Episode 80: What Clients Tell Us They Want in Therapy with Sarah Baar, MA, CCC-SLP
Why should we care about the Participation Model for therapy? Isn’t that just something for Aphasia therapy (LPAA)? Well, if your patients haven’t been hinting about this directly to you, then researchers have been publishing on what patients want in therapy. Sarah Baar of Honeycomb Speech Therapy has been combing the literature, implementing this model, and presenting on it for about 5 years now. The fruit of that work is in a tool (The Activity Studio!) that makes implementing the participation model in therapy a snap. Today’s conversation is a review of the literature supporting the need for us to shift our focus of therapy from a solely “impairment” activity model to a participation model.
Stay tuned for our follow-up conversation where Sarah dives into what participation actually looks like in the therapy room, how this might affect goals, and an in depth look at using participation as an intervention, not just a goal of therapy (Coming September 7th, 2020!).
topics covered:
What do clients tell us they want?
They don’t want to be bored! Drill is…boring…
Sarah looks at the literature pertaining to Aphasia, Motor Speech, and Mild Cognitive Impairment
What topics do people want to talk about?
The literature demonstrates similar topics across patients with Aphasia, motor speech deficits, and cognitive impairment.
Are we actually bringing participation into therapy, or just talking about it?
Resources mentioned in the episode:
Learn more about Sarah’s Activity Studio! The product of years of diving into the literature, implementing it, and teaching on participation.
Palmer, R., Hughes, H., & Chater, T. (2017). What do people with aphasia want to be able to say? A content analysis of words identified as personally relevant by people with aphasia. PLOS ONE 12(3): e0174065.
Fried-Oken, M., et al. (2015). What’s on your mind? Conversation topics chosen by people with degenerative cognitive-linguistic disorders for communication boards. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 24(2), 272-280.
Smith, G. E., Chandler, M., Fields, J. A., Aakre, J., & Locke, D. E. (2018). A survey of patient and partner outcome and treatment preferences in mild cognitive impairment. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 63(4), 1459–1468.
Wallace, S., Worrall, L, Rose, T., Le Dorze, G., Cruice, M., et al. (2016). Which outcomes are most important to people with aphasia and their families? An international nominal group technique study framed within the ICF. Disability Rehabilitation, 39(14), 1364-1379.
Worrall, L., Sherratt, S., Rogers, P., Howe, T., Hersh, D., Ferguson, A., & Davidson, B. (2011). What people with aphasia want: Their goals according to the ICF. Aphasiology, 25(3), 309-322.
Yorkston, K., Baylor, C., & Britton, D. (2017) Speech vs speaking: The experiences of people with Parkinson’s Disease and implications for intervention. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 26, 561-568.
Sarah Baar is a practicing SLP in the state of Michigan and the creator of Honeycomb Speech Therapy. Sarah has worked for 12+ years with adults, specializing in person-centered functional approaches for neurogenic disorders. She has worked across the continuum of care, treating patients with stroke, brain injury, and dementia in acute care, inpatient rehab, outpatient therapy, and home / community settings. Sarah started Honeycomb Speech Therapy in 2016 as a starting step for her goal to bring real-life, meaningful tasks into therapy, along with evidence-based ideas, in a way that was efficient and didn’t require extensive planning outside of therapy. The name of Sarah’s project is inspired by the proverb “Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” Sarah believes the therapy we do as SLPs can impact those we work with, both body and soul.
REVIEW the podcast
You’ll earn my undying gratitude by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts! Reviews help other SLPs find the podcast. Also, I love reading your feedback! Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review,” and let me know your favorite part of the podcast. Malaho plenty!
