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Speech and language therapy: a healing profession?
Author(s) -
DUCKWORTH MARTIN,
CARPENTER SAMANTHA
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
international journal of language and communication disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.101
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1460-6984
pISSN - 1368-2822
DOI - 10.1111/j.1460-6984.1995.tb01755.x
Subject(s) - viewpoints , psychology , intervention (counseling) , interpersonal communication , speech language pathology , anxiety , psychotherapist , quality (philosophy) , social psychology , linguistics , epistemology , art , philosophy , psychiatry , visual arts
Just what is it that speech and language therapists do? The answer to this question has been sought from a number of different viewpoints and sometimes, perhaps particularly from within the profession, by people concerned about the intangibility of communication. One result of this has been the increasing emphasis on understanding the complex linguistic and interpersonal skills and behaviours involved in communication. Therapists have been greatly aided by such advances. Nevertheless, questions about the efficacy of therapy continue to be posed and sometimes with what seems like greatest anxiety from within the profession itself. Does speech and language therapy do any good? Of course there are problems we deal with where an improvement both in measureable linguistic terms and in terms of the client's quality of life are easily discerned. There remain, nevertheless, what appear to be greyer areas: clients may not be making the quantifiable gains but there seems to be something happening within the person. They may appear more positive about themselves and their family members are similarly pleased with this ‘progress’. Eugene Cooper (1986) used the expression ‘By our frameworks, we are hung’. As a profession we have come to understand a number of frameworks within which the problems of communication can be understood. We would be the first to acknowledge that the theoretical understanding of problems significantly affects the way in which we attempt to examine the outcome of intervention. In this paper it is suggested that a pervasive part of the work of the speech and language therapist has to do with healing. Healing can take many forms but, in a critical way, it has to do with the relationship between client and therapist and the way this can foster the client's self‐esteem. Though this is a term which some may find worryingly unscientific there are also problems with the word ‘cure’ in relation to many aspects of our work. In this paper we will use data collected in a recent survey by the second author to illustrate the work the first author has carried out over 12 years with (mainly adults) who have fluency problems. The move from the framework of fluency to one in which aspects of healing are considered will be described. Perhaps, in addition to the many technical skills we have developed, speech and language therapists are also healers.