More about my 1st client

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.