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This week was the season premiere of one of the shows I have a like/love relationship with: Parenthood on ABC. My love relationship is because its good TV. My like relationship is because I can’t stop being a therapist when I watch it. So true to form, I must provide lessons and strategies for playground success.
Nonvocal learners are, most times, silent. For the sake of this conversation, let's call them silent participators. There is no directed form of vocalization to demonstrate happiness, participation, or requesting. Most vocalization is seen in signs of displeasure. For me, as an SLP, the vocalization (any vocalization) found in any form of displeasure (cry, protest, refusal) becomes my baseline. Most parents of silent participators want them in speech so that talking can occur. And yes, they are correct in that the end goal is to support talk or verbal behavior. However, there are steps to be taken before we get to that point. Here are a few things to consider for parents when wanting to move from Nonvocal to Verbal.
Most people who know me well, know that I am huge fan of Anne Sullivan. In clinical discussion meetings with senior staff "On Leadership in Therapy", I may often make reference to Anne Sullivan or a lesson that I have learned just by watching her through various media outlets. After completing assessments, holding supervision meetings with CF-SLPs (first year on the job SLPs), I began to openly discuss the fact that Anne Sullivan understood and implemented what most therapists (new and old) are still grasping to learn.
This blog post is inspired by an all too familiar discussion in online groups, parent support groups, and conversations within homes worldwide. The discussions that lead to decisions typically involve one of these phrases
I am the first to raise my hand or nod in agreement when and if the question "Do you think current top of the line AAC devices are cost prohibitive?"
For as long as I can remember, the very popular phrase "Honesty is the Best Policy". While there are many others, I remember hearing this one frequently in classrooms, in church, and at home. It is true, honesty equals peace. And peace is priceless. Recently on a listserve to which I belong the question was posed "Do we Teach Honesty is the Best Policy" to people with social language challenges such as Aspergers. The person who posed the question went on to illustrate how this particular population may be too honest when following this rule based policy regarding honesty. While it is true that honesty does not always make everyone feel comfortable, it is needed.
The American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA) defines teletherapy as "the application of telecommunications technology to delivery of professional services at a distance by linking clinician to client, or clinician to clinician, for assessment, intervention, and/or consultation."
Social Communication Therapy should be mulitlayered and meaningfully address the areas of deficit and build the strengths simultaneously! Whew...that's a lot of work and preparation on the part of the astute therapist and challenging work for the client. Still no social intervention program that expects to work beyond the round table and the walls of the treatment room should be void of parent work, community involvement, and real life social patterning and experiences.
