Graduate students with marginal abilities in communication sciences and disorders: prevalence, profiles, and solutions.
This paper addresses the special challenges encountered when working with graduate students whose academic and/or clinical performance is marginal or less than satisfactory. From a variety of perspectives including instructional, professional, financial, ethical, and legal, among others, working effectively with marginal students deserves serious and systematic consideration. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a national survey that explore the prevalence, profiles, and documented impact of marginal students on professional training programs in speech-language pathology and audiology. Current strategies for prevention and intervention, factors inhibiting implementation of such strategies, and implications for the student and the program are discussed.


OBJECTIVE
(1) To learn the prevalence, profiles, and documented impact of marginal students on professional preparation programs in communication sciences and disorders. (2) To become familiar with current strategies for prevention and intervention with marginal students, factors inhibiting implementation of such strategies, and implications for the student and the program. (3) To understand professional preparation as a system of academic, clinical, and supervisory instruction, including evaluation and due process; namely, a student's right, a program's responsibility. (4) To identify critical questions generated by this study that must be addressed by the professions and individual programs.
Communication Disorders Program, Department of Human Services, Western Carolina University, Killian 204, Cullowhee, NC 28723, USA. shapiro@email.wcu.edu
David A
DA
Shapiro
Billy T
BT
Ogletree
W Dale
WD
Brotherton
D000124:Achievement; D004493:Education / Q000592:standards; D004500:Education, Graduate; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D011361:Professional Competence; D013066:Speech-Language Pathology / Q000193:education* / Q000592:standards*; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*