Supporting Speech-Language Pathologists in Schools With Interdisciplinary Team Science: A Viewpoint From the National Artificial Intelligence Institute for Exceptional Education.

Purpose: Complex scientific problems, including those facing the discipline of communication sciences and disorders (CSD), require interdisciplinary teams of scientists who bring diverse perspectives, knowledge, and skills. According to a recent survey, team science is not yet widely practiced by CSD researchers. This viewpoint describes a current interdisciplinary team science project that addresses a challenging problem for CSD practitioners: meeting the needs of young children with speech and language disabilities for screening and intervention using artificial intelligence-augmented technologies.

Method: The article draws from the research literature on the science of team science to describe common challenges faced by interdisciplinary teams and recommended practices to resolve the challenges. Throughout, we provide examples from the National Artificial Intelligence Institute for Exceptional Education to illustrate team science challenges and how they can be addressed.

Conclusions: Readers are encouraged to embrace interdisciplinary teamwork to advance the science of CSD. We recommend seeking out training in team science, advocating for professional development opportunities, and institutional support for team science to maximize its benefits for the field.