EDS Difficulties: Awareness Level

This EDS Difficulties course is designed for Speech-language therapists (SLTs) working within the Ministry of Education.

There are two levels of online learning available: the current module overviews fundamental principles and practicalities of working with children with eating, drinking and swallowing (EDS) difficulties, and the Level 1 module offers advanced knowledge and practices.

Throughout this course, the term Education SLTs' will refer to those SLTs employed by the Ministry of Education, and the term 'Health SLTs' will refer to those SLTs employed by the Ministry of Health.

This content has been designed to ensure Education SLTs can provide the following services as laid out in the joint Operational Protocol:

• Monitor and support the implementation of the EDS Plan in an educational context.
• Provide advice and guidance to educational facilities to ensure implementation of EDS Plans
• Liaise with and refer to Child Development Services or Child Health Services (as relevant) where a referral or review is required
• Support Health SLTs to develop an EDS Plan.

How to succeed in this course

It is expected that you will spend an average of 3 hours on learning activities in this course.

Some modules are longer and for others, the workload is somewhat less. It is essential that you keep up with the prescribed readings and make the opportunities to discuss topics with your colleagues or supervisor.

We encourage you to attempt all activities and questions as they appear throughout the content. This will assist in reinforcing the learning objectives for that module and also help you to self-assess how you are going in each module. It will also give you an accurate point of reference when seeking help from your supervisor.

To succeed in this course, you will need to read and engage with the learning materials in each module and be prepared to ask questions and participate in discussions. This approach is designed to encourage active rather than passive learning. For effective learning of complex material, students who engage and take responsibility for their own development of knowledge and acquisition of skill tend to outperform those who remain passive or inactive.

Certificate

This course provides 3 hours of continuing professional development. 

Acknowledgements

This content has been developed by Bianca Jackson and Speech Science at The University of Auckland. Speech Science is located within the School of Psychology, in the Faculty of Science. It was updated in 2022.