Revealing Ability Amidst Perceived Disability in Clinical Interactions: A Nice Idea or a Clinical Imperative?

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Walsh, Irene P.

Affiliations: School of Clinical Speech & Language Studies, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Abstract: Exposing ability where more usually disability is described in people with communication disorders is by no means a new or groundbreaking idea. Speech and language therapists are ever-cognisant of the need to work through a client’s communication strengths to address weaknesses. But what does revealing competence really mean and are we, as therapists, just paying ‘lip-service’ to the notion, rather than permitting it to positively and realistically influence our practice? This paper shows how the skilled behaviour of conversational sociability can be exposed in conversational interactions with people with chronic schizophrenia – a largely neglected population in terms of communication research – thus revealing ability where traditionally only disability has been discussed. Through discourse analysis, it will be shown that reconsidering the nature of ordinary, everyday talk can provide useful insights about the nature of so-called ‘disordered talk’. Identifying conversational strengths rather than weaknesses offers an opportunity to re construe the communication possibilities of people with schizophrenia and hence of many other communication-disordered populations. Exposing the positive skill of conversational sociability also forces us to contemplate the power of sociable talk (or small talk) in, and the influence of our own discourse style on, clinical interactions.

Keywords: conversational ability/disability, chronic schizophrenia, small talk, clinical interactions

DOI: 10.3233/ACS-2003-12-13110

Journal: Journal of Clinical Speech and Language Studies, vol. 12_13, no. 1, pp. 118-146, 2003