SPHY100 - Communication and Development Across the Lifespan

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

SPHY101 Introduction to Speech Pathology Practice AND SPHY103 Linguistics and Phonetics for Speech Pathology

Teaching organisation

Unit rationale, description and aim

Understanding typical communication and swallowing development and functions across the lifespan is core foundational knowledge for a speech pathologist. Accordingly, in this unit students will learn about  typical development and change across the lifespan, with particular emphasis on communication and swallowing development.

Students will be introduced to theories and frameworks that inform our understanding of development and will apply these to the description and analysis of skills in different life stages. Students will consider  the relationship between developmental domains, and how they are influenced by a range of factors, including socio-cultural contexts.

Additionally, this unit contains a learning outcome from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Curriculum Framework (HCF, 2014) specifically addressing the HCF cultural capability- Social Determinants.

The unit aims to provide students with foundational knowledge of typical development and skills that they will use to apply to clinical populations in future units in the Bachelor of Speech Pathology.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

Content

Topics will include:

• Application of the International Classification of Functioning (ICF) to communication and swallowing
• Social determinants of health

Background to communication

• Communication as a cultural phenomenon
• The relationship between speech, language and communication
• The components of language: form (syntax, morphology, phonology), content (semantics), and use (pragmatics)

Theories of development

Development and change in communication, swallowing and other domains (cognition, attention, memory, motor, sensory, social-emotional, play/leisure) across the lifespan, including impact on activity and participation

• Early development (0-2 years)
• Early childhood (3-5 years)
• Primary school age (6-12 years)
• Adolescence (12-18 years)
• Adulthood (18+ years)
• Aging (65+ years)

Factors that influence development/health/wellbeing

• Personal factors (e.g., biology, anatomy, culture, multiculturalism/bilingualism)
• Contextual factors (e.g., physical environment; services, systems, policies; attitudes, relationships)
• Knowings of First Peoples of Australia

 Community Engagement

• Respect for human dignity
• Framework for critical reflection on:
• professional and ethical behaviour that acknowledges the dignity, culture, values, beliefs and rights of people being supported by community organisations 
• the values underpinning the relationships, roles and functions of staff and clients within a community organisation/s
• the degree of transformation that students experience via community engagement experiences

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit fosters student-centred active learning and accommodates diverse student needs. It includes a combination of self-paced, online learning and real-time classes. Early and additional feedback on learning, and tailored support, are provided to facilitate students’ transition to university. This unit involves approximately 150 hours of learning. Students will be introduced to communication and swallowing development, theoretical understandings and factors that influence communication and swallowing through online learning. Tutorials will involve interactive small group work with a focus on making connections between theory and practice.

Community Engagement: All students at ACU are required to understand the University’s mission, values, and principles. In SPHY100, students will complete 20 hours of Community Engagement. This will enable students to interact with individuals, families and community groups and consider the personal/contextual factors that influence their life experiences (including participation in communication and mealtime activities), and how both impact their development/health/wellbeing.

Assessment strategy and rationale

This unit requires students to (a) demonstrate their understanding of the content, (b) demonstrate their technical skills, and (c) show emerging skills in clinical reasoning.

Assessment 1 is an individual task which will involve students collecting observational data on one or more people in their natural environment early in the semester. These observations will form the basis of tutorial discussions in a selected number of tutorials. This task is important for three reasons. Firstly, it provides students with an opportunity to practice their observation skills in an authentic scenario. Secondly, the student’s written observations will support the tutorial learning activities and increase their authenticity, as they are real life examples to help consolidate the student's learning. Thirdly, there is a need for students to practice their observation skills and interact with people across the lifespan in preparation for professional practice placements in subsequent years.

Assessment 2 is an individual task which requires students to describe the communication and development of two typically developing individuals of different age groups, to compare the skills and discuss the changes that have occurred across the life stages.

Assessment 3 is an individual exam which requires students to demonstrate their understanding of all the learning outcomes. This assessment will be composed of multiple choice and/or short answer questions.  

Community Engagement (CE) Hurdle: Students will give a presentation to their peers (hurdle), in which they describe their CE experience and reflect on their growth in understanding the links between participation in life activities (including communication and mealtimes), personal/contextual factors, and development/ health/wellbeing (i.e., human flourishing). The presentation is a hurdle task and students must pass the presentation to pass the unit. Students will get a second opportunity to complete the presentation at a time set by the teaching staff, if they fail this assessment on their first attempt.  

Overview of assessments

In order to successfully complete and pass this unit, you are required to:  

• pass the Hurdle Assessment Task 
• complete and submit all assessments and obtain an aggregate mark of 50% or greater.

Representative texts and references

Garvis, S., Phillipson, S., Clarke, S. Harrison, L., McCormack, J., & Pendergast, D. (2018). Child Development and Learning. Oxford University Press.

McLeod, S. & McCormack, J. (Eds.) (2015). Introduction to speech, language and literacy. Oxford University Press.

Nippold, M. A. (2016). Later language development: School-age children, adolescents, and young adults. (3rd ed.). Pro-Ed.

Owens, R. E. (2020). Language development: An introduction. (8th ed.). Pearson Education.

Sharma, A. & Cockerill, H. & Sanctuary, L. (2022). Mary Sheridan's from birth to Five years: Children's developmental progress (5th ed.). Taylor and Francis.

Thornton, R., & Light, L. L. (2006). Language comprehension and production in normal aging. In J. E. Birren & K. W. Schaie (Eds.) Handbook of the psychology of aging (6th ed., pp. 261-287). Elsevier.