Communication science within education for logopedics/speech and language therapy in europe: the state of the art

The paper presents the main issues from the working group on on Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) within the SOCRATES/ ERASMUS Thematic Network "Speech Communication Science". SLT is today a profession which has undergone a dramatic evolution in recent decades, as developments in clinical skills have been integrated with an increasingly high level of academic and research expertise. The short term aim of the working group has therefore been to evaluate current practice in education in communication science for speech and language therapists throughout Europe. A questionnaire was designed with the aim of eliciting some factual information about speech commmunication science education for SLT, as well as attitudes about the role of this area within the broader context of SLT education. Responses were received from institutions representing eight countries, but the response rate has so far been very poor. This has reinforced the aim of developing internet connections, both within the profession and as an interface with other related disciplines. A web site, developed and supported at Lund University, provides basic information about all SLT education courses within Europe. The working group has also decided to adopt a new strategy for the second year’s work within the Network. Data will be collected and summerized in a multilingual style through the selection of a responsible persons from each European country. There will be a report of these activities in the beginning of January 1998.