I was selected for the HCPC Continuing Professional Development audit, so I’ve been reflecting on how we apply what we learn to our therapy. As I put together my CPD “portfolio” I noticed some common features of the CPD that I’d found most useful. I’ve used these common features to make my new conference an effective learning experience. 

I needed to demonstrate that the CPD I’d done:

• contributed to the quality of my practice and service delivery and,
• benefits the service user.

What makes learning easy to apply in therapy?

As I reviewed the entries in my CPD diary, I began to see some patterns. The learning I was able to apply immediately helped with a specific problem I was having, or a question I needed answering. For example, several parents told me that their children enjoyed music, but I was stuck with how to use music in a structured way, or how to incorporate my communication targets into musical play. I found a workshop about using music with children with autism that gave me some specific ideas to try to solve this problem. I went away and tried the ideas from the course in therapy sessions the very next week.

In order to apply what I’d learnt, I also needed it to be specific enough. I didn’t need all the answers but I needed to have enough detail to go away and try it. My supervision partner suggested I try incorporating more input tasks into my sessions with a particular client whose progress was slower than I wanted. If she’d left it like that, I think it’s unlikely I would have acted on the suggestion. She gave me three examples of therapy activities I could use, so I was ready to go. I used the activities she’d suggested as well as some of my own, and was happy with the result.

Finally, the learning needs to be relevant to my clients. It’s obvious: it’s tricky to apply learning about selective mutism if I’m not working with any children with selective mutism. Tricky, not impossible. It takes a lot more work to filter through information and pick out bits that would be useful with other children, who may, for example, be shy or lack confidence. And it takes time, which I don’t always have directly after a course or lecture.

Join us for the Therapy Ideas Live Conference

At the Therapy Ideas Live Conference on 2nd November, we’ll be practising person-centred techniques that help clients to meet their needs. We’ve designed the day to make it as easy as possible to apply what you learn at the conference, at work the next day. We’re starting the day figuring out what challenges we have and what questions we’d like to answer. There are workshop sessions, so together we can take what we’ve heard in the talks and apply it to our particular client group. We’ll be practising some of the techniques, so we can get specific, and we’re finishing the day by identifying our next steps. You’ll be all set to apply what you’ve learnt!

Join us for a practical day of interactive learning and workshopping. Register by 19th October to save £50. If you have any questions about the conference, get in touch.

I’m organising the Therapy Ideas Live Conference on 2 November 2015 in London. Speech and language therapists will practise person-centred techniques that help clients to meet their needs.

When I started working independently I looked for ways to continue developing my skills. I hoped attending conferences would allow me to learn new skills and meet other therapists, but I couldn’t find any that seemed to meet my needs.

I was looking for something that I’d be able to apply to my work immediately. I didn’t want to focus on a particular therapy technique or listen to lots of research presentations (although these things are valuable).  I briefly considered attending the ASHA convention, but I was overwhelmed at the idea of 12,000 attendees!

Announcing my new conference!

I couldn’t find the conference I wanted, so I’m starting my own!

For four years I’ve organised Therapy Ideas Live: after work events featuring 5-minute lightning talks about speech and language therapy. During that time I’ve also helped my partner Jonathan run conferences in a different industry. Now he’s helping me put on the first Therapy Ideas Live Conference on 2 November in London.

The conference will be a positive and inspiring experience. I hope people will leave excited to try out what they’ve learnt. All speech and language therapists are welcome! There’ll be a mix of speaker presentations, interviews and workshop sessions, with time to meet new people and discuss what you’ve learnt.

Person-centred techniques help clients meet their own needs

By making our therapy more person-centred we can position communication within broader life goals and help clients to motivate themselves to make progress. We’ll see goals met faster, without relying on “one size fits all” care pathways or increased workloads. We’ll see increased autonomy in clients as they work towards their goals independently, outside the therapy room.

Come to the conference to learn how to:

• set goals together with the client that are ambitious and motivating
• build empathy with clients (and their carers) to encourage them to make choices about therapy
• take risks during therapy to encourage learning together

 Join us for an upbeat day of learning and networking

If you come to this conference you’ll be part of a small, pioneering group. Everyone will participate in the same sessions which makes it easier to chat over coffee. Our 3 speakers show joy and enthusiasm for their work; it’s going to be an upbeat day, focussing on what we can achieve with the resources we have by working together.

Register by 31 July to save £50

Register by 31 July to save £50 with our early bird rate of £150. Check out the schedule and let me know if you have any questions. I hope you can make it!

Gina Davies—who is presenting at the conference—presenting a lightning talk at one of my events.

