Speech-language pathologists’ role in inclusive education: A survey of clinicians’ perceptions of universal design for learning

Background: Increasingly, Canadian schools are prioritizing full inclusion in which students with disabilities are educated alongside their peers in general education classrooms. Universal design for learning (UDL) is a framework that supports inclusion and offers a common foundation from which educators and S-LPs can collaborate to meaningfully embed speech, language, and communication support into the classroom. Purpose: To determine the extent to which S-LPs working in Canadian schools perceived that they were knowledgeable about UDL, their belief that they had the skills needed to implement UDL, and the ease or difficulty with which they were able to implement UDL as part of their current position. Method: Ninety-one school-based S-LPs completed a 25-minute online anonymous survey. The survey covered a range of topics relevant to school-based practice, including questions specific to UDL. Results: A majority of S-LPs were familiar with the term and definition of UDL and did not perceive general knowledge about UDL to be a major barrier to implementation. Respondents were less certain about their competency in specific skills needed to implement UDL at the classroom level. With respect to other factors, most S-LPs identified: time, opportunities to collaborate with school personnel, and administrative support as key barriers to implementing UDL. Open-ended survey responses reinforced these factors as barriers and identified additional ones as well. Conclusion: S-LPs reported many challenges to implementing UDL. While S-LPs would benefit from professional development to support specific skills related to implementation, systemic change also is required to support S-LPs’ involvement in collaboratively implementing UDL. Additionally, high quality research is required to examine the effectiveness of UDL-based S-LP services.