[ Contents | Search | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: Gunars
Date: 21 Oct 2004
Time: 22:36:09 -0500
Remote Name: 24.16.236.248
Dear Katherine, Dear Katherine, I believe that the speech pathologists are quite able to handle children, adolescents, and even adults by obtaining and reading a book by Ann Vernon, Ph.D. published in 2002 called “What Works When with Children and Adolescents: A Handbook of Individual Counseling Techniques”. It can be obtained from www.amazon.com or from www.rebt.org …… Just to give you an example of some text and the type of exercises that the book contains:…… “Who you are isn’t what you do (your [stuttering] behavior does not define who you are as a person…….. You are worthwhile just because you exist…… Making mistakes is natural, and each of us can learn from them….”…….. Here are a couple exercises: …….I CAN, I CAN’T (page 71….) Rationale: This is a simple intervention to help children accept themselves as individuals with both strengths and weaknesses…… Materials: 1) An empty vegetable can labeled “I Can” and another labeled “I Can’t....not yet”. 2) 10 to 12 strips of paper and 3) A pencil……… Procedure: 1 When the client discusses how dumb he feels or how he can’t do anything right, engage him in some experiments that prove what he can and can’t do [not yet anyway]. Examples might include jumping up and down on one foot for several seconds, singing a song, lifting something heavy, writing his name with the hand opposite the one he usually writes with, or reciting the alphabet backwards. Be sure to include tasks you know he can do, as well as some he can’t………..2. After he has completed the assignment, have him list on individuals slips of paper the activities he was able to do and put them in the can labeled “I Can.” Then have him do the same for the labeled “I Can’t ….[as yet]………..Process the activity by discussing the fact that all people have things they can and can’t do, and that just because this particular client can’t do something [as talk fluently], it doesn’t mean he is no good; it only means he can’t do certain things……….. …………… BURST OR BOUNCE BACK?......(page 73) Rationale: This intervention is a very concrete, visual way of helping younger clients understand that they are not like balloons-they will not pop and disappear as though they were worthless, just because they make a mistake or fail at something [like a speech assignment]…… Materials: 1) A balloon, 2) a safety pin, and 3) a Nerf (or sponge rubber) ball…….. Procedure: 1) When the client comes to a counseling [or speech therapy] session upset about her mistakes or failures, ask her to blow up a balloon and pretend she is the balloon………….. 2. Give her a safety pin and ask her to recount her most upsetting mistake or failure [or speech situation]. As she discusses this, instruct her to pop the balloon and note what happens to his “self” (there is nothing left)…………. 3. Give her a Nerf ball and ask her to recall the same mistake or failure [or speech situation, but to use the pin on the Nerf ball. Discuss what happens when she sticks the pin in the Nerf ball; the ball doesn’t disappear-the pin just makes a tiny hole in it………… 4. Explain that, when she makes mistakes or fails at a task [or has a difficult speaking situation] it doesn’t mean that she is no good and will disappear like the balloon because she is worthless; it just means that there is a minor problem to work on, as illustrated by the pricking of the Nerf ball………. There are other exercises aimed particularly at adolescents. And client therapist dialogues………I think all of these are well within a reach of a speech pathologist. These exercises would benefit also children with different speech problems…………. I DO think it is important for all speech pathologists to become at least part-time counselors…….to help their clients when they are discouraged…………..The cost of the book is around $40.00. A small investment………..It may also help you, as it has helped me to read this book. :-) ;-) ;-)……………………….. Good luck, ……Gunars