A couple of weeks back, at the ASLTIP conference,  I led a session about how to start a speech and language therapy blog. I knew I didn’t want to stand and talk for an hour, so I included activities as we went along, which I hoped would leave attendees ready to write their first blog post when they got home.

We started by discussing why we were interested in blogging and who we wanted to read our posts. People were keen to explain what speech and language therapy is and how therapists work, share their expertise and resources, and use their blog as a place to reflect, so as professional development.

Next I showed the group how easy it is to start a blog with WordPress. I played them a video of me setting up a new blog and writing my first post in 5 minutes. I hope I reassured them that you don’t need lots of technical skills to start a blog.

We talked about titles and the importance of being clear, so that people know what you’re writing about and can find your posts. I talked about how using photographs can makes posts stand out, encourage people to read them and break up the text. I explained the purpose of linking to other websites (it helps your reader and respects your “sources”) and showed them how to do it. And I encouraged them to share their posts on social media.

We discussed finding our voice, and sounding like ourselves. Blogs aren’t reports or research papers, so don’t need to be written in a very formal style. I shared with the group a tip from Kate Kiefer Lee: try reading what you’ve written out loud (or to your dog!) Does it sound like something you’d say? If it doesn’t, go back and take out some of the words you wouldn’t use in conversation.

We discussed the responsibilities of being an SLT blogger. Then I finished up by sharing resources. I use Trello for keeping track of ideas I’d like to blog about, then when the mood to write strikes, I can just pick a topic from my list. I read other blogs (you can find SLT related ones by searching on google or using the #slpeeps hashtag on Twitter) and find the resources about blogging from Braid Creative useful.

The group got stuck in with the activities and asked some questions that made me think, thank you! If you were at the workshop and you’re now blogging, send me the link, I’d love to have a read.

Any questions about blogging as a Speech and Language Therapist? Let me know.

The Wellcome Trust hosts a series of lunchtime discussions with local scientists. Last week Dr Mairéad MacSweeney was talking about her work in the Deafness, Cognition and Language Research Centre, at UCL. The Wellcome Trust recorded a podcast of the discussion, so check it out when it’s published.

Mairéad explained that she uses brain imaging techniques, with people born severely or profoundly deaf who use sign language, to investigate language processing. In deaf native signers (deaf children born to deaf, signing parents) children move through the same developmental milestones as children learning spoken language, and show similar brain activation. Mairéad explained that (in native speakers) the brain treats language as language.

I was interested to hear that in some parts of the country parents of deaf babies are being advised not to use sign language as this will stop babies learning to speak when they go on to get a cochlear implant. Mairéad suggested that research into the plasticity of the brain doesn’t support this idea. Instead, as with children exposed to more than one spoken language, children simply need good quality early language stimulation. They can then use this first language as a base to build another language on top of.

Mairéad told us that deaf children find it particularly hard to learn to read, she quoted a figure: at 16 years old the average reading age of a deaf teenager (with normal non-verbal IQ) is 11 years. Researchers have found that lip reading skills predict reading ability, so Mairéad’s team is developing a computer game to teach young children lip reading, and investigating the impact on reading. If teaching lip reading supports reading, it could be used with other children who struggle to learn to read, such as those with dyslexia.

I asked Mairéad why lip reading predicts reading skills. She explained that lip reading supports identifying phonemes and developing phonological representations. I wondered about children with autism, some who learn to read early. These children aren’t known to face watch, and therefore probably aren’t lip reading. Interesting!

It was a lovely way to spend a lunchtime, keep an eye out for any other relevant talks and go along. 

Photo by Image Editor

A few weeks back I found myself listening to inspiring speakers at The House of Commons. These speakers weren’t politicians or the academics who’d invited me, they were children, young people and adults with language impairments. The event was celebrating 2 years of the RALLI campaign, which aims to raise public awareness of what language learning impairments are, how to identify them and how to support people who have them.

The team behind RALLI are trying to make this information accessible by publishing it on a YouTube channel. The short videos are accompanied by slide presentations with references to relevant research and the evidence base.

Looking into the future

I work with pre-school children, so I find it valuable to hear from older children, and adults who have the same conditions as my clients. It’s like being able to fast forward 5, 10, or 15 years and see what the future might hold. The people with language impairments talked about what helped them and what they found difficult. A teenager spoke about how his life at school changed when people started giving him one instruction at a time, as well as extra time to process what they’d said. A woman spoke about the frustration of having to explain what a language learning impairment is, when you have a language impairment!

Watch a video

Thanks for inviting me RALLI team, it was a wonderful evening! If you’re not familiar with the RALLI videos take a look at Dorothy Bishop explaining why they launched the campaign or here’s me and two colleagues talking about SLI and Bilingualism. 

