Therapeutic Processes for Communication Disorders: A Guide for Clinicians and Students

Why do many people with disorders of communication experience a sense of demoralization? Do these subjective experiences have any bearing on how such problems should be treated? How can professionals dealing with speech, language, hearing and other communication disorders analyse and respond to the subjective and relational needs of clients with such problems? In this book, authors in the fields of communication disorders analyse the psychological, social and linguistic processes and interactions that underpin clinical practice, from both client and clinician perspectives. The chapters demonstrate how it is possible to analyze and understand client-clinician discourse using qualitative research, and describe various challenges to establishing relationships such as cultural, gender and age differences. The authors go on to describe self-care processes, the therapeutic use of the self, and various psychological factors that could be important for developing therapeutic relationships. Also covered are the rarely considered topics of spirituality and transpersonal issues, which may at times be relevant to clinicians working with clients who have debilitating, degenerative and terminal illnesses associated with certain communication disorders. While this book is geared toward the needs of practicing and training speech, language and hearing clinicians, other professional such as teachers of the deaf, psychotherapists, nurses, and occupational therapists will find the ideas relevant, interesting and easily translatable for use in their own clinical practice.

Table of Contents:
Preface. Part 1. Focussing on the Client. D.Luterman, Ruminations of an Old Man – A Fifty Year Perspective on Clinical Practice. R.J. Fourie, From Alienation to Therapeutic Dialogue. R. Barrow, Shaping Practice: The Benefits of Really Attending to the Person’s Story. N. Simmons-Mackie, J.S. Damico, Exploring Clinical Interaction in Speech-Language Therapy: Narrative, Discourse and Relationships. I. Walsh, J. Felson Duchan, Product and Process Depictions of Rapport Between Clients and Their Speech-Language Pathologists During Clinical Interactions. A. Ferguson, Clinical Linguistic Proficiency: Managing Multiparty Interactions. L. Hand, Challenges to Therapeutic Processes: The Cross-Cultural Context. M.O’Malley, Exploring Gender and Power in Clinical Encounters. D. Downs, How Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists Can Foster and Combat Stigma in Persons with Communication Disorders. I. Walsh, D. Kovarsky, Establishing Relationships in Speech and Language Therapy When Working Alongside People With Mental Health Disorders. A. DiLollo, Constructivism and Adaptive Leadership: Framing an Approach for SLPs and Audiologists to Overcome Barriers to Counselling. J. Felson Duchan, The Social Construction of Relationships in Healing Interactions from Ancient Times to the Present. Part 2. Focussing on the Clinician. K. McDonald, The Transference Relationship in Speech and Language Therapy. E. Silverman, Self-Reflection in Clinical Practice. E. Geller, Using Oneself as a Vehicle for Change in Relational and Reflective Practice. E. Ross, Burnout and Self-Care in the Practice of Speech Pathology and Audiology: An Ecological Perspective. C.S. Spillers, Spiritual Dimensions of the Clinical Relationship.

About the Author :
Robert J. Fourie is a qualified speech and language therapist, audiologist and psychologist working and living in Cork. He is currently a lecturer in speech and hearing sciences at University College Cork in Ireland.

Review :
"Robert Fourie has brought together a group of leading thinkers in the field of clinical theory, who bring to life concepts that are at the unspoken heart of Speech and Language Therapy. Students, clinicians and researchers will, in equal parts, be informed and inspired." - Andrew Whitehouse, Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, University of Western Australia, Australia "This book is truly unique in its focus on the essential miasma of therapy! It attends to issues which are central to therapy whatever the condition of the patient. The role of being a therapist and developing appropriate therapeutic relationships, whilst being central to the rehabilitation process and the patient experience, has rarely been considered in depth. Reading this book will help us to learn a considerable amount about ourselves in the role of being a therapist, and assist us to strive for clinical excellence." - Pam Enderby, Professor of Community Rehabilitation, University of Sheffield, UK a