During the years 1997-2000 the working group on Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) in the Socrates Network on Speech Communication Sciences have studied and written about three areas related to Network's overall task:

a. the role of Phonetics (and Speech Communication Sciences) in SLT;

b. the "scientification" of SLT by arguments for an independent scientific discipline;

c. the role of Internet and Computer Aided Learning (CAL) in the future development of SLT course content and collaboration

• It is recommended that courses in phonetics should be an essential element in SLT education, and that they should incorporate a direct clinical focus
• It is recommended that a standard approach to the use of IPA phonetic conventions for transcribing normal and disordered speech should be adopted across Europe and that this should be a core component of educational courses.
• An expansion of the role of methods and tools of Spoken Language Engineering (SLE) in education and in clinical practice is recommended. The development of SLE has major implications for some areas of clinical application and needs to be considered for inclusion in developing SLT.
• Collaboration between those working in Computer Aided Learning (CAL) and in SLT for production of materials is strongly recommended. CAL developments have direct implications for some labour-intensive supervisory teaching and learning tasks; however, they cannot replace hands-on personal experience.
• It is recommended that the use of the internet for education in various areas of SLT should be facilitated for the benefit of clinicians, students and teachers. The need for observance of professional ethics must be emphasised.
• It is recommended that the use of Internet as a part of study programmes in SLT is implemented initially on an experimental level, with its effectiveness to be fully evaluated over time.
• It is recommended that exploitation of the Internet/WWW should be used to facilitate the application of theory to practice, and to help bridge the gap between research and clinical teaching in SLT.

Further information can be found in the following sources:

In Book 1, we analysed the state-of-the-art in educational programmes in SLT in Europe related to the issues above. (NOTE: link to Book 1, chapter Speech and Language Therapy.)

In Book 2 (NOTE: link to Book 2, chapter 5, The Integration….) we put forward some proposals concerning the integration of Phonetics, Internet/CAL and SLE in education programmes for SLT. This chapter mainly concerns recommendations for the development of areas a, b, c mentioned above. Proposals regarding new issues are also presented, emphasising the importance of how new learning theories will affect education in SLT.

Book 3 (NOTE: link to Book 3, chapter 4) presents recommendations for Speech Communication Disorders Curricula.

We also recommend to read the educational guidelines of IALP, the educational guidelines of CPLOL and the educational guidelines of ASHA.