In the context of the current election campaign, the Association québécoise des orthophonistes et audiologistes is particularly concerned about the low place occupied by education and educational success in the various commitments of political parties, while Quebec is still lagging the leg in terms of high school graduation in Canada, particularly among boys.
In this regard, speech therapists and other specialized professionals play a frontline role in the school environment to detect different types of learning disabilities, such as dyslexia-dysorthographia, which constitutes approximately 25% of all learning disabilities. among Quebec elementary and secondary students, and intervene appropriately.
It is important to remember that nearly 80% of learning disabilities are directly related to language difficulties. Without optimal deployment of speech therapists in schools, several hundred Quebec students with language difficulties and learning to read and write will not have all the support necessary to maximize their chances of educational success. This, of course, is detrimental to the pursuit of their educational and professional careers.
In a survey conducted by the AQOA earlier this month among speech-language pathologists practicing in schools in Quebec, the too many schools assigned to each speech-language pathologist was the main cause of problems attracting and retaining speech-language pathologists.
For example, a speech therapist may be responsible for up to eight schools with little or no access to adequate tools to transport the materials needed for speech therapy assessment or intervention. Instead of a permanent presence in schools, speech therapists are confined to sporadic appearances and running around.
In addition, in some school service centers (CSS), assignments vary from year to year, which creates a great deal of insecurity and instability for speech therapists and the thousands of students concerned. The presence of speech therapy services is not standardized and varies according to the budgetary choices of schools.
It should therefore come as no surprise that the problems of attracting and retaining speech therapists are directly linked to the difficulties experienced by the CSSs in filling positions and ensuring replacements in schools. We were told that several CSS had more than five positions or replacements to fill.
Currently, waiting times for access to a speech therapist in schools vary, on average, between six and twelve months, or even more!
Worse still, in many schools, speech therapists do not even have access to a private office, which prevents them from having confidential meetings with students. How can we optimally deploy, and for the benefit of students, specialized resources in the school environment in such conditions and in a constant context of precariousness and professional insecurity?
Finally, despite the settlement of the pay equity maintenance exercise that occurred in the summer of 2021, excessively low remuneration remains a major cause of dissatisfaction for speech therapists practicing in schools. In order to fill vacant positions, remuneration must be comparable to what is found elsewhere in the public or private sector. We estimate that there is a minimum shortage of 227 full-time speech therapists in the school network, despite the current government’s objective of adding 2,000 specialized professionals (speech therapists, special education technicians, remedial teachers, psychoeducators and occupational therapists).
Considering that this whole unacceptable situation has been going on for several years, that we continually receive several testimonials from speech therapists who have left the community for one or more of the reasons listed above and that the success of students in difficulty stems from the quantity and quality of the services offered, we believe that concrete measures should be put in place to optimize the work of speech therapists in schools, as a matter of priority.
Calling on the private sector is not a solution to the deplorable working conditions of speech therapists working in our schools. We demand that the number of schools supported by speech therapists be reduced, that speech therapists have access to an acceptable physical environment, that concrete attraction and retention measures be put in place, that speech therapists be remunerated at their fair value and that minimum thresholds and professional service standards be established in schools to ensure the place of all types of professional services, thus allowing a real complementarity of expertise to serve students in difficulty, families and teachers.