Handbook of Speech-Language Therapy in Sub-Saharan Africa Integrating Research and Practice

This book synthesizes research on language development and communication disability in Sub-Saharan Africa and highlights best practices for providing speech and language therapy services to individuals with language, communication, and hearing disorders across the lifespan. The book brings together a wide range of international contributions from various disciplines, such as speech-language pathology, audiology, developmental psychology, language education, social work, neurology, neuropsychology, pediatrics, linguistics, pedagogy, and phonetics to provide perspectives on problems, challenges, ideas, concepts, and models to serve the people in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

Key areas of coverage include:

• Challenges for speech-language therapists in the health sector.
  
• Community awareness and the sustainable delivery of services.
  
• Culture-specific support of communication and language development in early childhood.
  
• Malnutrition, dysphagia, feeding difficulties, pediatric HIV, and related issues.
  
• Communication disability treatments, including assessment and intervention, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), and issues specific to bilingualism and biliteracy.
  
• Inclusive education of children with communication disorders with case studies from Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, and South Africa. 
  

The Handbook of Speech-Language Therapy in Sub-Saharan Africa is an essential reference for researchers, professors, and graduate students as well as clinicians, therapists, and other professionals in developmental psychology, speech-language pathology and therapy, social work, neuropsychology, pediatrics, special education, community based rehabilitation, and all related disciplines.

PART I: PROF.- Introduction to Section I.- Speech-Language Therapy in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Emergence of a Profession in a Diverse Multilingual and Multicultural Context.- Speech-Language Therapy in Sub-Saharan Africa: Development and Sustainability of Services for Persons with Communication Disability.- Maximizing the Benefits and Minimizing the Risks from the Contribution of ‘Outsiders’ to the Development of Services for Persons with Communication Disability in sub-Saharan Africa.- Clinical Competence of Speech-Language Therapists in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Contexts: A Qualitative Study of Intercultural Work Experiences Abroad.- The History of Speech-Language Therapy in Kenya: A Collective Memory.- The Development of the Speech-Language Therapy Profession in West Africa: Over 10 Years of Experience.- A Revolution in Training Speech-Language Therapists in Sub-Saharan Countries and Globally.- The Demands of Context: Development of a Relational In Vivo Methodology for Participative Speech-Language Therapy Research in Sub-Saharan Africa.- Speech-Language Therapy in Kenya: Trends, Challenges and Opportunities.- Obulala Na-maani: Unity is Strength Speech-Language Therapy and Community Engagement in Three Kenyan Communities.- PART II: DEV & PREV.- Introduction to Section II.- Paradoxical Reflections on Bilingualism and Biliteracy: Relevance for Speech-Language Therapists in Sub-Saharan Africa.- Typical Phonological Development in Ugandan Language: A Case of Rukiga – A Pilot Study.- The Participatory Potential of Photovoice as a Relational In Vivo Research and Training Method: The Case of a Community-based Prevention Program on Early Communication and Language Disability in Underserved Rural Sub-Saharan Africa.- A Network of Knowledge: Participatory Development of Culturally Sensitive Information, Education, and Communication Materials forthe Prevention of Communication Disability in Rural Tanzania.- Pediatric HIV/AIDS and Communication and Developmental Disorders in South African Children.- Hear Africa! Improving Language Development, Education, and Participation of Children with Severe Sensorineural Hearing Loss in Tanzania.- PART III: ASS & TREAT.- Introduction to Section III.- Development of Speech-Language Therapy Assessments for the Languages of South Africa.- Assessing Language in South Africa: Use of the Passive Construction.- Methods for Devising a Standardized Language Assessment for isiZulu Preschoolers: Implications for Sub-Saharan Africa.- Using Acoustic Phonetics in the Assessment and Treatment of Speech Disorders.- The Capacity to Assess and Treat Communication Disability in Kenya: Field-Based Evidence.- Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Children with Language Disorders in sub-Saharan Africa: Approaches to Service Delivery.- Speech, Language, and Swallowing Difficulties in Neurology: A Sub-Saharan African Perspective.- Active Aging with Aphasia: A Case of Kiambu County, Kenya.- Development of a Mobile SLT Clinic: An Example from East Africa.- The Organization of Cochlear Implant Programs in Tanzania: Assessment of Needs and Challenges.- PART IV: INCL.- Introduction to Section IV.- Communication, Disability and Human Rights: Exploring the Role of the Sustainable Development Goals.- Access to Early Childhood Development and Inclusive Education Services for Refugee Children with Communication Disability in Rwanda.- Inclusion of Children with Social Communication Disorder in Kenya.- Promoting Social Communication: Teaching Strategies for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder in East Africa.- Navigating Communication Difficulties Faced by Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence from Kenya.- Using Augmentative and Alternative Communication Strategies in Schools in Namibia.- Critical Components in the Inclusion of Learners with Cerebral Palsy and Associated Communication Disorders.- Stuttering’s Hidden Side: The Need for an Empathetic School Climate for Disfluent School-Age Children in Public Primary Schools in Kakamega, Kenya.- Sign Language Interpretation Services for Learners with Hearing Impairment in Inclusive Secondary Schools in Uganda: Challenges and Successes.- Epilogue: Speech-Language Therapy in Sub-Saharan Africa Revisited: Visions for Theory, Training, and Practice.

Ulrike M. Lüdtke, Ph.D., is professor and the head of the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Inclusive Education, the Leibniz Lab for Relational Communication Research, and the Speech Clinic at the Institute for Special Education at Leibniz University Hanover, Germany. From 2009 until 2011, she was dean of research at the Faculty of Humanities at Leibniz University. Her research focuses on language and emotion, development of digital tools for analysing language and communication (TALC), Relational models of language acquisition, international comparative speech-language pathology, language and communication development under diverse circumstances, and multilingualism. In a variety of different research projects, she cooperates internationally with universities, labs, and institutions in Paris, Edinburgh, the United States, India, and East and South Africa. Her last book publications have been on Emotion in Language (Benjamins, 2015) and on Speech-Language Therapy in Inclusive School Settings (Reinhardt, 2017).

Edward Kija, M.D., is a consultant paediatric neurologist and a senior lecturer at the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health of the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) and Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. He completed his undergraduate and postgraduate training at the University of Dar Es Salaam and MUHAS respectively. He subsequently received subspecialty training in Paediatric Neurology at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and certified by the board of the College of Medicine of South Africa. His research and publications mainly focus on childhood onset epilepsy, neurodevelopment, autism, cerebral palsy, neurocutaneous conditions and stroke.

Mathew Kinyua Karia, Ph.D., is a lecturer at the Department of Early Childhood and Special Needs at Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya. He teaches in the area of speech and languagepathology. He is one of the pioneers in training speech and language pathologist in Kenya. He is a consultant in the area of communication disorders with various hospitals in Kenya and internationally with organizations such as Operation Smile Inc., and Starkey Hearing Technologies. He holds a PhD (Cologne University, Germany) and a Master and a Bachelor degree ( Kenyatta University, Kenya). Dr. Karia’s research focuses on the area of speech production, communication disorders, hearing impairment as well as literacy.