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I view the child as being defined by relationships, as an accumulation and interconnection of events, people, environments, emotional experiences, maturation, motivation, homeostatic leanings, acculturation and social constructs. As human beings, we are complicated, embedded, meaning-seeking organisms, and our education should align with the reality of our existence if it is to be effective, efficient, and efficacious.
Many speech-language pathologists attribute most of our clients' gains to our work. Then, we blame treatment stagnation on the inability or inertness of everyone else, including the child. In attributing client progress to our work alone, we neglect the presence of other internal and external factors that powerfully and authentically effect change. In reality, we spend several fleeting moments with the child each week, typically in a de-contextualized and well-controlled environment that is not well-matched to human behavior and growth.
The assertion that a students' stagnation is reflective of everyone except us is actually a more accurate assumption, except for the fact that we continue along in this mindset, neglecting the interconnected, cross-influential, holistic reality of neurodevelopmental growth and human behavior. Unfortunately, we also deflect professional responsibilities.
As clinicians, our task is to influence communicative change, and at the same time, to build relationships that will carry our students into the future with less therapeutic dependence and more naturally occurring supports. If we begin to view the child as an embedded, active member of a relationship web that influences development, then we can begin to significantly outpace maturation alone.
Gregory Del Duca
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
gregorydelduca@yahoo.com
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