Effective Speech Therapy… what works and what doesn’t
Howdy everyone,
I’m sorry that some of you have not heard from me for a little while. Things have been crazy busy!!!
Not only am I due to have our second child any day now but I have also been running some training workshops here in Sydney for other speech pathologists to share my knowledge and experience in working with children with autism.
I really enjoyed doing the workshops and the attendees got a lot out of them, which was great!
One of the main aims of running the workshops was to help shift the way that speech pathologists work with children on the autism spectrum. I figured that if I can help fellow speech pathologists work more effectively with these kids then I will indirectly be helping many more families because they will have greater access to speech pathologists who are trained with the unique knowledge and skills that are needed for treating children with autism.
The title of the workshop is “Effective Speech Pathology… what works and what doesn’t”. Some of the key messages that I shared were:
- It IS possible to treat the social part of the triad of impairment
- When we use a developmental approach to treatment we are treating the core deficits of autism
- We must get to know the ‘individual differences’ of the child if we are to achieve greater therapy outcomes
- Parent training and empowerment is an essential part of effective treatment
- Practical and meaningful speech pathology is a must
I then went on to practically explain how I carry out ‘effective therapy’ with the families I treat, using lots of client examples and video footage etc.
In a nutshell….
As speech pathologists I strongly believe that we need to be carrying out a ‘relationship building’ and ‘developmental style’ of therapy rather than sitting these children down at a table, drilling them with specific, isolated skills that are often not meaningful or motivating for the child.
After specialising in the treatment of autism for over 12 years and consulting to many different programs, I’ve treated enough clients and seen the case history of enough families to know that this structured style of teaching does not address the core deficits of autism or lay the foundations for even more effective learning.
I am a very open-minded therapist and certainly not ’stuck in my ways‘ but I still continue to practice a relationship building style of therapy today for one very simply reason… because I find it get results.
My plan now (after our baby is born!), is to travel around the other capital cities of Australia to carry out the workshops there, then head overseas to do the same. Towards the end of the year I’ll be running more advanced training days for speech pathologists to increase their skills even further.
So along with continuing to manage Connect Therapy and creating more Training Resources I’m very excited to now be training other therapists in autism as I know that it will reach so many more families and quite possibly indirectly assist each one of you in your journey as well as other families that will follow in your footsteps!
So that’s what I’ve been up to… how about you guys?
How effective have you found Speech Therapy to be in your child’s treatment? What type of therapy approach has worked for you? I’d love to hear your experiences from a parent’s perspective.
Please leave your comments in the boxes provided below.
best wishes
Monique
Our little boy is now doing so well, he’s now going to Prep school and very happy, he still has a long road to travel & he does get bored fairly quickly but with a great family to assist in any way they can, a crowd still stresses him out some what if he is not preocupied to take his mind off the situation He’s speach and balance is all coming together, his therapist is very pleased in his progress, we can now have a logical conversation with him.
Thank you for alowing me to express my pleasure.
hello MS Monique Simpson
I am a teacher at a specialist school in Melton…melbourne…about 30% of my students are autistic. I sometimes find it very difficult to communicate but I try very hard..I feel that i can influence these students but am not sure if my methods work…I have enrolled into a Two Year diploma course studying ASD….I would love to meet with you when you travel to Melbourne…Or maybe I could arrange for you to speak to our group …..I would love to keep in contact with you…..And MY BEST WISHES WITH THE BIRTH OF YOUR BABY….
KIND REGARDS
PAT
Adam has started school..First day turned out to be emotional for me not him.Adam is loving school..Even though we still have speech and some social problems at school …But the his teacher and school staff have gone above and beyond to make Adam fit in. Desk work he connot get enough off..And with his amazing memory he just cant get enough.Our aim from the first day was to set boundries..week 6 he gets it. Im amazed and enjoying adams now journey in life..This boy is reaching for the sky.We still go to therapy every second week and speech every week.
Hi Monique.
