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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 N

ng 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:

https://www.facebook.com/lethi.dao.77/timeline)

.

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 N

ng 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.