Tuesday 12 August at 06:00 PM BST (view in your timezone), £45

Are you considering a career in speech and language therapy? Participate in this 90 minute webinar to learn about client needs, therapy techniques and skills. Find out if SLT suits you and complement any shadowing opportunities. This will help you to apply for SLT courses.

Through case studies you’ll learn:

• what needs clients have and several therapy approaches that work
• what core skills therapists need (and how to identify your existing skills that are relevant)
• how to approach therapists to arrange observation sessions (and other ways to get practical experience)
• how to find resources (books, blogs, videos) to learn more about speech and language therapy and prepare your application form.

You’ll also have a chance to ask questions and afterwards you’ll receive a video recording of the webinar.

Buy a ticket to the Introduction to Speech and Language Therapy webinar.

Since setting up in independent practice I’ve had almost weekly emails from people who want to train as speech and language therapists. They explain they need to gain relevant work experience and ask if they can come and shadow me during therapy sessions with my clients. 

At the moment I can’t see how having someone observe me carry out therapy benefits my clients, who are my customers. So I’ve been politely explaining that I don’t offer shadowing opportunities for this reason. Am I missing something? Do you deal with these types of enquires differently?

I tend to suggest that people contact their local NHS service; when I worked in the NHS we offered half day observation sessions. Back when I was looking for relevant experience before applying to train as a therapist I had lots of luck with my local volunteer centre. They matched me to a weekly Stroke club and a summer day camp for children with Down’s Syndrome. I received training and worked alongside therapists, during both of these placements.

The guidance for applying for a place on a speech and language therapy degree course says applicants need to demonstrate awareness of client needs and the skills required to work as a therapist. I wondered if I could put together a short workshop that would support the people who ask to shadow me with their applications. I could cover things like:

• an introduction to the range of clients I work with, and their needs, with video examples,
• an introduction to different types of therapy, and ways of working,
• workshop exercises to demonstrate and practise the core skills therapists require,
• a reading or resource list, particularly those written by people with speech, language and communication needs or their families,
• suggestions for how to approach therapists, to ask for observation experience,
• an opportunity for questions and answers.

What do you think? Does this sound useful? If you’re in the process of applying for a therapy degree course would you attend?

Photo by crabchick

At a recent study day (Child Talk What Works consensus event) I heard Dawn Smith, Healthcare Professionals Advisor, talk about commissioning SLT services. She suggested we tell stories about the impact our services have, with compelling headlines and concise evidence. She talked about the importance of making “effective relationships … across increasingly complex systems” and said that the services thriving under the new commissioning arrangements have “transformational leaders.” It was an interesting talk.

We need to write headlines, and stories with evidence, but we’re not writers. We need to make “effective relationships” with finance people, and non-clinicians but we don’t know what makes them tick. And there wasn’t much on how to be a transformational leader on my SLT degree course.

Dawn’s talk made me reflect on something I’ve been mulling over for a while – to be successful SLTs, in today’s tricky climate, we need to be open to learning from other disciplines, and I don’t mean other allied health professionals. We have excellent clinical skills, we have trouble with the other part of our roles, such as getting sign off to try new models of service delivery, working collaboratively with professionals from other disciplines, and balancing conflicting priorities. I think we can learn from professions like software developers, project managers, writers, religious leaders, entrepreneurs and performers.

Let me give you an example. In September I attended an improvisation workshop. One of the activities involved pretending to pack a picnic with your partner, we did this 3 times. In the first round, whenever you partner suggested an item to add to the picnic basket you had to reject it outright and explain why it was a terrible idea. In the second round when your partner suggested an item you reluctantly agreed to pack it, but explained why it wasn’t such a great idea. And in the third round when you partner suggested an item, you responded “yes, and,” accepting the idea and adding to it with your next contribution. This was an “aha” moment for me. I’ve been in so many meetings that get derailed by the passive aggressive behaviour we experienced in the second round, the “yes, but….” response to a suggestion. The third round felt energising and collaborative, exactly what I want to channel into meetings. Here was a simple, practical tool, I could use immediately in my work. Bingo!

On 20 January 2014 I’m involved in an event called #dareconf mini, the tag line is: Learn to collaborate, communicate and reflect. It’s designed for digital professionals but I think the themes are also relevant for therapists. SLTs are pretty good at reflecting but we can definitely do with some help collaborating and communicating with all these new people in our ecosystems.

