Inclusion of children with speech, language and communication needs in early childhood education settings in Ghana

Speech language and communication needs (SLCNs) are the most common type of special education need in the United Kingdom (Lindsay & Strand, 2016). Early identification of language and communication needs and subsequent support promotes children’s emotional well-being, thinking skills, behaviour, and ability to read as well as their language skills. However, there are limited statistics to show the proportion of children in Ghana who are living with SLCN and limited understanding of how children are identified and supported in the early school years. The research used two methodological research approaches to explore whether Ghana’s new kindergarten (KG) curriculum has enabled change in teachers’ identification and support practices for children with SLCN. The first study employed interviews with 20 KG teachers to understand their current practices for identifying and supporting children with SLCN under the new KG curriculum. The second study utilized a Delphi technique, where 30 teachers participated in 3 rounds of surveys to identify and rank the greatest barriers they face in identifying and supporting children with SLCN and potential solutions to reduce these barriers.
The findings highlight a shift in teachers' practices towards more play-based and thematic approaches encouraged by the new curriculum. However, the research also reveals a potential risk of inaccurate identification due to limited training and resources. Teachers themselves ranked insufficient knowledge and skills as the most significant barrier to both identifying and supporting children with SLCN. This may potentially lead to delayed or missed identification, which can have severe consequences as early support and intervention is crucial for addressing children’s challenges so that they can fully benefit from teaching and learning activities to reach their full potentials. Teachers emphasized the need for in-service training and improved resources as the most helpful solutions. These findings highlight the importance of contextualized training and support, for school-based approaches to the identification and support of children with SLCNs, from low-resource and language diverse countries. This research introduces a new approach for Ghanaian KG schools to include children with SLCN. It then explores how this model benefits both research and everyday teaching methods, while also suggesting directions for future research.