The professional competence of speech therapists. III: skills and skill mix possibilities

Abstract

This paper reports on the skills of speech therapists and the possibilities for sharing these skills with other professionals and speech therapy assistants. This is the third paper of a four-part report on a study of the professional competence of speech therapists. The consultative methods used in this study combined the Delphi and Nominal Group techniques with a postal questionnaire survey of specialist speech therapists in the UK. Details of the methodology can be found in a separate paper. This study identified a broad range of speech therapists' skills, including therapeutic, teaching, interpersonal and administrative skills. The consensus, however, was that not all of these skills had to be undertaken by a qualified speech therapist. At the same time the consensus amongst specialist clinicians was that only a small number of skills could be shared with speech therapy assistants or with other professionals. A simple majority analysis identified a wider range of skills that can be undertaken by speech therapy assistants or other professionals.