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Caregiver

Has anyone done therapy to work on social skills?

Who did you see?  What was it like?

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1
Speech-Language Pathologist

Answer transcribed from the Brightway Answers interview with speech-language pathologist Amber Kloess:


This is really important.  First of all, when you come into the speech office for a session with me or another speech-language pathologist, we do what's called script training.  This could be preparing a patient for a trip to the doctors office, or calling a local business for more information, or ordering off of a menu at a restaurant. We would be able to rehearse those scripts so you’d know what to expect and how to role play in those different areas.  And these scripts can be used in a variety of settings.


The next step would be actually going and doing those things. We can go out into the community and put the training to the test.  My job as a speech-language pathologist allows me to travel with clients to doctors offices, coffee shops, grocery stores, etc to practice those skills in real time.


Joining a support group can do wonders for social stimulation and self-esteem as well.


At home, just being able to know how to call friends and family, or to write emails professionally if you're planning to return back to work or school.  Texting with friends is a big one that I help my patients quite often with - how to respond appropriately to text messages - I feel like we can all use that sometimes.


There are always ways to work on both the social aspect of communication as well as the language and cognitive part.


One of the big things I do and also encourage family members to do is to provide honest but constructive feedback.  Offering suggestions without sounding too pushy.  


I also provide visual or verbal cues that can signal breakdowns in communication.  I have a few clients that don’t want to be told up front that they did something wrong, but a little sign or a hand wave to know that they may have had a breakdown in conversation and they can try to repair it. That goes along with awareness too.