Session 3: Open Questions and Tracking

Session 3: Open Questions and Tracking (19:01)

Jim Andrews, Ph.D, Speech-Language Pathologist

Mary Andrews, M.S., Couple & Family Therapist

Open questions require more than a one or two word answer. A range of questions from closed to increasingly more open are described in the podcast.

Solution-Focused Questions attend to positive elements rather than negative. For example, we might ask questions such as: “When is she most responsive to you?” Or, “When is his speech most fluent?” (Rather than, “When does he stutter the most?”). Or, “When is your voice quality the best?” Solution-focused questions shift thinking away from problems and toward solutions. It may give the clinician a place from which to begin or re-focus treatment and/or the client a new way to think about using techniques explored in treatment outside of the therapy room.

Tracking is a technique borrowed from family therapy that is used to gain an understanding of the interactive patterns in which a presenting situation is embedded. Helping family members change the way they relate to one another influences the development of solutions to problem behaviors. A speech-language pathologist’s influence can be expanded when s/he learns how a communicative disorder plays out in situations at school or at home.

To use this technique, the clinician asks questions about the sequence of a particular situation, and in so doing, establishes a “picture” in his/her mind of exactly what happened. One can think of developing a mental movie or video of the event. Describing situations in detail tends to create new thinking in clients, families, teachers, and clinicians.

Practice Suggestion: In your personal and professional interactions pay attention to the questions you ask. Try open and solution-focused questions and notice how the speaker responds and use respectful listening to clarify the speaker’s response to your question. Try tracking an event with a friend or client, again using respectful listening to clarify responses.

For further reading:
Andrews, M. (2004). Counseling techniques for speech-language pathologists. Perspectives on Language Learning and Education, 11:1, 9-13. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Division 1.

Practice Suggestion: Notice the challenges that you experience as practice respectful listening. What are the personal strategies that you use to stay curious, focused and non-judgmental.

References
Gough, D. (2004). Disability, loss, and grieving: Implications and suggestions for speech and Language professionals. Perspectives on Language Learning and Education, 11:1, 18-24.