Thursday, March 09, 2006

Communication Ramps and Repairs

Jan had an uneventful day -lots of sleep-. Walter visited in the morning Mom and Louise visited in the afternoon and talked, laughed and watched Jan have dinner by herself. She thinks the food in this "joint" is not gourmet, so she objected to the unsweetened thickened cranberry juice (tastes a bit like a jawbreaker...).

The Speech and Language Therapist made a suggestion to start a "speech" journal where we can write down the dialogues Jan has with us. This would give her a broader view of Jan's progress. The journal is the green book with Jan's name on the back.

The therapist also told us that we can help Jan improve her communication by using repairs and ramps, simple talking tools when talking to her:

-To repair communication breakdowns we can build communication ramps: Jan can pronounce a few words very clearly, then the words become unclear. To help her, repeat the words you hear clearly and invite her to continue. This way she does not have to start from the beginning and her feelings of frustration evaporate.

These specific, concrete tools will make a greater joy talking with Jan while she makes progress in her recovery.

Thanks for joining in this journey.

-Fede

No comments: