Speech Pathology – Inherent Requirements

Behaviour that adapts to changing situations sufficiently to maintain safe and complete patient care, and instigates self-care consistent with professional expectations.

Student demonstrates behavioural stability to work constructively in a diverse and changing academic and clinical environment.

Justification of inherent requirement:

Behavioural adaptation is required to manage personal emotional responses as an individual and within teams in changing and unpredictable environments, including emergency situations and times of human distress. Students will also be required to adapt their behaviour appropriately during times of additional stressors in their own lives, whether this adaptation involves ways of continuing to engage with their role or withdrawing for self-care for a period.

Adjustments must support stable, effective and professional behaviour in both academic and clinical settings.

Exemplars:

• Be receptive and respond appropriately to constructive feedback.
• Manage own emotions and behaviour effectively when dealing with changing responses of individuals and families in the clinical setting.
• Maintain respectful communication practices in times of increased stressors or workloads.
• Adjust to changing circumstances in a way that allows self-care while maintaining a professional-level focus on the client, family, caregivers and work colleagues.

Knowledge acquisition, utilisation and retention spanning and drawing together all coursework subjects. Cognitive skills for focus, memory, attention to detail, theoretical deliberation, and practical functioning sufficient to meet patient care needs

Student demonstrates:

• Capacity to locate appropriate and relevant information.
• Ability to process information relevant to practice.
• Ability to integrate and implement knowledge in practice .

Justification of inherent requirement:

Understanding and retention of coursework information and the effective processing of this information, and its application is required for appropriate, safe and effective delivery of care.

Adjustments must ensure that a clear demonstration of knowledge and cognitive skills is not compromised or impeded.

Exemplars:

• Make safe and appropriate client care decisions from retained knowledge
• Assess the application of policy and procedures in the context of clinical situations
• Research and use an evidence based framework to make sound decisions between clinical management options
• Analyse and find solutions for disordered speech and language
• Notice and respond effectively to critical changes in instructions, speech and observable behaviour

High level English language and literacy skills that allow the creation and interpretation of clear meaning for patient care through a range of symbols and English language text.

Student demonstrates the ability to:

• acquire information and to accurately convey messages.
• comprehend a range of literature and information construct clear written communication appropriate to the circumstances.

Justification of inherent requirement:

Patient care information can be delivered by many different modes and competent language and literacy skills for these are essential to provide appropriate, safe and effective delivery of Speech Pathology assessment and intervention.

Adjustments to address literacy issues must demonstrate a capacity to effectively acquire, comprehend, apply and communicate accurate information .

Exemplars:

• Comprehend, summarise and reference a range of literature in accordance with appropriate academic conventions in written assignments.
• Appraise and interact with clients with receptive and expressive language disorders.
• Interpret clinical pictographs, diagrams and graphs accurately.
• Produce accurate, concise and clear speech pathology documentation which meets legal requirements.

Accurate processing and reasoning with numbers and numerical concepts for patient care decisions.

Student interprets and correctly applies data, measurements and numerical criteria.

Justification of inherent requirement:

Competent reasoning and reliable accuracy with numerical concepts are essential for safe and effective care/practice.

Adjustments must demonstrate a capacity to interpret and apply concepts and processes appropriately in a timely, accurate and effective manner.

Exemplars:

• Calculate and record accurate assessment results (e.g. count syllables stuttered).
• Accurately read and interpret percentages, tabulated data and functional goals for patients in a rehabilitation setting.

Ability to interact with visual inputs sufficiently to manage learning environments and to meet patient care needs in the context of Speech Pathology Scope of Practice.

Student demonstrates sufficient visual acuity to function within the scope of practice of Speech Pathology.

Justification of inherent requirement:

Elements in the working and learning environment are delivered by visual means, and the ability to learn from or respond to these inputs is required to provide safe and effective speech pathology practice.

Adjustments must address the need to perform a range of tasks involved in clinical and community practice. Any strategies to address the effects of vision impairment must be effective, consistent and not compromise assessment, intervention or safety.

Exemplars:

• Detect visual changes in a client’s appearance, behaviour and facial expressions (e.g. identify asymmetrical facial features, observe eye contact).
• Monitor the broader environment for own and client safety.
• Interpret information from spectrograms and audiograms .

Ability to interact with auditory inputs sufficiently to manage learning environments and to meet patient care needs in the context of Speech Pathology scope of practice.

Student demonstrates sufficient auditory acuity to function within the scope of practice of Speech Pathology.

Justification of inherent requirement:

Elements in the learning and working environments are delivered by auditory means, and the ability to learn from or respond to these inputs is required to provide safe and effective practice.

Adjustments must address the need to perform the full range of tasks involved in clinical practice. Any strategies to address the effects of the hearing impairment must be effective, consistent and not compromise treatment or safety.

Exemplars:

• Judge appropriateness of audio-visual resources that support clinical interactions with clients.
• Detect and discriminate changes in client speech including speech sounds, rate, volume, pitch, and voice quality.

Ability to respond to tactile input and provide appropriate tactile interaction sufficient to meet patient care needs.

Adequate tactile ability is involved in providing safe and effective Speech Pathology Practice for clients across the lifespan with speech, language, voice, fluency, hearing or swallowing disorders.

