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Guidelines For Speech-Language Clinicians
 An interview with Rhea Paul, Ph.D., author of Introduction to Clinical Methods in Communication Disorders. From the October 2001 Disabilities newsletter.Q: What skills do speech-language clinicians need before they begin practice? A: SLPs need two kinds of skills to begin practice: people skills and technical knowledge. People skills are the ones we have before we go to school: being interested in helping others, enjoying the process of communication, and being comfortable with people with disabilities. The technical knowledge is what we learn during our training: understanding normal and disordered development, the skills to do formal and informal assessment, and the knowledge to identify appropriate intervention goals and procedures and to implement an effective program. No clinician has ALL these skills on the first day they see a client, but they will have a foundation for developing all these skills by the time they finish their graduate program. Q: How can clinical methods courses better prepare students to work in the field? A: Clinical methods courses help students by introducing them to the basic steps in clinical practice. For example, most methods courses teach students how to take a case history, how to administer standard assessment instruments, how to write behavioral objectives, how to compose SOAP [Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan] notes, and so on. In addition, these courses needs to introduce students to concepts such as ASHA's Code of Ethics, issues in multicultural settings and family-centered assessment, and intervention procedures that prepare students to face the many complexities of contemporary clinical practice. Q: How should clinicians go about working with a client whose primary language is not English? A: It is important that children have a solid base in one language before learning a second. If at all possible, language intervention for children should be delivered in the home language. If the clinician does not speak the child's home language, an interpreter can be used. The interpreter can be a paraprofessional who works with the SLP. The SLP designs a language program, which the interpreter translates into the child's home language. This kind of program can be used until the child has a solid basis in the home language. At that point, English as a second language instruction can be introduced. For adults who do not speak English and who do not wish to learn, the entire course of therapy may be delivered by the interpreter. Q: How can clinicians build a relationship with a client's family? A: The best way to build relations with the client's family is to follow the principles of family-guided practice; that is, include the family in every aspect of the intervention program. Families should be consulted before the assessment begins to learn what the family's primary questions are. They should be consulted about what assessment methods will elicit the best performance from the client. They should have input on the interpretation of evaluation results. In planning the intervention program, families should be consulted about their own goals and priorities for the client, and these should be considered in designing the program. Families should also decide how great a role they want to have in delivering the intervention. Some families want lots of "homework" and activities they can do themselves with the client; others prefer a less active role. Clinicians who work with families to meet the needs of the client within the context of the family usually find that strong relations develop. |
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