Supporting Families and Saying Goodbye

 Alaina’s recent post about supporting receptive language got me thinking about all the different ways we support language and communication for our clients. Specifically, I started thinking about different ways in which we support families. Clinicians are educators as we teach a family about communication and language. We are listeners as we consider a family’s specific needs, cultural and linguistic background, and preferred style of interacting with us as professionals. We are also advocates as we collaborate with other professionals to best support our client’s readiness to learn.

I have supported families as they are discharged from therapy many times but I have not really considered how we best support them through this process. It seems reasonable to state that having a child with a communication disorder may be a very emotional experience. For those clinicians who may be interested, David M. Luterman’s Counseling Persons with Communication Disorders and their Families, is a nice reference. As I write and think, I can see how it would be difficult for a family to be done with therapy (and thus, perhaps, why they may require a different kind of support). I want to help families focus on the positives (e.g., celebrating their child’s success) and look forward to the extra time and resources that they will no longer be putting into therapy.

As I consider ways to support a family as they transition out of therapy, here are some strategies I am practicing:

1. Consider scheduling a time for a bigger conversation, one that is set apart from the child’s regular therapy time.
2. Ask parents to talk about their child’s communication. It seems likely they will reference how much progress the child has made which will be helpful as they begin to consider being discharged.
3. Use different media to celebrate the child’s success, and to remind parents how far a child has come.
3. Organize information about the child’s progress and current level of performance in a few different ways. Some parents may appreciate tables with standard scores, percentile ranks etc. This may not be as meaningful or helpful to other parents. Providing some written narration about the child’s progress could also be helpful.
4. Find a balance between listening to the parent while still being the expert. (This one is difficult for me!) We know parents are the expert on their child, but as clinicians we are the expert with respect to communication and language.
5. Provide tips for parents for ways they can continue to support their child’s communication at home and in the community.

What strategies do you find helpful for families as they transition out of therapy?