The presentations will cover:

• How to communicate with compassion
• Undermining the power of our organisations
• How parts of our jobs make us feel like a fish out of water
• How to balance vulnerability and courage, to make bold choices
• Using facilitation to help people work together in times of change
• How to be a coach and a mentor

As well as leadership and how to leave your comfort zone.

Have you found it difficult to explain what your team does to people who have no shared frame of reference? Have you struggled to negotiate shared objectives with an angry stakeholder? Have you wrestled with how to phrase a project proposal, or request for training in a way that gets you your desired outcome? This day on people skills can help. Each presentation combines a personal story with a practical “how-to” you can apply to your work and you’ll take home a personalised workbook with next steps from each talk.

This full day of practical learning, includes lunch and costs just £165 +VAT if you book before 18th November. Join us. And help spread the word: email this information to friends and colleagues, post about #dareconf Mini on Facebook and Twitter, and tell your boss!

I’m considering how to explore this theme of what SLTs can learn from other professionals. Do you know someone I should talk to? Let me know.

On Wednesday evening I attended the National Autistic Society’s Ageing and Autism launch event. Francesca Happé talked about the huge gaps in the research, and outlined the things we don’t know about what happens when people with autism age. As autism was first used as a diagnostic label in 1943, the children diagnosed then are now approaching their 60s and 70s.

Saskia Baron’s brother Timothy, was one of these children. In 1961 he was diagnosed with “Childhood Psychosis” which later became known as Autism Spectrum Disorder. He is now 57 years old. Saskia talked movingly about growing up with a sibling with autism, and her worries about Timothy’s future. She described how difficult it is for Timothy to let people know when he is unhappy or in pain. More positively, she talked about how she’s observed that Timothy is still able to learn new skills. Saskia agrees that early intervention is important, however, she feels it’s not justified to remove therapeutic resources in late childhood or early adulthood, as the door to learning is still open.

My clients with autism are between 3 and 6 years old, they’ll be approaching old age in 60 years! Saskia’s presentation made me think about two things, how can I support the siblings of my clients? And how can I teach my clients ways to express their pain?

This week I also had a wonderful conversation with Keena Cummins. I’m using her VERVE technique with several families and was thinking about how to manage parents’ expectations. All the children have been making great progress due to the efforts of their skilled and perceptive parents, yet these parents often express frustration that their children aren’t using more words. Keena suggested I’m clear about what I want parents to focus on:

 “During these therapy sessions I want you to focus on his playing, I’ll worry about his talking. I want you to think about how you’re supporting him to play, explore the toys, and try out his ideas. We’ll be thinking about his words later.”

This makes sense to me, I’ll try it out this week.

The Dare conference is an exciting new event about learning how to make change, and I’m part of the team behind it. The presentations cover a range of themes that will help attendees learn skills and techniques for getting better outcomes. It’s aimed at digital professionals, I’m going to explain why the ideas are also valuable for people who work in health care (or social care, or charities, or anywhere with other people!)

At the conference people will be talking about:

• learning from mistakes,
• dealing with uncertainty,
• redefining success,
• responding to negative feedback,
• being honest,
• and failing to launch new projects.

When I think back to my time in the NHS, these were all huge issues for my team. Let me give you an example.

When a friend returned to work after her year off on maternity leave, she asked where we were up to in terms of the projects she’d been working on before she left. I was horrified to realise that in a year we hadn’t launched a single project. We’d got stuck – our bosses told us not to tell families about upcoming changes, we were making the same mistakes again and again, and judging our service by meaningless metrics, like number of client contacts. I’d spent my time in unproductive meetings where people responded: “no, but…” to other people’s ideas. No one was taking responsibility for change, including me.

There was also a blame culture. We didn’t respond to individual pieces of negative feedback in a thoughtful or sensitive way, so these escalated into formal complaints. Which led to everyone looking for someone else to blame instead of trying to figure out what we could learn from the situation.

If you’re facing these challenges today come to the Dare conference and learn how to get unstuck. The speakers at the Dare conference aren’t superheroes who have all the answers; they’re going to share their struggles and what they learnt along the way. I think these lessons don’t only apply to folk working in the digital community. We all need to learn how to really listen, to build on each other’s ideas and make changes, in order for our teams to be successful.

The Dare conference is taking place at the South Bank Centre in London on the 23 – 25 September. Check out who’ll be speaking and all the details here.

Are you trying to make a difference in people’s lives but experiencing barriers to making changes? This conference is for you. If you’re a health professional use the discount code ‘therapyideas’ to buy a ticket for £299 +VAT.

Help us spread the word about this event; send the conference details to everyone you think might benefit from support to make change. Tweet about it, or post a message on Facebook or LinkedIn. I hope to see you there!