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| Mark A. Ittleman The Teaching of Talking |
Dear Mark,
Thanks Mark for offering the webinar last night. It was very interesting and it inspired me to change my therapy techniques and focus for my patients. In fact, today, I spent a whole session with a pt (with global aphasia) having a conversation with her about how her night went the night before (she didn’t sleep well) and then we talked about her family. She was able to communicate more than I thought she would. I found out information about her son who is serving overseas and her daughters and grandchildren. Also, she was much more engaged throughout the whole session than yesterday. At the end of the session, I brought her to meet her daughter. I gave her daughter some examples of ways that I stimulated language. The pt and I tried a few exchanges with me using embedded questions, which she was successful with. Her daughter was surprised and elated that her mother was saying some words and then gently listed her mother on the the forehead. It just warmed my heart! It was a great moment and I feel it was all thanks to the information you shared during the webinar. So many thanks for that!
I am interested in learning more about how to provide this kind of therapy. I received the free screen, which appears to be geared toward caregivers at onset of therapy. What is available for me as a SLP in regards to training?
With sincere thanks,
Tracey Gauthier
Speech-Language Pathologist
Lafayette, LA
Follow up Note:
Dear Mark,
Thanks for replying.
I feel comfortable with my evaluation methods: I always get a language sample, audio recorded, to analyze later. I gather data such as MLU, complexity index, percentage of complete sentences use, and document on percentage of content words vs overall words, etc… I have felt a desire to change my therapy methods over the recent years, with a focus on more functional, contextually based therapy methods. I have a great article that discusses that (can’t recall the source at the moment). Also, I have obtained articles discussing the Life Participation approach in treating aphasia. Although I’ve been exposed to these methods by reading about them, I still fall into the old habits of writing specific goals targeting a specific skill and sometimes fail to step back and look at the bigger picture: which is the importance of conversation skills. I feel most therapists have been trained to move up a hierarchy starting with basic, specific skills such as picture/object naming, phrase completing, etc.. and build up to conversation practice later. Now I’m realizing that it’s OK to start with targeting conversation right away, even if the pt is low level. It’s a process, but I’m catching on! I will definitely locate your Facebook page. I look forward to inquiring about the videos when they become available. Sure, you can share my letter.
Much thanks,
Tracey
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