What do clients need to bring to speech language therapy in order to have the greatest success? They need to be able to build a trusting relationship, in addition to having their own internal motivation. Next they need to be able to be self reflective or taught to be self reflective, in order to explore both their strengths and weakness. They also must be able to work in partnership. There is no magic cure the therapist does not know all the answers and can not just “fix it.” It is through work and understand that the greatest change will be found.
Important attributes for a successful client relationship:
- Motivation
- Ability to change
- Self awareness
Is it the same with children? When working with children it is different because children have not necessarily acquired these attributes because developmentally some, like self awareness are acquired over time. Children’s motivation if not internally present can often be encouraged through the use of external rewards, games, points, stickers encouragement, success etc. Therefore adult needs to have their own internal motivation in order to succeed while children because of there development stages can initially primarily be motivated by external factors. However at some point the motivation even for a child becomes internal if they have positive experience.