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From: Kevin Eldridge
Date: 21 Oct 2011
Time: 07:58:07 -0500
Remote Name: 24.12.164.27
Meghan, Many professors teach this idea of 3 components to therapy: Assessment, Management, and Generalization. In fact, I just gave talk in Washington where I used the ASHA Guidelines for Practice in Stuttering Treatment as the basis for my talk on assessment and treatment. The guidelines also separate treatment in this fashion. That is not how I think of therapy- and I pointed this out in my talk. Why? Because often times it leads a therapist to set goals in the therapy room that the client may never use in real life.... that is... the client learns skills that they will never generalize. I've talked to many teens who say that they are very good at using strategies in the therapy room with their clinician, but that they have no plans to use them outside in their real world. In fact they may be 100% fluent with the therapist, but then they stutter away as they say goodbye to the therapist. It is great you are asking these questions now as a student clinician. My suggestion to you is to try to think of treatment and generalization as one concept. Only help a client work on a skill that they will actually use, and work in their real world from day one. If you can't bring them out to their real world, bring their real world into therapy. You might need to work harder to make this work, but your client will be better served if you do so. Good luck!