Help Them Meet their Goals

Now it was Friday at the 2016 ASHA Convention, and after an early morning meeting and my quick shopping trip through the Exhibit Hall, - the meetings continued. So far, this Convention has shown the attendee that, there's value added to therapy that asks you to do natural things; that the diversity of the membership need be nurtured; that the ability to map interactions help you interact for a desired future; and that persons can be successful at interrupting reflex pathways to modulate cough. What worlds were there to conquer still, today?? After topping the Rocky Steps last night, what? Me, worry?

Malnutrition - we have known it to be the riddle in clinical settings that is not easily solved by dysphagia protocols. Not everything the person served needs, is solved by the traditional eval and treat approach. Shune and Morano - Villhauer showed how the twain of malnutrition and dysphagia may meet, and gave participants tools for working with these complex cases as real people - so that the age-related phenomena of malnutrition might be modulated by an interdisciplinary team.

Weinstock-Guttman, Chiaravalloti and Tjaden provided insights into the 2013 revised diagnostic criteria for multiple sclerosis, the more effective treatments for cognitive impairment, and recent developments for treatment of motor speech impairment. The complications of MS are numerous, and the challenge of bringing successful outcomes to these persons served - is a challenge of getting to know one person at a time, very well. A resource for doing so is illustrated in the following:

I was very pleased to hear the paper by Devanga and Hengst, from further on down the road at UI/ Urbana - Champaign - where "collaborative referencing" after aphasia was targeted by an experimental treatment. With the person with aphasia being both the person directing, and then one following directions, data emerging suggests that the procedure may significantly improve expressive communication in these persons served.

My 2016 Convention closed with "Conversations on Death and Dying", Carrico Mann. Her perspective on end of life issues, and how professionals in speech-language pathology may engage with these persons served, in the stages of preactive and active dying, and with considerations for different cultures, and the skill set for comforting a person served and their circles of support; the handout provided gives a good beginning list of print and web-based resources in palliative and hospice care.

There was a last swim at the motel after sessions ended, with an early flight home on Saturday. Given the weight of the sessions I attended, it could be said that the sun was coming down on a world view by speech-language pathology - alternatively, the sun may be coming up on another.