Justification of inherent requirement:

Elements in the working environment are detected and measured by tactile means, and the ability to learn from or respond to these inputs is required to provide safe and effective practice. The appropriate use of touch as a part of effective patient care is also required.

Adjustments must address the need to perform a range of tasks involved in clinical and community practice. Any strategies to address the effects of tactile impairment must be effective, consistent and not compromise assessment, intervention or safety.

Exemplars:

• Palpation to evaluate oro-motor function or swallowing during a clinical examination.
• Apply appropriate pressure to use a tongue depressor during an oro-motor examination.

Strength, range of motion, coordination and mobility sufficient to meet patient care needs.

Student demonstrates the ability to perform motor skills and mobility to function within the Speech Pathology scope of practice.

Justification of inherent requirement:

A wide range of physical patient care actions in a time-constrained environment is required to provide safe and effective practice.

Adjustments must facilitate functional effectiveness, safety of self and others and a capacity to provide appropriate assessment and intervention.

Exemplars:

• Move readily around clients, between work areas and clients, and around varying surfaces and levels, to complete tasks within shift timeframes.
• Safely retrieve, move and utilise stock and equipment from reasonable storage positions at a range of heights.
• Independently transport and manipulate instruments, materials and equipment.

Manual dexterity and fine motor skills sufficient to meet patient care needs.

Student demonstrates the ability to use fine motor skills to provide safe and effective care.

Justification of inherent requirement:

A wide range of fine-motor manual tasks in a time-constrained environment are required to provide safe and effective practice.

Adjustments must facilitate functional effectiveness, safety to self and others and a capacity to provide appropriate Speech Pathology services.

Exemplars:

• Manipulate small instruments including tongue depressor, otoscope and small cutlery in a time constrained environment (e.g. when testing children).
• Contribute to both handwritten and electronic medical records.
• Use a small light and tongue depressor simultaneously to view the tongue and palate.

Sustained physical, cognitive and psychosocial performance sufficient to provide safe and complete patient care in a time-constrained environment.

Student demonstrates:

• Consistent and sustained level of physical energy to complete a specific task in a timely manner and over time.
• The ability to perform repetitive activities with a level of concentration that ensures the activity is completed appropriately.
• The capacity to maintain consistency and quality of performance throughout the designated period of duty.

Justification of inherent requirement:

A range of complex, multi-component or extended patient care tasks carried out over a period of time and in a time-constrained environments is required to provide safe and effective practice.

Adjustments must ensure that performance is consistent and sustained over a given period.

Exemplars:

• Sustain study practices and clinical performance to sufficiently engage with the learning workload for a study period, and for the degree, within a constrained timeframe.
• Sustain a working posture, associated manual tasks, cognitive engagement, performance level and emotional control for the full duration of a client care process, e.g. complete a paediatric assessment in a single session.
• Sustain performance for durations that are manageable within overall shift-planning for client care.

Verbal communication in English to a standard that allows fluid, clear, and comprehensible two-way discussions for patient care, tailored to the local English-speaking audiences.

Student demonstrates the ability to:

• understand and respond to verbal communication accurately.
• appropriately and in a timely manner.
• provide clear instructions in the context of the situation.
• provide clear and timely feedback and reporting.

Justification of inherent requirement:

Effective verbal communication, in English, with patients, university and clinical staff is required for effective learning and to provide safe and effective delivery of care/practice.

Adjustments for impaired verbal communication must address effectiveness, timeliness, clarity and accuracy issues to ensure effective working.

Exemplars:

• Understand and respond to verbal communication accurately and appropriately in a time-constrained environment.
• Model, describe, and produce accurate verbal communication including speech, voice, and language.
• Build rapport with a client to encourage optimal outcome from therapy.
• Present information formally to, and engage in developing discussions with, a wider audience, including clinical presentations, case conferences and handovers.

Non-verbal communication skills that enable respectful communication with others to meet patient care needs.

Student demonstrates:

• The capacity to recognise, interpret and respond appropriately to behavioural cues.
• Consistent and appropriate awareness of own behaviours.
• Sensitivity to individual differences.

Justification of inherent requirement:

The ability to recognise, interpret and respond to non-verbal cues, to communicate with congruent and respectful non-verbal behaviour, and to be sensitive to individual and/or cultural variations in non-verbal communication is essential for safe and effective care.

Adjustments must enable the recognition, initiation of or appropriate response to effective non-verbal communication in a timely and appropriate manner.

Exemplars:

• Perceive nonverbal communication from others including facial cues or changes in appearance.
• Deliver information to a distressed client incorporating non-verbal behaviour that matches the nature of the information.

Ability to produce English text to a standard that provides clear and professional-level communication for patient care, with language usage and style tailored to the targeted recipients.

Student demonstrates capacity to construct coherent written communication appropriate to the circumstances.

Justification of inherent requirement:

Effective communication in English text is required to demonstrate applied skills in academic writing conventions and in sustained and organised academic argument and provide safe and effective delivery of care/practice.

Adjustments must meet necessary standards of clarity, accuracy and accessibility to ensure effective recording and transmission of information in both academic and clinical settings.

Exemplars:

• Communicate complex academic and clinical perspectives in writing.
• Summarise and appropriately reference a range of literature in written assignments, including speech pathology reports that meet professional standards.
• Use precise and appropriate language to contribute to both handwritten and electronic client records in a time-constrained environment.