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ORLANDO, Nov. 30, 2007 — Professor Barbara Ehren (right) from the College of Health and Public Affairs and Associate Professor Mary Little (left) from the College of Education play the role of a speech-language pathologist and special education teacher, respectively, to demonstrate to students how these practitioners can work together effectively.
"In the schools, collaboration among speech-language pathologists and special education teachers has been a long-standing issue," Ehren said.
"Given that these practitioners have students in common who require intensive intervention related to language and literacy problems, it's essential that they learn how to work together."
 Ehren and Little decided that the best way to teach future practitioners how to collaborate is to model collaboration.
This fall, they used role playing as a teaching tool in two graduate courses —
SPA 6403-School-Aged Language Disorders and
EEX 6107-Teaching Spoken
and Written Language —
that address spoken and
written language problems in school.
Students in College of Health and Public Affairs' master's degree program in communication sciences and disorders take SPA 6403 in preparation for becoming speech-language pathologists, while students in the College of Education's master's degree programs in exceptional education take EEX 6107 to prepare for special education teaching positions.
Students in both courses are benefiting from Ehren and Little's professional expertise — and their personal experience.
Ehren has worked as a school speech-language pathologist and Little is a former special education teacher.
Ehren, who is the director of UCF's
Doctor of Philosophy in Education, Communication Sciences and Disorders Track program, said the collaborative role playing has been quite successful.
She also thinks it has been unique. "I don't know of any instance elsewhere where former practitioners have modeled this type of collaboration for students," she noted.
-- Karen Guin
Photos by Thomas Alan Smilie
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