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134 JCPSLP Volume 18, Number 3 2016 Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech-Language Pathology
• Running training sessions for teachers and parents
on Saturday mornings on various topics, such as
“ASD”, “How to feed children with cerebral palsy”, and
“Developing language skills in children using picture
stimulation”. I have developed a number of resources
for parents (e.g., books on helping children’s language
development).
• Teaching nurses and doctors at the Rehabilitation
Hospital in Đà Nẵng about ASD, and then demonstrating
and coaching them in skills such as how to observe a
child, help a child make eye contact, increase attention,
games to develop children’s play skills.
• Teaching nursing and psychology students at
universities in HCMC about rehabilitation for people with
various communication disorders (hearing difficulties,
speech sound disorders, stuttering, language disorders).
• Contributing articles about communication and
swallowing disorders and speech therapy to hospital
websites; for example articles on “Child language
development processes”, “Hoarse voice”, “Fussy
eaters”; and sharing articles on my Facebook page (see:
.
• Participating in Vietnamese television talk shows. VTV9
channel has a talk show about children, which includes
medical professionals and parents. My hospital’s
board of directors assigned me to present the topic
on language development of children, how to identify
problems and help children develop language. On HTV7
I was asked to introduce speech therapy in Vietnam
and the types of disorders that need speech therapy
intervention. I also talked about support Vietnam
receives from Australian speech therapists and the Trinh
Foundation.
• Collaborating with cleft lip and palate surgery groups. In
trips to regional areas with Operation Smile, I coached
teachers and medical staff about assessment and
intervention methods for children with cleft lip and
palate.
Focusing initial service development efforts on community
education and advocacy activities as described has been
essential to my experience as a newly qualified speech-
language pathologist. The vignette illustrates culturally
acceptable means to educate my colleagues. This has
increased their knowledge and trust in this new profession
of speech therapy and so they now refer clients to the
speech therapy department. Clients also contact us directly
and teachers in schools refer clients to us for intervention.
Discussion and conclusion
The vignettes presented have common elements for
consideration. Significantly, they all focus on educating
others, from the Art Group which educated family members
and the general public through the engagement of art
students and the launching of an art exhibition (Vignette 2)
to educating a range of health and education professionals,
university health students and the general public (vignettes
3–5). Li Thi Dao’s education of the general public through
television, Facebook and other media is impressive in its
reach, creativity and generosity of time and effort. Educating
others about the speech-language pathology profession
and what it can offer is essential, and not just in a country
newly establishing the profession and its services.
Vignettes 4 and 5 also highlight indigenisation of curricula
and SLP resources. The authors adapted what they had
children with complex disabilities, (d) red flags for the need
for speech therapy intervention for children with speech
sound disorders, (e) augmentative and alternative
communication, (f) working with parents, and (g)
behavioural management.
In addition, we included the Đà Nẵng participants in
clinical practice sessions with our patients. Thanks to our
experience in working with Australian speech therapists
during the clinical terms of the speech therapy training
program at University Pham Ngoc Thach, we had
accumulated experience that we could apply in the clinical
training of the participants. We started by having them
observe sessions, then plan for and deliver parts of session,
gradually taking on responsibility for planning and delivering
whole sessions under our supervision. Towards the end of
the training block, we had them teach parents strategies to
help their children develop language and manage their
inappropriate behaviors at home.
By the end of the training course, the four participants
had been involved in 600 sessions of speech therapy
practice with more than 100 patients with language delay,
ASD, cerebral palsy, hearing impairments, cleft lip and
palate, and Down syndrome. At the end of the block,
participants needed to achieve 70% as a pass on two
theoretical and practical examinations, and submit one
assessment report and one treatment report for patients
they had managed. On completion of the course, the
participants received a certificate issued by CH No.1 for
completion of the course “Basic Paediatric Speech Therapy
Practice”.
Despite being faced with many challenges in terms of
time and work pressure, we strive to provide high-quality
training for colleagues throughout Vietnam in order to
increase public awareness of the speech therapy profession
and quality of speech therapy services provided to patients,
and thereby, contribute to increasing the quality of life of
patients with communication and swallowing disorders
in Vietnam. This vignette illustrates indigenisation and
cultural adaptation of a western curriculum for delivery in
the Vietnamese context, making best use of the available
Vietnamese health workforce to deliver sustainable services
while a specialised speech-language pathology workforce
is educated in Vietnam.
Vignette 5. Using all available
media to educate professionals,
students and the community
Le Thi Dao
I have been working in Ho Chi Minh City since 1987 as a
physiotherapist, and since 2010 also as a speech therapist
at Children’s Hospital No.2. Because speech therapy is new
in Vietnam, it is important to educate others about the
profession and what we can offer. Since 2010, I have been
promoting speech therapy to colleagues at the hospital and
running information and education activities for the
community. For example, I have been:
• Presenting at regular meetings with the hospital board
of directors and heads of departments about topics
such as “Introducing speech therapy in Vietnam” and
“Speech therapy intervention methods”
• Introducing colleagues at the hospital to speech therapy
by inviting them to observe speech therapy sessions
and discuss cases.