Advances in the Treatment of Clients with Cognitive Impairment (Learning Disability)

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Clerkin, Gemma

Affiliations: Sisters of La Sagesse Services, Cregg House, Sligo

Abstract: The influences which shaped society throughout the 20th century have directly or indirectly impacted on the lives of people with a learning disability. As marginalised groups and individuals experienced segregation, social role devaluation and ethnic cleansing, there was a move towards empathetic examination of the lives of people with learning disability. The relatively young profession of speech and language therapists evolved in tandem with the major social, economic and political movements of the century. The present paper looks at some of the clinical and professional developments in the area of learning disability from an historical perspective and posits some of the issue which may concern speech and language therapists and people with a learning disability in the future.

Keywords: speech and language therapy, learning disability, historical perspective

DOI: 10.3233/ACS-1999-9107

Journal: Journal of Clinical Speech and Language Studies, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 78-96, 1999