18 Speak Out
June 2014
Speech Pathology Australia
BRANCH news
New south wales
In recognition of the International
Communication Project 2014, speech
pathologist Mimi Naylor celebrates
the achievements of her client
Christine and husband Tom.
Christine loves dancing
and tells
of a recent ballet rehearsal she went to:
“gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. Slim
men”. She gestures, “six-pack”. Her
husband Tom rolls his eyes in response.
The patter of conversation never ceases
as they compete for the listeners’
attention, the dialogue flowing with
scaffolded questions, conversational
repair strategies, sound cues, animated
gestures, and expressive facial
expressions. What you’re really watching
is the result of years of intensive speech
pathology intervention.
Christine had her first stroke at 53,
followed by a second stroke 18 months
later, the latter greatly affecting her
communication skills. I’ve worked with
Christine for nearly two years as her
speech pathologist. She is nearly
always buoyant, with a bright personality
whose slightly naughty sense of
humour makes her utterly charming.
She appeared as a guest as I lectured
to second year speech students. She
pointed to all 88 of them – “gorgeous.
Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Beautiful girls.
All of you. Thank you.” She was
thanking them for studying speech
pathology, for the difference it had made
to her life. The students were at once
charmed but stunned to think that their
chosen profession would deserve such
gratitude or could have this impact on
someone’s life.
Tom tells that six years ago Christine
was a different person. “Now she’s
quite capable of having a conversation,
being expressive and enjoying a good
bit of social life. When she was first
exposed to speech pathology, she just
mimicked. Now she can generate and
form words, sentences and answers,
as her reasoning has also improved.”
He looks to Christine to check he’s not
doing too much talking for her. “Before it
was a pretty dark hole situation, wasn’t
it babe, and you’re still recovering. That’s
the important thing. You’re still showing
different improvements in different areas,
which is a reflection of what you’ve been
exposed to with your speech therapy.”
Christine nods vehemently in agreement.
One year ago, we decided Christine had
allowed Tom to be her voice for long
enough. Christine’s eyes darted to him in
panic if she needed to communicate in
public. Speech pathology supported her
to practice useful key words and short
phrases with various visual prompts. We
role-played answering phone calls and
ordering coffees. Using the practiced
scaffolds, Christine approached a
Big W staff member and through
a combination of single words and
gestures, asked directions to the kitchen
aisle. Christine was jubilant. She exited
the store with tea towels and hair clips.
She had made an independent purchase
for the first time in over four years! Tom
would jokingly sigh that she was going
to “bleed him dry” as Christine started to
gain the confidence to approach staff for
assistance in the post office, the bakery
and the pharmacy, with interactions
invariably leading to purchases.
Pink. White. Biscuits
You’re thinking Iced VoVos, aren’t you?
Wrong. How would you find out what
Christine was trying to tell you? Tom
tried drawing some shapes and asking
questions to no avail. He took Christine
to Coles and together inspected the
biscuit aisle with no luck. Christine then
took matters into her own hands and
approached an assistant. “Pink. White.
Biscuits”, she said. “Not Coles, IGA”, the
assistant replied, “you won’t find them
here”. Christine’s ability and confidence
to communicate effectively is testimony
to the impact of collaborative working
in speech pathology. Christine is an
active participant in her life choices
and has gained a sense of freedom
towards that. Her conversations with
Tom are two-way and meaningful, and
through communication partner training,
Tom has gained the skills to prompt,
interpret, and seek alternative means to
‘converse’ with Christine. Yes, they did
get their Honey Jumbles biscuits. Sweet
success.
Mimi Naylor
Speech Pathologist Clinical Educator
The University of Sydney
Please note this article has been
edited to meet space requirements.
Mimi, Christine and Tom submitted
a full version of this story as part of
the National Senate Inquiry in to the
prevalence of different types of speech,
language and communication disorders
and speech pathology services in
Australia. A full version can be seen on
the
Christine and her husband Tom have worked together to regain Christine’s communication skills.
Pink. White. Biscuits.
