|
The Internet stands as evidence that
countless Speech-Language Pathology consumers are highly skilled in the art and science seeking out information
for themselves. For these people, having accurate terminology at the outset helps them to
perform efficient searches on the Net, in libraries, through self-help and support groups,
and face-to-face in the 'real' world. This does not mean, of course, that they are
necessarily prepared to be burdened with a raft of additional technical terms by
way of definition!
The Net does not issue
information indiscriminately. Rather, it provides a range of options that can be
utilised with the aid of search tools. Consumers have the advantage of being able to use
the medium's interactive elements to navigate their own course, through available content
and resources, to locate what best satisfies their needs, interests.
The original
informational articles here on this site have been
prepared from the perspective that the parents and caregivers of children with
communication disorders seeking technical information have a wide variety of requirements.
At one extreme, readers will come to this web site wanting a quick definition of a term they have
encountered, and will pose questions such as "What is phonology?"
At the other extreme
will be the parents, grandparents, and others who have many questions, with each new
question seeming to generate a dozen more: "What is childhood
apraxia of speech?" "How does it
differ from developmental phonological disorder?" "What causes it?"
"Is it related to learning difficulties?" "Is it something we
did (should I blame myself)?" "Is it something we did not do (should I
blame myself)?" and so on. These searchers will click
on hyperlinks that will open up more options, taking them deeper into the subject, jumping
within this site and to other sites, bookmarking pages for future reference, possibly over
hours, days, weeks and months.
|