Turning the Tables: Describe your experience as a client of an SLP!

I have also interviewed some people about their experiences as a client of an SLP. 
Here are their responses:

Client Response #1

My son had two experiences with speech therapy.

First, when he was three years old he began private one-on-one speech therapy. The results were quickly obvious and very encouraging. It built his confidence. It was fun. I had regular communication and did "homework" with him. The therapist worked with him at his preschool for two years and then, once he started kindergarten, we met at her house. In that setting, I sat outside her office and could hear them working. After school wasn't ideal because he was exhausted and hungry and less energetic than when they met during preschool day. But the advantage of me hearing a little more closely what he was working on was very good.

In kindergarten my son also had group speech therapy through his elementary school. And when he entered first grade we dropped the private speech therapy and decided to just go with the school program.

I noticed a regression at that point and got minimal feedback from his speech thearpist at school.

Now that he is a second grader, he has "graduated" from speech at school, but I am considering going back to private speech therapy.

Client Response #2
My daughter who is almost five now has worked with an SLP since she was born as she has Down Syndrome. The SLP worked mainly toward feeding. We worked with several different SLPs over the years. We first worked with Babies Can't Wait, but decided to try something new after a few sessions. We have worked with 4 different private SLPs and seen lots of different styles/approaches. One issue we did experience was that seemed to not have as much experience with feeding. We were skeptical at first about feeding, but we have been working with a therapist at the children's hospital and have had great success. My daughter has now been weened off of the feeding tube that she has used all of her life for 4 weeks now. The SLP that made this possible was really creative - captivating her - bringing out her personality and able to get her to participate in things that we can't at home - a lot have used incentives such as bubbles - speech aspect - getting her to blow the bubbles. She gave us different suggestions as far as utensils to use - these can make a big difference - all the different options of how to drink - sippy cup, straw were so helpful. It has been neat to see the variety of strategies that SLPs use with her. Her most recent therapist who has been successful at weening her off of the feeding tube made an important decision based on her knowledge of and relationship with "S". The therapist recommended a smoother approach to weening "S" off of the feeding tube. The SLP knew what approach was best - working on personalizing strategy/plan. She made taking the tube feed away a more positive experience. And gave us strategies we could generalize into our everyday life easily. Our SLP is very accessible - which is great when we want to ask for suggestions on the weekend - ex. can we try this? The team work between different therapists and professionals (ex. SLP, OT, PT, etc.) made our experience all the better - The collaboration has been wonderful.

Client Response #3

What has your child's experience been like with an SLP? 

"C" goes to speech three times a week for 30 mins. Two days a week, she is in a small group and 1 day is 1/1. We just upped her segments in August from 2 to 3 with the one time 1/1. She has improved greatly this year. She has been in speech for 4 years now and this year I have seen the most progress.  She does much better 1/1 and I wish she could have all of her segments like that. "C" also has ADHD so 1/1 is better for her. 1/1 segments are better also because she gets what she needs for the whole 30 minutes and doesn't have to work on other children's skills. The group has similar skills they are all working on but she might have mastered them when another student has not so there is a little wasted time there but it is ok. "C" has loved all of her speech teachers. She has had 3 different ones in four years due to graduating to pre-k out to preschool disabilities then to a new school for kindergarten.

Any advice for future SLPs working with clients? 

From a school point of view, I would love to talk to the speech therapist more. I understand as a teacher it is hard but that is one down fall I have. I get a progress report each nine weeks but it is like reading Spanish sometimes and I have to ask my speech teacher what the deal is. So I would love more contact with the speech therapist.

Any positive or negative experiences?

My negative would be having different therapists work with "C" a week. Because our county is short speech therapists, "C" sees her speech therapist 2x a week and sometimes three, but most of the time she sees a fill in for the third time. I know everyone doesn't teach the same way so having one time a week with another teacher seems like we are messing things up for her if they do not teach the same way or she might not get enough out of the segment if she is shy and takes 15 mins to open up.

What are some characteristics to you that make up a successful, professional  and helpful SLP?

In my opinion, a good speech therapist explains goals and give examples to parents. A soft spoken person seems to be better for my child. It is also important that they have patience and understand that it is a marathon not a sprint. 

Client Response #4

I have interacted with both school and private speech language therapists from birth to primary school years for articulation errors due to a moderate-profound hearing loss. At school, I had small group therapy that focused on language, articulation errors, and grammar. The therapist provided games and lots of reinforcement for participation. Games allowed me to enjoy the therapy time during a school day with my SLP and peers for something that I found could be frustrating at times. My private SLP was individualized to a one to one setting that provided more constructive feedback and positive reinforcement.  I always enjoyed attending private speech because she always had different activities each therapy session. I was always anticipating what she would be doing at the next session. They ranged from art, sensory, academic, and gross motor activities that made learning/interventions engaging and fun.

A successful, professional, and helpful SLP is one that accommodates to meet the individualized needs, strengths, and interests of the client. Differentiation and using the interests/strength of the client are the keys to providing the greatest impact on the client.  All clients learn differently. If at first you don’t succeed, look for another strategy that works for the client. Use the strengths/interests to find what engages your client. The more engaged the client is, the greater the interventions results will be. A SLP needs to be understanding and nurturing for both the client and parents.  Communicate effectively and connect with the client and his/her families. Most importantly…enjoy your job!!