Janet O'Keefe

When you come to Wordswell for speech and language therapy for yourself or your child, our therapists will listen to you and establish with you a really clear outcome for therapy.  All our therapists attend a 4 day NLP Diploma course with Vievolve as early in their employment with us as possible and always within their first year.  This develops their ability to notice what is happening in interaction, both verbal and non-verbal, have flexibility within and between therapy sessions and build a deep rapport with you and/or your child in order to maximise progress and the effectiveness of therapy.  Albert Mehrabian in 1972 published research from controlled experiements that demonstrated that non-verbal signals are significantly more influential than other stimuli.  In his work Mehrabian concentrated on the face as the source of non-verbal information.  Other researchers have since demonstrated similar results with non-verbal data including the elements of posture, gestures and so on.  The key message is that 93% of our ability to communicate is not the words that we use.  38% is intonation, tone, accent, rhythm, pauses and stresses and 55% is facial expression, eye movements, muscle movements and skin colour.  It is therefore impossible for individuals, even if non-verbal, to not communicate.  With this in mind we know that the environment that speech and language therapy occurs in will greatly influence the effectiveness of that therapy.  We have therefore developed a really clear visual identity for our therapists and the therapy materials we use based on the senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.  We work closely with our Occupational Therapy colleagues to also incorporate appropriate movement and ensure that we are enhancing and developing self regulation of sensory processing rather than over stimulating.  Whenever possible out therapists wear clothing and use equipment that incorporate our colours of purple/lavender, yellow/gold/lemon and cream.  We have identity badges and lanyards and a striking Wordswell logo which incorporates shape and texture too.  The beginning and end of therapy is signalled by an auditory tone and the room and materials smell of our unique lavender, lemon and vanilla blend of scents from Busy Bee Candles.

With a Foreword from Baroness Mary Warnock, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the field of special educational needs (SEN). It contains chapters written by a range of experts on different aspects of SEN, and is full of practical suggestions for how to achieve effective, inclusive practice. Various research perspectives are considered, the value of labels is examined and the need to recognize the overlapping characteristics between different syndromes is highlighted. Chapters focus on translating theory into classroom practice, and include case studies covering the Birth to 19 age range.

There is coverage of:

- SEN and the state of research

- SEN and legal issues

- parents’ perspectives

- speech and language difficulties

- dyspraxia and occupational therapy

- dyslexia

- dyscalculia

- Auditory Processing Disorder

- Behavioural Optometry

- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

- Asperger Syndrome and Autistic Spectrum Disorder

- Tourette Syndrome

Ideal for those undertaking teacher education courses, as well as experienced teachers, therapists and policy makers, this book is a guide to understanding and supporting learners with additional needs.  Janet O’Keefe and janet Farrugia have contributed Chapter 6.