New Year, New Perspective

This blog post was originally published on 1/11/2020. 

The start of a new year most often means a time of reflection, goal setting, and for some - drastic changes. But what if you could make small shifts in your mindset and actions while producing greater gains in functioning? Perhaps that’s too good of a deal to be true…

Patients and their loved ones may think that there is some magic equipment or secret behind speech-language pathology activities which will ultimately lead to improved performance towards communicative or cognitive goals. There are some helpful tools, but for the most part, therapy is about being open to using new strategies in everyday contexts to make functioning easier. Once you learn, individualize, and implement the strategy, you just have to figure out how it fits into your daily routine. 

This is where the shift in mindset and actions come into play, because you will need to identify moments in your day that are also “therapeutic” in nature. Here is an example: if you are working on staying on topic, finding the right words to say, and being verbally organized, do you have moments in your day where you can have extended conversations with others? If you are working on decision-making and reasoning, are there any tasks that require you to weigh the pros and cons of an outcome? If you are working on improving your comprehension skills, are there household routines which require listening to or reading instructions? The answer to all of these scenarios is YES.

There are numerous tasks you or someone in your family perform monthly, weekly, if not daily, which can also double as an interactive therapy task. You just have to view it from a different perspective. Below are ideas of different therapy activities listed by category:

Speech Production and Verbal Expression

• Describe a scene on a TV show or in print (newspaper, magazine). National Geographic has a “Photo of the Day” archive. You can focus on naming objects or verbs, putting together full phrases or sentences, or generate a multi-sentence story based on what you see.
• Create a list with names of family members, friends, or even pets! Practice repeating them - shorter names first (e.g., Pat) and longer names later (e.g., Nicholas). 
• Use a technique called Semantic Feature Analysis, in which you describe a person, place, or thing based on six other descriptive categories. This is a really great skill for word finding challenges.  
• Talk to friends and family virtually! Make sure to have relevant objects available that you can refer to during your chat to help trigger word retrieval. This could mean the use of pictures on your phone or computer, an item you recently purchased, or maybe an item that was a holiday gift. Keep the item you are talking about close by in case it needs to be present to help with getting your message across. 

Comprehension

• Identify objects or actions in scenes, pictures, or real life by pointing, gesturing.
• Retrieve a named item when requested (e.g., during a meal, when getting dressed).
• Play games by matching words/phrases/sentences to pictures, or vice versa.
• Work up towards more functional reading, such as a simple recipe (e.g., oatmeal, hot chocolate, mug treat). Perform the steps after reading and check for understanding and accuracy. 
• Discuss concepts that may be more indirect or inferential using news articles.  

Organization and Planning

• Set aside time to plan out your day either the night before or the morning of. Consider factors such as time for: work, breaks, therapy practice, doctor’s appointments, meals, getting dressed, etc. Do you need to consider time for transportation? Is there another person whose time and needs you have to integrate within your schedule (e.g., kids, spouse)? 
• Organize a virtual call with friends and family members. You will have to decide who to invite; what virtual software to use; a day and time that works best for everyone who is able to attend; whether or not the call will be centered around a theme - there is a ton you can do here. Get creative! 
• Set up a game or movie night with your family at home. You can create a simple survey to get feedback on movies, games, and meal/snack choices. Decide on the most popular selections and begin to plan your night. Determine the order of activities - eat dinner while watching a movie? Play a game and then make a snack together? There isn’t a right or wrong answer here, it’s more about the thought process you put into your night. 

Memory

• Create simple, meaningful associations throughout your day to remind you of things to complete. For example, leaving your shoes by the door could serve as a reminder that you need to get out today and take a walk. You might leave a bill by the phone as a reminder to call and pay your bill today. 
• Talk through steps of a task out loud. Sometimes the extra feedback and repetition by saying something aloud can further assist with remembering information. 
• Write it down! Keep a daily journal. Use a planner. Keep a notepad on your desk or nightstand. Post a calendar in a prominent place in your house. Whether you want to remember what you did today, keep track of appointments, or remember to call a friend back, writing information down can be a way to keep your mind clear but the reminder present. 
• If you are a techy person, use your phone to accomplish the same thing as writing! There are tons of apps to support memory of daily events. Set an alarm and your app will remind you of when to perform your task or get going for the day. 

As the year gets underway, think about how you can use everyday routines to work on cognitive and communicative skills. Download our infographic for ideas on the go. Let CSL know in the comments how you plan to shift your perspective on speech, language, and cognition this year and what activities you plan on doing!  

References: 
National Geographic Photo of the Day Archive

Tactus Therapy Semantic Feature Analysis

News in Levels

Lingraphica TalkPath News

The Best Free Apps for Video Calls

Google Forms

Best Reminder Apps for Android

Best Reminder Apps for iPhone and iPad