of a virtual town hall where experts answered questions from ASHA members on discussing trauma-informed care with clients, patients, and students.
Finally, we link to three continuing education courses and webinars. These resources can help you learn more about trauma-informed care while earning ASHA continuing education units (CEUs).
We hope that the resources in this Special Collection can inspire you and strengthen your trauma-informed practice in the schools! By providing trauma-informed care, you’re providing safe environments where these children can learn to communicate more effectively with those around them.
1ICF = International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health.
