We love helping people learn functional communication skills, but…..and this may sound surprising…..we can’t do it alone! When I founded my agency, many moons ago, I founded it on a multidisciplinary approach platform. What does all of that professional “mumbo-jumbo” mean? In easy terms it means, we need the help of everyone to help the one! People are like puzzle pieces. When all of the pieces come together, it forms one whole unit. However, each professional is trained in constructing their unique part. Therefore, if only one professional works with a person who has more than one piece disconnected, then the puzzle cannot be constructed in its entirety.
Regardless of whether we are helping little people, grown people, or anyone in between, sometimes the areas of need extend beyond communication. Furthermore, when other areas are addressed and maintained, we can do our job with more ease and increased success. For example, here’s a case study about a little one: Jenny is 3 years old. She isn’t talking much at school, but she talks more at home. She lacks pragmatic (social) language with her peers and demonstrates certain behaviors, such as tantruming when she doesn’t get her way or is told “no”.
She is currently seeing a Speech Pathologist and making small gains. However, she should also be consulting with an Occupational Therapist to address emotional regulation and sensory integration as well as a Behavioral Therapist to address the tantruming. All of these professionals should work together to help Jenny learn, utilize and carryover new skills. I regularly encourage all of my colleagues, as well as clients’ family members to utilize as many other professionals as needed to put the puzzle together. Let’s not waste time but rather maximize the time we have to help our loved ones! As Charles Darwin said, “A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”
