AUSIT Webinar | 20260321 Interpreting in Adult Speech Pathology What Practitioners Need to Know

Interpreting in speech pathology and acquired communication disorders is a complex area of specialised practice. It requires interpreters to not only facilitate communication between the speech pathologist and client but also provide the speech pathologist with a description of how the client is communicating and render into English disordered speech or language. However, most interpreters do not receive training and preparation on how to work with speech pathologists or clients with communication difficulties.

In this webinar, we will discuss:
– What makes speech pathology a complex area of practice and the challenges reported by both interpreters and speech pathologists
– Opinion vs description: The importance of providing a description of communication and working within your scope of practice
– Acquired communication disorders (definitions, typical features, examples)
– Models and tools for collaboration between speech pathologists and interpreters
– Common communication assessment tools
– Collaborating with speech pathologists for therapy

Our Presenter – Dr Chelsea Larkman
Dr Chelsea Larkman is a senior speech pathologist and early career researcher with extensive clinical experience working with adults with communication and swallowing difficulties across hospital and community settings. Chelsea recently completed her PhD investigating cultural and linguistic adaptation of aphasia rehabilitation.

Chelsea’s frequent collaborations with professional interpreters whilst working with clients from different language backgrounds motivated her to undertake this research. She explored the challenges of aphasia therapy when the speech pathologist and client do not share a language and used co-design involving speech pathologists and interpreters to identify possible solutions to these challenges. One potential solution developed through this co-design work is the La Trobe University Aphasia therapy Collaboration Tool for Speech Pathologists and Interpreters (LTU ACT-SPI).