after school speech-new time, new therapist

Last Tuesday, SJ was back to his evening speech therapy sessions.  He had to be assigned to a different therapist.  This usually happens when we switch between summer and school time.

He had the new therapist many years ago.  She couldn't believe how much he has grown.  He went back to her room without much of a fuss.  

When their session was finished, she said he did very well.  They worked on conversational skills. First, she worked on Choosing an Interesting Topic.  She had SJ read about three different people.  Under each of their names, it listed their interests. He then had to write down something he could talk to the person about.  For example: 

Pat likes movies, bowling, remote control cars, playing the piano and playing video games.  He is in the 10th grade and walks to school. 

SJ wrote that he could talk to Pat about playing video games or bowling.

Next, they worked on Starting Conversations.  She went over the rules for starting a conversation.

1. Observe whether the person is busy or is available for a conversation.
2. Face the person and get eye contact.  (If the person looks away, it's not a good time to start a conversation.
3. Greet the person by name.  You could say "Hi, Jim".
4. Say something the person would find interesting. Make a comment or ask a question.

She had SJ read 5 sentences and write what he would say to start a conversation.  For example:

Kelly just started a job babysitting on weekends.  What could you say to Kelly?

SJ wrote, "How much money do you get paid?'

Lastly, she just sat and talked to SJ about what they had in common. She said he did very well staying on subject, asked her appropriate questions and made on topic comments.  Way to go SJ!