Speech Language Therapy as a Global Practice

Speech Language Therapy as a Global Practice focuses on the necessary skills and considerations needed to be a culturally responsive clinician in a multicultural and multilingual world.

The book highlights current issues of global practice and advocates for appropriate ways to engage with global communities. It positions culture, context and collaboration as integral and intertwined components of speech language therapy work. Drawing on examples of successful and ongoing collaborative global speech language therapy partnerships, chapters cover a breadth of topics including social justice, translanguaging and colourism and include a series of reflective questions. Authors grapple with ways to challenge the status quo and consider alternative ways of being, knowing and doing, including the use of technology and innovation in global practice. Overall, this collection highlights the importance of creating space for discussion as the profession of speech language therapy is now practiced in more countries than ever before.

This much needed book will be essential reading for students and practising speech language therapists, particularly those interested in cultural competence, meaningful reflection and ethical practice. It will also be of interest to allied health professionals working with individuals experiencing communication disability.

Chisomo Selemani is an Associate Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Baldwin Wallace University. Her clinical and research interests include literacy enrichment in multicultural and multilingual environments, the utilization of international education as a training mechanism in cultivating culturally responsive practitioners, and international telepractice. She is the coordinator of the award-winning Baldwin Wallace University in Zambia initiative.

Bea Staley is an adjunct Associate Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Society at Charles Darwin University. Bea is a speech language pathologist with decades of paediatric experience who has lived and worked in the United States, Kenya, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands and Australia. Bea is interested in issues of equity, social justice, and innovation in speech language pathology service provision, and in the overlap between the health and education disciplines.

Marise Fernandes has spent over 30 years living and working as a Speech and Language Therapist and educator in the United Kingdom, Fiji, Philippines, India, Uganda and the USA. Her focus is on the development of socially just support for people experiencing communication difficulty in Majority World contexts. Marise’s emphasis is on the need for the employment of global public health theory and approaches, individual and systems capacity strengthening, alternative/decolonised approaches to service delivery, and the necessity of interdisciplinary education and collaboration.