Why Seek Therapy

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Re: Childhood Encouragement

From: Ellen-Marie Silverman
Date: 22 Oct 2012
Time: 08:39:48 -0500
Remote Name: 76.228.192.184

Comments

[[Do you believe that if clients were given more options in their therapy as children, they would develop more will to attend? This could be getting to choose a particular time they'd prefer to meet with the SLP [within the available times for the therapist] or choosing an activity during therapy. If we as SLPs tried to make therapy fun for the young client and let them have a choice in how the therapy was conducted, do you think that we could keep clients from resenting therapy as adults and believing it won't help their fluency?]] >>> Hello, Rosalie. You are wise to believe considering the child as a partner/collaborator in the therapy process can ensure a happier outcome. And you may enjoy reading a middle reader novel I wrote about a 10-year-old boy who initially enters therapy for help overcoming his stuttering problem resenting being made to do so and then, because the therapist related to him as a collaborator, becaame an active and willing participant. The title of the book is "Jason's Secret," and it contains several scenes during therapy with Jason interacting with the therapist to reveal his thoughts and feelings about stuttering and speech therapy. >>> Exactly what that outcome will be speech-wise often is unknown at the outset. So that is why I believe it is important for the therapist and caregivers to be very careful about placing the child in therapy so that the child does not become an adult resentful, as you put it, of having spent years in therapy without relief from his or her stuttering problem. And that is why I tend to believe and act on that belief that "indirect therapy," where the parents and caregivers learn how best to listen and speak to the child who is stuttering that includes direct OBSERVATION of the child to monitor the child's speaking and communication behaviors is a useful practice, while saving direct therapy, where the child engages with the therapist in a therapy environment, for those children for whom indirect therapy does not seem to be having a desired effect. But indirect therapy may not seem to do so for many children during the first few weeks. It may take several months. But with willing and able parents/caregivers, this process can be an effective route to take. >>> Thank you for your interest in providing good care for children who may be developing a stuttering problem. Best wishes to you, Rosalie, in your career and in your life! Ellen-Marie Silverman


Last changed: 10/22/12