Using Silence to Listen

The most precious things in speech are the pauses
~Sir Ralph Richardson

I share this quote today to remind us to remember the pauses when having a conversation. This is especially important when talking with a child or an adult with speech difficulty. So many times we "self-talk" in an attempt to fill in the space when communicating with someone with a speech impairment but, more often than not, that pause is what they need to take their turn in the conversation. The silence may be just the opportunity they are waiting for in terms of attempting to speak. It is also important to remember that their turn is not limited to words - watch for facial movements, gestures, and body language and acknowledge the meaning within the exchange. Something as simple as an eye gaze towards a photograph or picture can speak volumes if we respect the pauses and take time to listen.

Are You Listening?

I went to the Listening with the Whole Body conference this weekend for a refresher and am so glad that I made the effort. I use the program with quite a few of my kids and feel that is an excellent approach to improving the function of the auditory system, which impacts both physiology and behavior. When I incorporate Therapeutic Listening into a comprehensive speech therapy treatment program I have seen significant improvements in attention to task, suck/swallow/breath synchrony, motor planning, sound/phoneme production, connected speech production, information processing, and social language usage.

In a nutshell, Therapeutic Listening is a sound-based intervention from the sensory integration treatment perspective. Because of the many connections between the auditory system and the brain, sound can affect changes at all levels of the body via access to the nervous system. These changes include improved posture, movement, and engagement; all of which lead to improved communication.

Therapeutic Listening programs must be tailored to each client and the selected music must match the identified needs. There is no formula for use – this diagnosis/this CD – rather it is adaptive in nature and based upon an individual’s response to certain CDs. It is a powerful tool for “waking up” the auditory system and, in my opinion, providing a foundation for speech and language learning.

More information on Therapeutic Listening can be found at www.vitallinks.org