While speech-language pathologists support the concept of family-centered services when working with children who cannot meet their communication needs through their own speech due to autism or other disorders, a Penn State study shows that there are barriers to meeting this goal.

A group of Penn State researchers have received a $1.25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to address a shortage of faculty who can conduct research and train speech-language pathologists to provide interventions to improve outcomes for the more than four million Americans who have such complex disabilities that they cannot meet their communication needs through their own speech.

Two Penn State graduate students, with the assistance of two faculty members, have developed a tutorial for speech-language pathologists designed to better include parents and other family members in communication interventions for children whose speech does not adequately meet their communication needs due to autism or other disorders.