COLLABORATION BETWEEN TEACHER AND SUPPORT SPECIALISTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPEECH AND SOCIAL SKILLS OF STUDENTS

Abstract

Speech impairments and poor social skills remain a significant cause of academic difficulties and increased social vulnerability in some schoolchildren; occasional remedial classes not integrated into lessons provide limited transfer of results. The aim of the study was to determine whether a clearly organized model of interaction between a teacher and support specialists (speech therapist, special education teacher, psychologist) leads to better results in the development of speech and social skills compared to standard school practice, and to trace the procedural mechanisms of this effect. A quasi-experiment in natural conditions was chosen as the methodological basis (12 weeks, two schools; four classes of grades 2–4: intervention group n=64, control n=61; total n=125). The intervention included weekly joint planning sessions (15–30 min), a unified map of IEP goals and criteria, distribution of roles in the lesson in the co-teaching format, and two-week cycles of “planning–implementation–mini-monitoring–correction”. The indicators of expressive and impressive speech, the number of articulation errors, the frequency of functional requests, as well as the indices of cooperation and self-regulation were assessed; multilevel models and thematic analysis of interviews were used for data analysis. It was found that, compared with the control group, more pronounced positive shifts were noted in the intervention group: the increase in expressive speech was +22.6 points out of 120 (p<0.001), the number of articulation errors decreased by 5.2 per 100 phonemes (p<0.001), the frequency of functional requests increased (+1.73 acts/10 min; p<0.001), the indicators of cooperation (+4.2; p<0.001) and self-regulation (+5.1; p<0.001) improved. The greatest changes were recorded in students with more pronounced difficulties (Level 2-3). Preliminary mediated modeling demonstrates the significant role of plan alignment and the quality of joint implementation in the classroom. Overall, the results suggest that managed interdisciplinary coordination based on common goals and criteria, regular mini-monitoring, and co-teaching, ensures the sustainable transfer of remedial achievements to everyday learning situations and can be replicated without excessively increasing the organizational burden.