As a speech therapist, I work with high school children with language disorders, many of whom have emotional blocks that resulted from the disorder or caused it. People with selective mutism tend to speak a lot at home but are unable to in public. Due to a lack of language input and practice, their language development will be delayed. Some clients with language disorders will develop emotional blocks because they always feel an anxiety that they will not be understood by others, so they just simply stop trying.
Before this program, I only think of “training their language ability” no matter what, because if their language is improved, everything will be solved. However, it’s never the case.
I found that I must deal with their emotions, gain their trust, build enough rapport, and get rid of their emotional barriers before I can get them to simply talk to me in the session.
And after the program, I am much more aware of what I need to do to lower their defenses, relax them with my tone of voice, be warm and supportive, and connect with them at a much deeper level, before trying to do actual language therapy on them. Although it takes a much longer time before I can begin to do therapy, the therapy I provide afterward is more effective than before.
For the students with selective mutism, I can also apply relaxation methods to help them be more relaxed in my clinical room. For the students with stuttering, I can also apply the hypnosis tool to help them imagine themselves being fluent when talking, feeling at ease when talking and being understood effortlessly.
Although I haven’t had a chance to apply these techniques in my practice yet, I have these techniques under my belt, and I can use this approach to support the speech therapy methodology that I use normally.
Before this program, I only think of “training their language ability” no matter what, because if their language is improved, everything will be solved. However, it’s never the case.
I found that I must deal with their emotions, gain their trust, build enough rapport, and get rid of their emotional barriers before I can get them to simply talk to me in the session.
And after the program, I am much more aware of what I need to do to lower their defenses, relax them with my tone of voice, be warm and supportive, and connect with them at a much deeper level, before trying to do actual language therapy on them. Although it takes a much longer time before I can begin to do therapy, the therapy I provide afterward is more effective than before.
For the students with selective mutism, I can also apply relaxation methods to help them be more relaxed in my clinical room. For the students with stuttering, I can also apply the hypnosis tool to help them imagine themselves being fluent when talking, feeling at ease when talking and being understood effortlessly.
Although I haven’t had a chance to apply these techniques in my practice yet, I have these techniques under my belt, and I can use this approach to support the speech therapy methodology that I use normally.