Page 12 - Routines-Based Early Intervention Guidebook

Routines-Based Early Intervention Guidebook

3. Remember that collabora on is a process.
When you learned about your discipline, even if you were immersed and bombarded
with informa on, your actual understanding and skills were formed across many months, even
years. Collabora on is not a ‘one‐ me thing.’ It requires pa ence, empathy, and a true
commitment. As you can see, it involves many of the quali es we use when working with the
children themselves!

4. Take risks.
We are accustomed to teaching children. We give them instruc ons with great ease
and comfort. We ask them to do things without hesita on. In working with caregivers, the
nuance of achieving a working rela onship varies based on personali es, cultural factors, and
learning styles. Regardless, it requires some level of confidence in the value of what you know
and do, and the importance of sharing your ideas with other adults. Invariably, this requires
some level of risk‐taking. Do it. Be up‐front with people. Tell them that we will try things
together, some of which will work be er than others. We take risks together as a team.
Change requires trying new things and taking risks.

Now, it’s me to get to work. Let’s look at one speech‐language pathologist’s
experience with “Juan.”

Juan was referred for a speech and language evalua on when he was 2 years, 7
months old. He was using approximately 12 words. He was also fairly defiant,
easily frustrated, and had reduced a en on and play skills. I had the pleasure
of collabora ng with his mother, who voiced frustra on and concern at the
outset of therapy. His mother had been doing her best to work with Juan, and
was observed trying to have him repeat words, some mes while withholding
objects. As could be expected for anyone without specialized training in
communica on interven on, her use of strategies and specific cues with Juan
was limited.

Enter: the Rou nes‐Based Early Interven on Guidebook

I worked with Juan’s mother on the basics of communica on interven on (i.e.,
the WHAT and HOW) before telling her WHY. I praised her for her efforts and
explained to her that, together, we would explore some ‘tricks’ (e.g., strategies,
cueing) that o en work with speech‐ and language‐impaired children. I
explained that the ‘tricks’ that I use are neither secret (gasp!) nor extremely
difficult (bigger gasp!). Then I provided an overview of the program and what
we are going to do over the following weeks. It sounded something like this:

“I understand that you would like us to work together to help Juan with his
communica on skills. I am excited to help you because I have some new ideas
and ‘tricks,’ or strategies, that we can try together to help him communicate

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