Die bedeutung des connectionist approach: Una der sprachganzheithchen perspektive für die sprach-Pädagogik und - Therapie

Based on connectionist and interactionist approaches speech and language acquisition and use are considered emergent capacities based on cognition, emotion, and social interaction. The connectionist perspective of communicative and conversational capacities goes beyond a mere linguistic analysis of speech, language, and communication difficulties. It can open new perspectives for speech-language therapy as well as for classroom embedded language teaching. Hence, the connectionist approach contributes to the debate on professionalisation within speech and language pathology. The American Whole Language Approach, which is absorbed within the German " Sprachganzheitsansatz", is building upon the connectionist perspective of speech and language development and learning. The authors outline the inherent principles and strategies for speech and language teaching and therapy based upon this philosophy. Two examples from the fields of classroom discourse and team based fluency intervention are used to explain the consequences of this perspective for research and practice.