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From: Ellen-Marie Silverman
Date: 15 Oct 2012
Time: 19:09:19 -0500
Remote Name: 76.228.192.184
[[how you, as an SLP, can encourage an adult if he or she doesn't want to be in therapy. It is easy to sort of "trick" a child into not realizing that he or she is in therapy but an adult knows better. Is there anyway to make an adult want to participate in therapy or is it a futile effort?]] ... Hello, Catherine. Nice to meet you! ... Absolutely. Adult clients differ from clients who are preschoolers, children, or teens. An adult with a stuttering problem will seek therapy (or not) on his or her own. When they come for therapy, they know they are in therapy, and they have a reason for being there. As I wrote in "Why Seek Therapy," they may be aware of their real reason for seeking therapy or they may not. Just like everything else in life: Nothing is what it initially seems. And a person who seeks therapy may not be seeking to change. So, one of the first and most critical decisions the speech-language pathologist needs to make about each client who presents himself or herself for therapy is to discern WHY they are seeking therapy by answering the question: What do they want to get out of enrolling in therapy? ... Some others who have posted on this TOC also have asked me how to work with an adult, for instance Rebekah, the poster just before you. So, Catherine, let me make some suggestions to you: (1) Look over my response to Rebekah and, possibly, my responses to some other students as well to see if it/they contain information useful to you, (2) Reread "Why Seek Therapy" because I think there is some information related to your concern that, perhaps, you over-looked (my apologies if I my writing was unclear) especially in the section "Being Honest with Ourselves," (3) Take a look at your textbook(s)in the intro to communication disorders/speech pathology course you took or are taking for whatever information it/they may contain about the nature of therapy and the role and responsibilities of the speech-language pathologist in general and in relation to clients of varying ages, and (4) Scan the text edited by R. Fourie entitled, "Therapeutic Procedures for Communication Disorders" published last year. (It's available on Amazon and has a "Look Inside" the book feature.) ... Altogether, I hope I have pointed you in directions that may help you find information you can use to answer your question. Best wishes to you, Catherine. Ellen-Marie Silverman