Forum: Addressing Childhood Trauma and Maltreatment Through the Lens of the ICF

This prologue introduces the Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools forum, Addressing Childhood Trauma and Maltreatment Through the Lens of the ICF. The goals of the forum are twofold: first, to draw attention to the prevalence of children who have experienced trauma and maltreatment and how it affects their language and literacy development, and second, to provide an overview of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework and how it can be used to conceptualize assessment procedures and tailor interventions to meet the individual needs of the child while providing compassionate trauma-informed care.

This prologue provides an overview of the prevalence of childhood trauma and how it affects children's language and literacy development. By extension, this prologue also underscores why speech-language pathologists (SLPs) should carefully consider this topic. Importantly, SLPs treat children in context, and although other professionals such as psychologists or social workers are the professionals expected to provide direct services in this area, SLPs still have an obligation to provide compassionate trauma-informed care, and they have expertise in areas that can support children in being able to better benefit from and participate in therapeutic treatments. To this point, this prologue also provides an overview of the ICF and provides examples of how the ICF may be used to support children with histories of trauma or maltreatment. As such, this prologue introduces the topics covered by seven articles as well as the epilogue. These articles cover reviews, tutorials, case studies, clinician development, and professional programming.

Children who have experienced trauma or maltreatment are at an increased risk for experiencing neurological disruptions that affect their language and literacy development, which increases the likelihood SLPs will encounter children with these experiences on their caseloads. The articles included within this forum underscore the various ways children might be affected by traumatic experiences and how SLPs can use the ICF framework to identify barriers and facilitators when engaging in assessments and developing interventions.