October 22nd, 2005
Genre 5 Interview Transcript
(Note: In this interview Kim is a speech-language pathologist and Mary is the wife of a man who has Broca’s aphasia.)
Kim: Good morning Mary. How are you doing today?
Mary: Pretty good. How about you?
Kim: I’m doing good. Paul is doing really well in therapy. He is trying very hard and I can already see some improvements. I finished therapy a little early with him today so that I could talk with you. I know it is hard to communicate with him right now and I thought I would share some tips with you that would make it a little easier.
Mary: Oh that would be great! I love him so much and will do anything to help.
Kim: That is good to hear. Supportive relationships are very important during recovery. Studies have found that the more empathy the family members have the faster the recovery process will be. (Robertson and Suinn as cited in Luterman, 1996)
Mary: Well if that is the case he should be healed by now (laughs).
Kim: (laughs) Unfortunately, it’s not quite that easy. There are a lot of things that come into play. It will help though. So today I’m going to go over some simple things that you can do to take the burden of communication off of him. Then, at the end we will practice using the techniques. If you have any questions feel free to ask them at anytime.
Mary: Sounds good.
Kim: Ok. The first thing you can do is make sure you have his attention before you begin speaking. (National Aphasia Association [NAA], 2005) You can do this by calling out his name, making eye contact, or if you are beside him you could gently touch his arm, anything that will let him know that you are talking to him.
Mary: That’s pretty simple I think I can handle that.
Kim: It will also help if you can eliminate any background noise, like the television or radio, when communicating. (NAA, 2005)
Mary: That will be hard because he loves to watch television, especially football.
Kim: Well you don’t want to take anything away that he enjoys so maybe avoid talking during that time. And you don’t have to completely stop watching television. Just when you have something important to tell him or you feel like talking with him turn the TV down or off. When driving it is also a good time for you to communicate and it will make it easier for him if the radio is not on.
Mary: Ok that will work.
Kim: When talking to him you don’t need to speak louder, but it will help if you can keep your sentence structure simple and talk slower. It will also help if you emphasize important words. However, you don’t want to talk down to him, keep the conversation at an adult level. (NAA, 2005)
Mary: What do you mean keep the sentence structure simple?
Kim: A lot times people with aphasia use the content words to figure out what is being said. They assume that the words follow the basic word order of English, which is the person or thing performing the action comes first, then the action, and lastly the thing that is acted on. For example, “The dog stole the steak.” (Fodor, 1999).
Mary: So if I was telling him I saw his granddaughter I would say “I saw Suzy.”
Kim: Exactly.
Mary: Ok.
Kim: It will also help him to understand you if you use gestures and visual aids. If you see he did not understand you, you can also repeat what you said. (NAA, 2005)
Mary: Ok. So what can I do to help him speak better?
Kim: Well, you want to allow him to use other ways of communicating when he is having trouble. He could try writing, drawing, gestures, and facial expressions. If you ask him choice questions you could write out choices and let him point to the correct one. It is also good to ask him yes/no questions. Sometimes these responses come out ok because they are automatic. (NAA, 2005)
Mary: Yeah, I’ve noticed when he does not have to think about what he is going to say it comes out better. I think that will really help.
Kim: When he does try to speak make sure you give him plenty of time. Try not to speak for him. If you see he is having a lot of trouble and getting frustrated ask him if he would like some help (NAA, 2005).
Mary: So if he wants my help I can help him?
Kim: Yes, definitely. If he wants your help, do whatever you can. Just make sure he wants your help before you speak for him. You want to make communicating a pleasant experience. Praise all attempts at speaking and do not criticize or correct what he says. His speech is not going to be perfect. (NAA, 2005)
Mary: Ok. I think he’s been getting frustrated with me because I’m a little overprotective of him now. I just don’t want anyone to make fun of him. Should I be so protective of him?
Kim: No, you want to let him be as independent as possible. Try to go about your normal activities. You do not want to keep him away from people because that can cause him to feel depressed and left out. (NAA, 2005)
Mary: Oh, well we do not want that.
Kim: No, you want him to be included in the family and live as close to a normal life as possible. So, why don’t you try the things I’ve told you today and let me know how it works. If encounter any problems or think of any questions please contact me, you have my number.
Mary: Ok, thank you so much! I really think these tips will help Paul and I be able to communicate better.
Kim: I hope so. You have a good weekend.
Mary: You too. Bye.
Kim: Bye.
Posted by KimLucas at 11:12 PM | 2 comments
Miller216
Kristen (genre 5)
Voice: The voice is of Kim, the speech language pathologist, talking to Mary, the wife of the client.
Audience: The transcript will used by the wife as a reference.
Say back: Kim, the client’s speech language pathologist, is informing Mary, the client’s wife, about ways in which she can help her husband function and feel more comfortable with Broca’s Aphasia.
Bless: Great job with presenting the proper techniques for dealing with the everyday issues that Broca’s Aphasia patients deal with everyday. It really makes the reader feel confident that what their reading was written by someone competent in this area of study.
Address: Citing resources in the transcript after comments made kind of makes it seem less realistic. I’m not sure if this is protocol for this assignment or not, but they make it seem more informal. Also, mentioning why the wife, Mary, needs to make sure her husband is paying attention when she speaks to him might add a little clarity to the reader as to why this is necessary.
sirk4
Audience: General audience
Say Back: This is an interview transcript that describes a conversation that had taken place between a speech pathologist and a client's wife. The speech pathologist is giving the wife tips on how she can better communicate with her husband and how she can help him communicate.
Bless: This interview was laid out really well and it seemed to really flow. I found your instructions to the client's wife very simple and easy to understand. The conversation very seemed natural.
Address: You did a very good job on this genre, but I am not sure it is an interview. I may be wrong, but I thought the interview transcript would be more question-and-answer between the client and clinician or even his wife, but would be more about answering questions that the clinician had about the client, or questions the client had for the clinician. I am not sure I am right, however. I see this more as a therapy session where you could bring the client's wife in and show her how to do these things with her husband in therapy.