Smart Speech Therapy LLC

10/09/2025

A Meta-Analytic Review of Spelling Interventions for Students With or At-Risk for Learning Disabilities

Spelling is essential for reading and writing. Researchers analyzed 59 studies involving over 2,200 students with or at risk for learning disabilities. Overall, spelling instruction led to measurable gains in both spelling and reading.

Whole-word and multilinguistic approaches improved spelling the most, while phonemic approaches boosted word reading. Group studies showed small but reliable effects, and individualized case studies showed larger improvements.

In short, structured spelling instruction helps students with learning disabilities improve both spelling and reading, though more research is needed to identify which methods work best.

Spelling is a vital academic skill that supports students’ writing and reading development (Kim, 2020). We conducted a comprehensive meta-analytic review of spe...

10/08/2025

The Direct and Indirect Effects of an Oral Narrative Intervention for Children with or At Risk for Language and Reading Disorders

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mbe.70024?af=R

These findings provide empirical support for the Reading Is Language (RIL) model (Snowling & Hulme, 2025), which conceptualizes reading comprehension as a product of reciprocal interactions between decoding and language skills. Clinically, results suggest that oral language interventions can support literacy development, particularly when combined with decoding instruction for children with weaker word recognition skills.

This study investigated how well a program called Supporting Knowledge in Language and Literacy (SKILL) helps young students improve their speaking, writing, and reading skills. SKILL is a teaching a...

08/07/2025

Why Smart SLPs Fall for Pseudoscience: When Good Intentions Meet Weak Evidence

If we critically examine why pseudoscientific ideas gain traction, it often comes down to familiarity and emotional appeal.

These approaches tend to align with personal experiences, intuitive reasoning, and the understandable desire to see progress, particularly in situations where evidence is limited or change takes a very long time. In these situations, perceived effectiveness overrides interventions grounded in solid research and logic.

When one is facing a complex client, limited resources, and the pressure to do something, the appeal of a simple, intuitive framework is overwhelming. Especially one that promises natural progress, bypasses the gatekeepers and gives you a built-in community of believers. Add a dose of emotional storytelling and a few self-reinforcing anecdotes, and suddenly, questioning the method feels like betraying the child, not protecting them.

This is how movements grow without data. They offer identity, 'certainty', and a sense of control in a field that often demands comfort with complexity, nuance, and unanswered questions. And when scientific pushback arrives, no matter how valid, it gets reframed as ivory-tower elitism, jealousy, or fearmongering.
Clinical skepticism is labeled as gatekeeping. The absence of evidence becomes someone else’s bias or failure to “understand.” Defensiveness, ad hominem attacks, and accusations of being unreasonable then follow.

The result is a growing divide between what feels true and what is actually effective. This isn’t just a harmless disconnect between theory and practice. It puts our clinical judgment and our clients’ outcomes at risk.

If we’re trying to bridge the research-to-practice gap, we need to stop treating gut feelings and vague impressions as data and start questioning the marketing, the emotional appeals, anecdotal claims, social pressure, and the lack of oversight behind what we’re being asked to trust.

Because if we don’t, we’re not just opening the door, we’re handing over the keys, stepping aside, and letting pseudoscience drive the future of our field.

08/05/2025

Secretive special education settlements are costing school districts millions. Parents say districts aren’t fixing their programs.

https://www.inquirer.com/education/special-education-programs-philadelphia-region-deficiencies-due-process-settlements-20250805.html

The Reading League PA Decoding Dyslexia-MA Decoding Dyslexia - TX Decoding Dyslexia Decoding Dyslexia-IA Decoding Dyslexia Oregon Decoding Dyslexia - NJ Dyslexia Inspired

PM for a full read if you can't get access!

Lawyers say affluent parents who can afford to hire them, and who are dissatisfied with their child's IEP, are more likely to sue a school district than poor parents.

08/03/2025

NEW POST: Selling Out Speech Pathology: How Profit-Driven Programs, Costly Certifications, and Low-Evidence Fads Are Undermining Evidence-Based Practice

While our field promotes EBP, clinical choices are increasingly shaped by financial pressures and market trends. Costly certifications, trademarked programs, and influencer-endorsed methods with minimal empirical support are being treated as clinical gold standards, while accessible, research-backed interventions are sidelined. Meanwhile, many schools continue to rely on outdated, low-sensitivity assessments, often because those are the tools already available or familiar, not necessarily because they provide the most accurate picture of a student’s needs. This can unintentionally result in under-identification and limited access to services.

This article raises a question: If we’re truly a science-based profession, why is access to quality intervention determined by money, branding, or district policy?

It’s time to recommit to clinical integrity and stop confusing marketing with evidence.

https://tatyanaelleseff.com/selling-out-speech-pathology/