Session 8: Following Up on Assignments

Session 8: Following Up on Assignments (17:32)

Jim Andrews, Ph.D, Speech-Language Pathologist

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

After giving an assignment to family members, we begin the next session with a discussion about what happened when they attempted the assignment. We start with a solution-focused presuppositional question: "What happened when you . . . . ?

In the case of the role play illustrating following up on assignments:

• Jake’s mother believed that Jake was too stubborn to talk because he wouldn’t repeat words she asked him to say.
• Jake’s father believed that Jake would talk when he’s ready; he’ll talk when he’s four.
• Jim’s hypothesis was that Jake may have childhood apraxia of speech.

In the podcast role play, Jim began the session asking: "What happened when you tried not to ask Jake questions and refrained from asking him to say words?"

The first of the two assignments was not successful in that Jake’s mother was unable to complete it. Rather than merely saying something like, "That’s too bad, we’ll have to find something else," Jim used: listening, tracking and questions to develop a visual image of exactly what happened.

As a result, Jim was able to tailor the first of two assignments into something that Jake’s mother would be able to do successfully. Further, he demonstrated the new assignment so that Jake’s mother would know exactly what was being suggested.

In the second of the two assignments, Jake’s mother was successful in noticing ways in which Jake communicated with her in non verbal ways. Jim explored what happened with this assignment also.

This 8th podcast is the last in this series of Integrating Counseling Techniques with Speech-Language Clinical Services. We hope they’ve been helpful to you and we invite your comments and/or questions. You can contact us at jmandrewsfbt@earthlink.net

Jim & Mary