As mentioned in my first post, I am doing language therapy with my client T. T’s goals include increasing mean length of utterance, answering yes/no and who and what questions, and learning vocabulary. Each of these goals are addressed in similar ways throughout the sessions. I mentioned before that I read books to T, but I also incorporate a lot of play therapy. I have tried to make the play therapy structured but also as natural as possible. I usually pick an activity such as play dough, blocks, Mr. Potato Head, etc. Then I play along side T while asking him questions and talking about what we are doing. I also expand on T’s utterances and answers during play. My supervisor has suggested this method of therapy because she feels it would be most effective for a child of T’s age and skill level. T seems to be very receptive to this type of therapy because he enjoys keeping busy and going from activity to activity, and that is made possible with various options for play. Another positive about this type of therapy is that it is really helping T’s conversational skills and reducing his echolalia which was the main request of his parents at the beginning of the semester. According to an article by Eisenberg (2004), the children with whom structured communicative play has been used have been very successful in reaching their treatment targets for specific language aspects in conversational speech outside of therapy.
Overall, play therapy has proven to be successful for T. He has made improvements on each of his goals and enjoys coming to therapy twice a week because the activities that we do are fun for him. His mother also seems pleased with the results of our therapy thus far and has indicated that T’s language skills have even been improving at home.
Reference:
Eisenberg, S. (2004). Structured Communicative Play Therapy for Targeting Language in Young Children. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 26 (1), 29-35.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
My 1st client
My client, T, is a three year old boy who has been diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder and tracheomalcia which is a weakness of tracheal support cartilages. T has delayed speech and language and has been in therapy for 1 1/2 years. He began therapy in the Birth to Three program and then started in our clinic for the Spring 2007 semester. T's past therapy has proven to help him significantly. He has become more attentive during sessions. He has also increased his eye contact and mean length utterance. T is also able to follow simple direction now. However there are still many issues that he is working on overcoming.
T has been specifically working on language in therapy. Some of T’s goals in treatment right now are to answer who and what questions and increase mean length utterance. These goals are often addressed through a variety of activities. I will often ask T questions and initiate conversation during structured play, but I also use books to initiate responses. The books that I use most were recommended by my supervisor and are from the Buddy Bear series by Beth W. Respess. I use the same books each session because I have found that T is familiar with and thoroughly enjoys the series. After researching, I now know that there are even more benefits to using the same stories consistently. Repeated reading of the same book causes the child to become so familiar with the material that he is more able to successfully discuss an understandable topic and more able to focus on detailed semantic and syntactic relationships in order to enhance his language development (Bradshaw, Hoffman, & Norris, 1998). When reading the books, my supervisor has encouraged me to ask many questions based on the material in the books and to expand on T’s answers. For example, a conversation about a page in a book would proceed as follows:
Me: Who is that?
T: Buddy Bear!
Me: Good! That is Buddy Bear.
Me: What is Buddy Bear doing?
T: Eat!
Me: Right! Buddy Bear is eating.
Me: What is Buddy Bear eating?
T: Ice-cream!
Me: Good! Buddy Bear is eating ice-cream.
By expanding on T’s answers I am helping to increase his length of utterance and his understanding of the material. According to Bradshaw et al. (1998), a study done between two preschool children showed that using expansions and cloze procedures rather than a simple question and answer condition leads to 26% more utterances and 77% more interpretations by the client.
Not only does this method seem to be effective on paper, but it is important to note that T has been very responsive to the method as well. So far in therapy, T’s length of utterance has slowly been increasing, and his percentage for correct who and what questions has also been climbing. I feel that much of this can be contributed to our repeated reading of the same stories and to me asking questions and providing expansions to T’s answers. T has seen a fair amount of improvement so far, and I hope that this continues with our future sessions!
Reference:
Bradshaw, M. L., Hoffman, P. R., & Norris, J. A. (1998, April). Efficacy of Expansions and Cloze Procedures in the Development of Interpretations by Preschool Children Exhibiting Delayed Language Development. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 29, 85-95.
T has been specifically working on language in therapy. Some of T’s goals in treatment right now are to answer who and what questions and increase mean length utterance. These goals are often addressed through a variety of activities. I will often ask T questions and initiate conversation during structured play, but I also use books to initiate responses. The books that I use most were recommended by my supervisor and are from the Buddy Bear series by Beth W. Respess. I use the same books each session because I have found that T is familiar with and thoroughly enjoys the series. After researching, I now know that there are even more benefits to using the same stories consistently. Repeated reading of the same book causes the child to become so familiar with the material that he is more able to successfully discuss an understandable topic and more able to focus on detailed semantic and syntactic relationships in order to enhance his language development (Bradshaw, Hoffman, & Norris, 1998). When reading the books, my supervisor has encouraged me to ask many questions based on the material in the books and to expand on T’s answers. For example, a conversation about a page in a book would proceed as follows:
Me: Who is that?
T: Buddy Bear!
Me: Good! That is Buddy Bear.
Me: What is Buddy Bear doing?
T: Eat!
Me: Right! Buddy Bear is eating.
Me: What is Buddy Bear eating?
T: Ice-cream!
Me: Good! Buddy Bear is eating ice-cream.
By expanding on T’s answers I am helping to increase his length of utterance and his understanding of the material. According to Bradshaw et al. (1998), a study done between two preschool children showed that using expansions and cloze procedures rather than a simple question and answer condition leads to 26% more utterances and 77% more interpretations by the client.
Not only does this method seem to be effective on paper, but it is important to note that T has been very responsive to the method as well. So far in therapy, T’s length of utterance has slowly been increasing, and his percentage for correct who and what questions has also been climbing. I feel that much of this can be contributed to our repeated reading of the same stories and to me asking questions and providing expansions to T’s answers. T has seen a fair amount of improvement so far, and I hope that this continues with our future sessions!
Reference:
Bradshaw, M. L., Hoffman, P. R., & Norris, J. A. (1998, April). Efficacy of Expansions and Cloze Procedures in the Development of Interpretations by Preschool Children Exhibiting Delayed Language Development. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 29, 85-95.
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