耳鼻咽喉科医院に勤務する立場から

Working for an ENT clinic as a speech-language-hearing therapist

　耳鼻咽喉科医院に勤務する言語聴覚士(Speech-Language-Hearing Therapist)の立場から，言語聴覚障害をもつ小児の現状を分析するとともに，今後の課題について検討した．

　院内における小児言語障害児の診断治療とともに，乳幼児健診や学校健診への参画や研修会の開催など，地域に根ざした院外活動を行ってきた．その結果，福祉や教育の関連諸機関と密接な関係が取れるようになり，1歳台と3歳台を中心に種々の疾病をもつ小児の紹介が増えている．

　今後の課題として，言語聴覚士の参画による乳幼児健診の充実，新生児聴覚スクリーニング後の精査治療機関としての体制作り，一般耳鼻咽喉科診療所への言語聴覚士雇用拡大などが挙げられる．これらの小児領域や聴覚領域における言語聴覚療法の発展を図るためには，言語聴覚士の制度上の位置づけや経済的裏づけをはかる必要がある．

　As Speech-Language-Hearing Therapists (SLHT) working for an Ear-Nose-Throat clinic (ENT clinic), we analyzed the circumstances of children with speech, language, and hearing difficulties and discussed the issues that need to be addressed in the future.　For the past six years, we've examined and treated children with speech and language disorders at the clinic.　And at the same time, we've taken part in regional healthcare activities, such as infant and school health examination, and held workshops.　As a result, we've developed a close relationship with welfare and educational institutions, receiving more referrals of children with various diseases, who are mainly one-year-olds or three-year-olds.

　Based on our experience we consider current and future challenges for SLHTs to include:1) increasing participation of SLHTs in infant health examinations;2) establishing a system of careful examination and treatment after newborn hearing screening testing;3) increasing employment of SLHTs at ENT clinics.　In order to improve provision of pediatric speech-language-hearing services, it is necessary to establish SLHTs within the social welfare system with strong financial support.