I have enjoyed reading your e mails and thanks for your important work. If you come to Adelaide (and I hope you do) please let me know and I shall come along to your talk or if you would like to, organise for you to give a talk at the Discipline of Genral Practice here at the Uni of Adelaide.
All the best and good luck with the new baby.
I Live in Adelaide and have a 6yr old with autism..Im just wondering what kind of research or work you do with kids with austism..Adam started at the flinders uni interevention centre and now with headstart. He is presently attentending St andrews primary school.he also has speech therapy with catherine barry.also attends playtime swiming for his fine motor skills.
my son, 5 years now, has a seizure disorder, taking 3 aed’s, valparin, frisium, ox carbamazapene to control his seizures. seizure control is ok. he has autism. his speech has regressed over the last one year and now he is non-verbal. speech therapy and ot are on for the last 2 yaers, but no improvement seen, infact speech has regressed. please help us as to how to get his speech back.
Interesting to hear what you have to say about the rigid “sit at a table and talk at the child” routines that some speechies seem to practice. Recently we seem to have reached a crossroads of sorts with my son, whether due to lack of interest, motivation, challenge or a mix of all three and our ST was starting to wonder what to do next. She was saying something along the same lines as you just the other week (must have been to one of your recent workshops), and has since then sat in on our weekly OT sessionso that both therapists may actually get to meet each other; compare what goes on each week in OT and ST; share what they have experienced with my son and brainstorm with the intention of trying to formulate a more stimulating and consistent approach. That is, ST will try to incorporate some aspects (albeit limited) of OT so as to keep the sessions more interesting and motivating and hopefully stimulate more words.
As they both agree “the pot is finally on the boil and we want to keep the pot boiling, not fall back to a slow simmer just because of lack of interest or motivation”. It will be interesting to see what happens down the track.
Good luck to you and yours with the new arrival.
Good Luck with your new baby hope the birth is an easy one
i would love to know your thought on my son he has Autiam and is about to turn 5 in MAy we have recently been told that he has Apraxia and was wondering if you had any special techniques you might feel usful for a child in this possition, he has only recently started speech and now is talking in 5 – 6 word sentences of jibberish very hard to understand and very frustrating for him, the speechy feels if the Apraixa wasnt an issue they would be more likely to have diagnosed him with aspergers
thanks for your time
Would you be opening these sessions you hold to parents also ??
Megan
My daughter has PDD-NOS she is 11yrs old , we have a speech therapist from disability services, I wish I had found her years ago, she is very good at keeping my daughter motivated and dealing with her intellectual impairment and dyspraxia. She also works together with the O.T. My advice is to keep looking until you find someone who is suited to your child and don’t be afraid to move on.
Hi Monique,
I’ve just found your site and your site makes a lot of sense to me.
I would love it if your tour included Hervey Bay. We have a strong parents network here with a voluntary committee looking to bring workshops and services to the area. We would love it if you were one of our speakers!
I would be really intereseted in a workshop that talks about empowering parents to be the leading educator in their autistic child’s learning!
I am looking to buy your complete training set, just need to talk to my husband…
All the best with baby number 2.
Janine
Hervey Bay, Qld
Hi,
Monique Simpson my son is 5+ years old. Basically he could obey by our commands. But learning ability is bit confusing. He is non verbal. Now trying to open his mouth and says few words. He is undergoing special school, there speech therapist teaches the methods to speak. But what i have worried is he is going to the school for the past 1+ but still he has not able to speak well. I don’t know the methodology what the therapist does. My son is pretty good in home when i engaged with him for studies. He is most co operative and he has able to sit hours also for studies. Still i don’t know the correct path to guide my lovable child. Years are passing that could be my worry. In india basically i have resides in chennai city here the knowledge about Autisam is poor. Different doctors guides different routes. Is it good to consult Psychologist for my child.
“Good luck and God will provide all the blessings for the new child”
G.Karunakaran, Chennai