UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal: Submission #735

Overall Research Project Description Many children start kindergarten with speech that's not super clear or with difficulty understanding or using language. These difficulties, for some children, mean a greater risk for identification of a reading disorder in later grades. Therefore, kindergarten teachers must possess knowledge of speech-language development and its connection to later reading development (Perfetti & Hart, 2002). Collaboration between kindergarten teachers and school-based SLPs has the potential to impact not only students with speech and language impairments (SLI), but all students in the general education setting. There is limited evidence related to HOW school-based SLPs and kindergarten teachers collaborate and whether factors such as self-efficacy impact collaboration, specifically for students with SLI. A better understanding of current views and practices paves the way for more effective collaboration between school-based SLPs and kindergarten teachers. I have three aims for the present study using an explanatory sequential (quant-QUAL) mixed methods design. The first aim is to advance the understanding of collaboration between school-based SLPs and kindergarten teachers and the extent to which, if any, factors, such as self-efficacy, impact collaboration. Second, I aim to generate further insights into collaboration between school-based SLPs and kindergarten teachers through improved knowledge of the shared and divergent knowledge of each group. Finally, I aim to use the findings of this mixed methods study to inform the creation of professional development materials to be used in a future research practice partnership meant to address knowledge gaps in grades K-2 teachers in the area of speech-language development and phonological processing through effective collaboration between SLPs and general education teachers. This project will use quantitative and qualitative research methods to answer our questions.