Speak Out December 2018

Capacity building from within: Speech pathologists working with families of young children in children’s centres

A speech pathologist mingles amongst a group of mums, the occasional dad and grandparent, with their babies and early walkers attending playgroup. The speech pathologist gently engages parents, sometimes through connecting with their babies by noticing and describing what their baby is doing or interested in at that moment. Casually commenting on the strengths in the parent-child relationship or in the child’s natural attempts to connect, explore, move and communicate the speech pathologist says to a mum: “Oh look, he keeps looking at you. You are so important to him”. And to a baby the speech pathologist might remark: “Ooh you’re off exploring now – and just checking in to make sure mum is still there” or “I can see you are trying so hard to crawl.” One mum has been attending the baby playgroup for a few weeks and although she was initially very quiet and looked tense, with assistance to link in she has now established a friendship with another mum and looks relaxed and more comfortable talking to others. Another mum talks anxiously about her concerns that her nine month old daughter has been having smooth solids for a few months but is eating very little and not increasing her intake or accepting more textured solids. The speech pathologist discovers that her baby is still having her milk before her solids and suggests that if she wants to increase solids intake she could now offer food first. The following week mum comes back beaming, reporting that her daughter is eating more now. Following on from our article in the August edition of Speak Out about our work with early childhood educators this time we are looking at our work with families who have young children. Speech pathologists use a relational approach in children’s centres with families (and with colleagues) in order to enhance their support of children’s communication, feeding, social and emotional development. But what does this mean in practice? Well, we know that babies and young children’s wellbeing and development is profoundly impacted by the quality of their relationships with their families and communities. We support and guide parents and caregivers who in turn can strengthen

their relationships with their children. So the focus of intervention is on the relationships between the child and caregivers in order to optimise the child’s emotional and developmental outcomes (Roberts 2011; Geller & Foley 2009; Snow 2009). In children’s centres there is an emphasis on capacity building with caregivers rather than regular one on one work with children. To do this we often use a coaching approach with families that is informed by Marte Meo, attachment theory and trauma informed practice. We are involved in parent-child groups, parent groups and in individual sessions. This approach: • identifies, acknowledges and builds upon strengths; • gives information about child development that enables parents to find solutions that work for their family; and • coaches families in tuning in to their children and responding to their needs in ways that build connection. Therapeutic intentions may be to strengthen parent-child relationship, to establish naturalistic speech and language promoting strategies, to develop social skills, to encourage a positive relationship with food, to make meaning of children’s behaviour and respond to the underlying need and to support children as they learn to process their big feelings. Speech pathologists in children’s centres support those critical relationships between parents or caregivers and their young children so that children can flourish. Wherever possible, we aim to catch and reduce or resolve difficulties very early, before they build into bigger concerns that may be more resistant to change. In our final Speak Out article we will explore the concept of coaching and how it can be used with parents and education and care staff to enhance their relationships with children as well as children’s developmental outcomes.

Jane Backhouse Speech Pathologist Jo Gerangue Speech Pathologist

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December 2018 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

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