scholarly journals Speech-language therapy for adolescents with written-language difficulties: The South African context

2013 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Danel Erasmus ◽  
Leani Schutte ◽  
Melissa Van der Merwe ◽  
Salomé Geertsema
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Population Group ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
The South ◽  
Language Therapy ◽  
Self Study ◽  
Language Difficulties ◽  
African Context

Objective: To investigate whether privately practising speech-language therapists in South Africa are fulfilling their role of identification, assessment and intervention for adolescents with written-language and reading difficulties. Further needs concerning training with regard to this population group were also determined.Method: A survey study was conducted, using a self-administered questionnaire. Twenty-two currently practising speech-language therapists who are registered members of the South African Speech-Language-Hearing Association (SASLHA) participated in the study.Results: The respondents indicated that they are aware of their role regarding adolescents with written-language difficulties. However, they feel that South-African speech-language therapists are not fulfilling this role. Existing assessment tools and interventions for written-language difficulties are described as inadequate, and culturally and age inappropriate. Yet, the majority of the respondents feel that they are adequately equipped to work with adolescents with written-language difficulties, based on their own experience, self-study and secondary training. The respondents feel that training regarding effective collaboration with teachers is necessary to establish specific roles, and to promote speech-language therapy for adolescents among teachers.Conclusion: Further research is needed in developing appropriate assessment and intervention tools as well as improvement of training at an undergraduate level.

Exploring recidivism in the South African context.

1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belinda Bedell ◽  
Nicholas Challis ◽  
Charl Cilliers ◽  
Joy Cole ◽  
Wendy Corry ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
South African Context ◽  
The South ◽  
African Context

Revisiting Poverty, Human Development and Inequality in Democratic South Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 097370302110329
Author(s):  
Vusi Gumede
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Development ◽  
South African ◽  
Measurement Techniques ◽  
National Income ◽  
Population Group ◽  
Poverty Dynamics ◽  
The South ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Multidimensional Poverty Index

There are many questions related to poverty in South Africa that remain unsatisfactorily answered. Given the poor performance of the South African economy, including declining per capita incomes and increasing unemployment, since 2010 or so, it is important to examine poverty dynamics in the recent years. Many recent studies in this regard have relied on 2015 data, and do not examine all the three interrelated aspects of wellbeing viz. poverty, human development and inequality. In this context, this paper uses all the five waves of the National Income Dynamics Study and employs different poverty and inequality measurement techniques to investigate poverty dynamics, human development and inequality during the post-apartheid period in South Africa. The estimates suggest that although poverty was declining prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the African/Black population group is the most affected by poverty. The phenomenon of feminisation of poverty is also verified based on the evidence of increasingly more women in poverty than men. The proportion of population experiencing multiple deprivations, measured by the Multidimensional Poverty Index, have not changed in the post-apartheid period. Similarly, human development has not improved during this period. South African society continues to be one of the most unequal societies in the world. The paper argues that the inability to sufficiently reduce poverty, unemployment and inequality results from the weak performance of the South African economy. In the same vein, it is the structure of the South African economy that has kept the levels of human development low and income inequality high.

scholarly journals Kerk en owerheid binne ’n regstaat. Die profetiese roeping van die kerk met betrekking tot die Suid-Afrikaanse owerheid

2000 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Vorster ◽  
J.H. Van Wyk
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Theoretical Argument ◽  
The South ◽  
African Government ◽  
Constitutional State ◽  
African Context ◽  
The Government ◽  
Just Society ◽  
The Church

Church and government within a constitutional state. The prophetic calling of the church towards the South-African government With the transition to a new political dispensation in South Africa, a constitutional state has been established. A typical characteristic of this new dispensation is that the government remains neutral while the executive powers are subject to the Bill of Human Rights. The question of how the church can realize its prophetic task towards the government within the context of a constitutional state is highlighted in this article. The central theoretical argument is that a constitutional state that acknowledges fundamental rights provides an excellent opportunity for the church to fulfil its prophetic calling within the South African context. The church can contribute to a just society by prophetic testimony within the perspective of the kingdom of God.

scholarly journals 'It’s not just the learner, it's the system!' Teachers’ perspectives on written language difficulties: Implications for speech-language therapy

2011 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Indira Navsaria ◽  
Michelle Pascoe ◽  
Harsha Kathard
Keyword(s):  
Academic Outcomes ◽  
School System ◽  
Intermediate Phase ◽  
Written Language ◽  
System Level ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
Language Therapy ◽  
Language Difficulties ◽  
Assessment Guidelines ◽  
Written Language Development

The failure to achieve academic outcomes in linguistically diverse classrooms in poor areas of the Western Cape, South Africa, is well documented. A major contributing factor is the written language communication difficulties experienced in these classrooms. This paper describes the views of intermediate-phase teachers on why written language difficulties are experienced by learners and ways in which these difficulties might be overcome. A series of interviews were conducted with two class teachers in one urban school from which there had been a high number of referrals for speech-language therapy. The teachers were individually interviewed using an in-depth, semi-structured format. Teachers reported that 50 - 70% of learners in their classes were not meeting grade level academic outcomes. They were asked to explain the difficulties experienced with regard to written language, and the challenges and solutions linked to these. The findings suggest that there are barriers and opportunities at the school system, individual learner and home/social community levels. Major challenges identified at the school system level included limited training and lack of support for teachers, poor foundation skills in learners and difficulties with language. The current opportunities for the development of written language were insufficient and teachers identified further opportunities to promote the learners’ written language development. These included training and support for teachers, clear and consistent assessment guidelines, remedial assistance for learners and safe, nurturing home environments. There is a need to look beyond the learner as the site of the problem; a systemic approach is essential. In the light of these findings, suggestions are made for the role of the speech-language therapist.

Asad on the Secular

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Auwais Rafudeen
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
South African ◽  
The State ◽  
South African Context ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
The South ◽  
Legal Nature ◽  
African Context

This paper examines a South African debate on legislating Muslim marriages in the light of anthropologist Talal Asad’s critique developed in his Formations of the Secular (2003). It probes aspects of the debate under four Asadian themes: (1) the historicity of the secular, secularism, and secularization; (2) the place of power and the new articulations of discourses it creates; (3) the state as the arm of that power; and (4) the interconnections (or dislocations) among law, ethics, and the organic environment (habitus). I argue that Asad illumines the debate in the following ways: (1) by providing a deeper historical and philosophical appreciation of its terms of reference, given that the proposed legislation will be subject to South Africa’s secular Bill of Rights and constitution; (2) by requiring us to examine and interrogate the genealogies of such particular hegemonic discourses as human rights, which some participants appear to present as ahistorical and privileged; and (3) by showing, through the concept of habitus, why this debate needs to go beyond its present piecemeal legal nature and develop an appreciation of the organic linkages among the Shari‘ah, morality, community, and self. Yet inevitable nuances are produced when applying Asad’s ideas to the South African context.

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