Chapter 6

PROVIDING INFORMATION:

SPECIFIC TECHNIQUES FOR

SUCCESSFUL INTERACTION

I. INTRODUCTION AND BASIC PRINCIPLES**

• Usually when we provide information, we are giving our findings or test results about a client

• It’s really helpful to have something in writing such as a report, because if we feel nervous, we might leave something out

As always…**

• We begin the meeting with a general orientation

• “The psychologist Mr. Taylor, the resource specialist, Judy Wynn, and I have all evaluated Josie. During this meeting, we will share the results of our testing with you and our recommendations for the type of support we can provide here at school.”

I like to begin with a positive statement: **

• “Jennifer is so cute and funny. She made me laugh.”

• “Derek is really polite and well behaved! I enjoyed working with him.”

• “Lucas works hard and always does his best—you must be proud of him.”

• “Erica has a such a strong desire to communicate.”

• “Mark has a lot of energy!”

• “Danika is very determined and focused.”

If a child is clingy with the parent…

If people are really anxious and tense: **

• Give the bottom line immediately.

• “I enjoyed working with Patricia. She is very sweet. I found that she has challenges understanding what she hears, and also challenges with expressing herself—I am recommending that she be enrolled in language therapy with me twice a week.”

• This can be followed by more specific details about the testing.

If people are more relaxed…

Try to summarize things (as we’ve said)

Pleeeeez don’t say things like: **

• “I adminstered the CELF-5 to Tony. He averaged in the 2nd percentile rank for all subtests.

• The subtest that presented the most difficulty was the Morphology subtest, which examined Tony’s direct knowledge of comparative, superlative, and derivational morphemes. He had difficulties with these morphemes and also with present progressive –ing as well as irregular and regular plural and past tense structures.”

Turn to the people next to you…. **

• And summarize the previous slide into layperson’s terms. Assume that the parent has a high school education.

• I will call on each group to share their summary with the whole class.

Let’s try another one—reword this:**

• “My examination of Jennifer’s pragmatics skills reveals that she has difficulty with the rules of discourse. She has challenges with initiating and sustaining conversation, including turntaking and presupposition skills.”

When we close the interview:

If we are not sure people understood what we said: **

• “When you explain this to your husband, what will you tell him? Would you share this with me so I can be sure I have conveyed everything clearly?”

If someone repeats back and has clearly not understood

accurately…• .

II. SPECIFIC TECHNIQUES FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

• Your wife is a really cooperative patient who works hard**

• I think that post-stroke, she probably won’t be able to express herself like she did before

• But because you 2 have such a good relationship and desire to communicate, we have a lot to work with here

• **“I hear that you believe there is nothing wrong with Susanna. As we discussed, I believe that she has a language impairment and needs intervention.

• But I respect where you are coming from. If you decide that you might like to chat about this in the future, here is my card—feel free to call or email.”

If someone starts to cry…

III. SPECIFIC POSITIVE STATEMENTS FOR IEP MEETINGS

• 1. At the beginning of the meeting:

• 2.

• 3.

• 4.

• 5.

If the child is not eligible for services:

It’s nice to end the meeting with: