Dr phil Wiebke Scharff Rethfeldt is a speech and language therapist and full Professor of Speech and Language Therapy and director of the therapeutic sciences in logopedics study program in Bremen, Germany.
Wiebke is an advocate of multilingualism and cultural diversity. Her academic specializations are child language development and speech, language and communication difficulties in multilingual children with migration or refugee background. Also, her particular interest concerns access to service provision for the culturally and linguistic diverse population, aiming to consider the needs of diverse populations, reduce health inequalities regarding access to service provision as well as misdiagnoses and mistreatment.
She is dedicated to integrating the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into education, practice, and research. Her work emphasizes SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions), and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
Her research interests include
- Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) in multilingual children
- Early identfication of DLD and assessment practices in multilingual and culturally diverse children
- Access to SLP service for children from refugee and migrant backgrounds
- Intersections of pedagogical support and clinical services of SLP
- Standards of initial SLP education in Germany and Europe
- Implementation science using social media and AI-Tools in SLP-teaching
Wiebke is member of a number of relevant professional associations and academic societies. She represents the German national association of Logopedists (Deutscher Bundesverband für Logopädie, dbl) as their Officer of Foreign Affairs in Europe and as the international representative of the their President since 2001.
She was Chair of the IALP Multilingual-Multicultural Affairs Committee (MMAC) from 2019 to 2022, leading the work with excellent colleagues from across the world to improve the quality of life of individuals with communication disorders irrespective of their heritage and languages used and continues to serve as their consultant. She currently served on the Board of Directors of the International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP) since 2019, and from 2022 as their General Secretary, then Vice-President for Communication.
She is strongly engaged in raising awareness of SLT and its value for the society, about DLD and equal access to service for multilingual children. As such, she regularly posts in German on Instagram or English on LinkedIn to advocate for the SLT profession to improve services in the interest of those who may not be able speak up.
Find out more about Wiebke, her work, her publications, her expertise, activities and professional passion, embracing the diversity of children from different cultures, languages and socioeconomic backgrounds and levels of ability to create opportunities for all children to participate in life and reach their full potential.
I have come to realize that what distinguishes one child from another is not ability but access. Access to education, access to opportunity, access to love.
Lauryn Hill
Biography
(Short academic profile. The full CV can be downloaded here.)
Dr. Wiebke Scharff Rethfeldt is a full professor of Speech and Language Therapy with a focus on multilingualism, cultural diversity and clinical intercultural competence.
She completed her undergraduate degree in Speech and Language Therapy (Logopedics) at the Hanover Medical School and subsequently worked as a speech and language therapist in the former German capital, Bonn, where she also served bilingual clients.
She was awarded a Carl Duisberg scholarship to pursue postgraduate studies at the renowned University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK, where she obtained her M.Sc. in Human Communication Sciences, specialising in bilingualism.
Dr. Scharff Rethfeldt worked as a lecturer and clinical tutor at the Euro-Medizinal-Kolleg Stuttgart, teaching on topics such as developmental language disorder, assessment and intervention, and bilingual speech and language development and disorders in multilingual children. She is an experienced supervisor of students‘ clinical practice and holds a qualification as Systemic Consultant.
She earned her docorate (Dr. phil.) from the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany. Her dissertation focused on language assessment and the potential for misdiagnosis in multilingual children aged 6-8 years.
From 2005 to 2017, she worked on behalf of the the LOGOCOM Institute, serving multilingual clients and contributing as a lecturer and researcher with a focus on the assessment and treatment of culturally and linguistically diverse children with speech and/or language disorders.
She represented the German partner in the European MULTI-SLI project, funded by the European Commission (2013-2015).
The European Association of Speech-Language Therapists (ESLA, formerly the Standing Liaison Committee of European Speech and Language Therapists and Logopedists, CPLOL), appointed her as working group leader in the EU-funded NetQues TUNING project, which aimed to align and improve speech and language therapy education across Europe (2011-2013).
In 2019, she was appointed Chair of the Multilingual-Multicultural Affairs Committee and Member-at-Large of the International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP). In 2022, she was elected Secretary of the IALP and currently serves as Vice-President for Communication.