Nature and community inspired intervention
Specializing in connecting children with diverse abilities to themselves, their communication capability, their community and the natural world
‘Nature and Community Inspired’ speech-language pathology service is an innovative and experiential (and experimental!) service delivery model partially borne out of COVID-19 requirements, partially out of best practices in child development, and partially out of the unconventional dreams of this SLP.
The natural world inherently offers an abundance of exciting provocations and materials that spark joy, curiosity, and exploration. The goal of ‘nature- community inspired’ communication sessions is to use the natural environment, materials, and provocations to spark inspiration and creativity that intrinsically spurs the development of speech, language, communication, and social skills. This may mean spending a portion of each session walking in the community, bringing nature materials inside the therapy room, and/or roaming outside for the entire session and rolling with whatever opportunities come our way!
Sessions may involve a combination of structured adult-directed tasks and unstructured ‘emergent’ opportunities whereby we follow the child’s lead, embedding communication opportunities and strategies within their interests. We approach each session with the flexibility to allow opportunities for the session to evolve depending on the child’s interests and the natural communicative opportunities that present themselves that day. Individual communication goals will be embedded and targeted through exploration, inquiry, conversation, and natural provocations as we explore and discover the outdoor space. (Assuming individual session), parents observe and participate in the session, coached by the SLP about strategies to support the child’s goals. Each child’s program (i.e., the proportion of time spent in structured/unstructured activities) will look different depending on their individualized needs, interests, and the therapeutic environment.