The research is set in Sri Lanka, where official policy and legislation advocates’ inclusive education (National Policy on Education, 2003) but schools are not obligated to implement inclusive educational practices (Kulasekera, 2006; Stubbs, 2005). Within this backdrop a private boys’ school, which on its own initiative seeks to be inclusive, is selected for the research.
The thesis follows the journey of six primary grade teachers and their students, aged six to eleven years, who are identified with speech, language and communication difficulties. The research demonstrates the manner in which, as a school based consultant speech and language therapist I seek to inspire teachers to engage in more inclusionary practices in adult-child communication, because I agree with the author who explains that inclusive education is a call to identify and destroy exclusionary practices within education (Slee, 2011).
An action research methodology is selected to guide the research process, because action research is considered to be highly suitable when studying the social world to bring social change (Neuman, 2006). In keeping with the current trends in research (Moore 2011; Ghaziani, 2010; Martin and Miller, 2003; Slee, 1999; Freire, 1972) and the UN conventions (UN Standard Rules 1993 cited in Wertheimer, 1997; UNESCO, 1994; UNICEF, 1989), the voices of students and parents form a critical element in shaping the action process.
My commitment to learn and improve my practice as an effective consultant speech and language therapist is witnessed through two action cycles. Further, I provide empirical evidence for schools in Sri Lanka and countries in the South experiencing similar conditions, to initiate the process of becoming more inclusive. Therefore, the research has implications for schools locally and internationally and for students with speech, language and communication difficulties, for whom the research is meant.
