Gardening aids in speech therapy: a primer

1. Look at your treatment plan, the blueprint for what needs changing with therapy.
2. Example: "the patient will name on demand, ten of ten objects common to her/his environment, with vocal/gestural/tactile/olfactory cues provided 100% of the time".
TELL ME THE NAME OF THIS!

3. That is treatment at the level of IMPAIRMENT of bodily function. When you see significant improvement of that behavior, you want to help the person take this skill set back to real life. Gardening allows the client to ease back into real life, or the PARTICIPATION level of function.
4. So, when it comes to identifying summer annuals that must be removed from garden beds, one needs to name these plants.
5. Your client will practice naming these summer plants:
A. Tomato

B. Zucchini
C. Cucumber
D. Eggplant
E. Marigold

F. Basil
G. Pole Bean
H. Cowpea

I. Bell Pepper
J. Corn
6. If the client does not spontaneously say the name of the plant when seeing it, a card can be produced which has a COLOR PHOTO of the plant, the PLANT's NAME written in BOLD PRINT adjacent, and some general information on the plant's LIFE CYCLE below.
7. The client can match the photo to the plant, or -
8. The client can imitate your naming of the plant. 
9. Successive experiences in the garden allow you opportunity to increase the client's skill level, to meet the goal set in the treatment plan.
10. Dig we must!

the only constant is change

There's a cold front coming tonight, we were reminded as the staff meeting for our university's speech clinic wrapping up. Make sure the kids are wearing their coats and hats and gloves when they leave!
I was later that morning to remind my team of speech-language pathologists that - with the freeze warning for tonight, our adult gardening group MUST soon get the summer annuals out of their garden beds. Why? There are fall and winter plantings to be done. Keeping in the remnants of summer annuals may be exhausting the soil. The garden environment, rather than reverting to "nature", benefits from thoughtful management that brings healthy growth of what is desired year round. Return on the investment made by our clinic administration, to get us started on this crazy adventure in the first place.

 And oh YEAH - have we had returns! Sidestepping the stragglers at our department meeting, we're off to mark the change of seasons! That is the beauty of having a teaching garden at the speech clinic. You never exhaust your imagination for activities. Children and adults are transformed by digging in the dirt. The increased visibility of speech therapists with the approach to gardening, makes the opportunities for recruiting energetic staff much easier!

There were tomato, basil and marigold plants to remove today. Many other annual flowers and vegetables had had their times, but most clients, students, the faculty and staff, our customers and families alike -they preferred their tomato fix. Our group arrived on time and was ready. Gloves, tools, an apron to protect the clothing, and therapy tools for each group member to help them complete their work. Every client was paired with a student to reinforce concepts and strategies trained in therapy rooms. They were to be communicating  about tomatoes! There were photos and concise written descriptions, for each sequence of the gardening process. For example:

PICKING A TOMATO:

1. Select a tomato that has the best shape and color.. They are firm and shiny.
2. Take the tomato in your fingers, and GENTLY pull away from the vine.
3. The tomato will POP off the stem, when it is ready to be picked.

The written guide is accompanied by a demonstration: I will do it, then watch you do it. Showing someone how to do something seems almost foolproof, but - one never stops learning!

It is so easy to keep data on how easily each client completes the tasks, and what level of cueing each person required to complete each task. What made the task remarkable today was - we got to eat our work in a salad!

why garden in therapy?

Gardening in therapy - how unusual! Why do it?

* CONS
** Gardening requires, above and beyond the training afforded CF candidates, additional exposure  and additional training (above/beyond SLP grad training), experience, and knowledge of gardening equipment, materials and supplies.
** Gardening also requires knowledge base and skill set for using hardscapes (base soil v raised bed v containers v hydroponics); those SLP's learning by doing may benefit from guidance by professionals in horticultural/design professional to have hardscapes that are desired for one physical setting, selected :
** requires additional knowledge base and skill set for growing plants; horticultural professional as consultants to SLP's
**  _ for pests and their appropriate management
** _  requires physical aptitude to complete typical gardening activities
** _ requires cognitive aptitude to plan and execute garden design
 ** __ dilutes the effectiveness of SLP in the clinical settings where hort is available
** _ challenges any SLP operational or capital budget, already stretched by consumable materials/supplies
**_ a challenge to daily SLP productivity

*PROS
**        it brings increased visibility to the field of SLP, in all the work settings where these professionals exist, in a manner not previously afforded. Increased public visibility may assist the gardening SLP in marketing, fundraising and program development in the larger community.
** gives SLP a laboratory for treatment at the level of participation, where component skills for communication, cognition and swallowing are synthesized into the 'stuff of everyday life'.
**_ A laboratory for swallowing disorders? Yes, since one pivotal variable in treating swallowing problems , is to provide food the person will eat. A functioning vegetable garden gives the SLP clinician options for growing, harvesting, cooking, preparing and presenting the food; a new SLP skill set!
** allows the SLP to tap into physical activities not always seen in the treatment room, but that co-occur with communication, cognition and swallowing to meet a social need
**allows the SLP to market her/his services more easily to patients, family, rehab team, physicians, facility staff and administration, payors, the general public. Are there great gardening therapy outcomes? Get them out there.
** provides the SLP opportunities to expand her/his skill set and knowledge base to interact with the clinical population, using gardening activities in ways not usually available through the clinical process;
** affords the SLP access to innovative and fun activites at relatively low cost; benefits of which can be shared w/ the person served
** empowers the SLP to stress that any real life environment in daily life is a potential therapeutic setting; the skills and imagination of the SLP and her/his colleagues, are the sole limits of such a program.