This last semester in my path toward becoming a speech-language pathologist (SLP) has been an eye-opening one. Studying communicative disorders at a time when headlines read, “officer charged with shooting autistic man’s unarmed caregiver,” or tell of an unarmed teenager with autism being accosted by police for merely stimming, has caused me to call into question the traditional role of a professional in the field. The following is a piece that I wrote for one of my classes examining this very issue. I hope that it helps to illuminate the shifting role of a professional in the real world.
In the textbook, Introduction to Communication Disorders: a lifespan evidence-based perspective, Owens, Metz, and Farinella (2015) mention the fact that many speech and language impairments diagnosed in childhood continue on into adulthood, in some form or another at a rate of approximately 70% (p. 138). Owens et al. go on to acknowledge that although “the continuation of language disorders of childhood is an important topic, it is not the focus of this chapter.” Instead, they decide to shift focus onto acquired communicative disorders, such as aphasia. But, the authors’ statements in the textbook got my mind reeling. As someone who is coming from the perspective of working with young children in school who have impairments, it made me begin to really wonder what their plight is in adulthood. Though the focus of adult communicative disorders in the class was on acquired disorders as a result of medical events like a stroke, I couldn’t help but think that both of these categories of speech-language impairment, those that have carried over into adulthood and those that have been newly acquired, share significant overlay in the realm of societal issues with implications for the role and function of future speech-language pathologists.
In some cases, the effects of an under-educated public and police force can produce devastating results. In my own research on the topic I discovered the story of Connor Leibel, a fourteen-year-old boy with autism who was apprehended by a police officer just a month ago because he was suspected of being under the influence of drugs due to his physical stimming behavior (Silberman, 2017). Connor was verbal enough to explain to the police officer that he was just “stimming,” in a rather sociable and forthcoming way; a feat that would make any SLP proud. However, this vocabulary was not part of the police officer’s vernacular, despite being highly trained to parse drug-influenced behavior, and he subsequently began to apprehend Connor. In confusion, Connor struggled and screamed as the officer’s body camera captured him being pinned to the ground. As a general warning, I find the following footage difficult to watch.
Connor was, by all means, fully functional from a therapist’s perspective. In this instance, it simply wasn’t enough that Connor was independent and possessed enough pragmatic skill to explain himself to the police officer in an intelligible manner.
There are many other cases of grown adults with autism who, like Connor, have had bad run-ins with the law for negligible reasons. Some of these end tragically. In my own experience, I’ve had an older high school student, who was also beginning to look like an adult man, be detained by police while he was simply waiting for his mother to get off of work. He was merely hanging around in his hoodie. This student has speech and executive functioning impairment, and the commands that the officer barked at him were only serving to further confuse him. He didn’t want to be defiant, but he did attempt to express himself in order to understand what the officer wanted. The stress of the situation had clearly startled him and I can’t help but think how this situation could have easily gotten out of hand.
In some cases, it is the therapists themselves who can be in harm’s way when it comes to a run in with the law. This was the case for Charles Kinsey, who was shot in the leg by a police officer while unarmed and attempting to protect his adult client with autism who happened to be carrying a toy truck; the police and a concerned neighbor thought that it might be a gun (Associated Press, 2017). It is not unimaginable that as we continue to see drug addiction and its associated behaviors (which can be confused with speech/language impairment) as a problem of criminality rather than public health, we will continue to see these sorts of events occur. This thought haunts me.
It is refreshing to see an effective blueprint for the SLP’s role in adult language impairments. The following YouTube video on Broca’s aphasia was particularly inspiring because stroke survivor, Mike Caputo, was able to found the organization Voices of Hope for those with aphasia to come together and socialize. Meanwhile, the therapist interviewing him has not stolen his voice. Caputo is in the spotlight and his therapist is giving him a platform on YouTube to essentially educate the public about the problem.
This is a beautiful example of the modern day role of a therapist who is ultimately concerned with the holistic well-being of the population they treat in addition to the people around them.
The following video example of Wernicke’s fluent aphasia touched on my fears as I imagined how someone with hyperfluent, incoherent speech could have a similar experience as Connor did with the police, or when trying to seek assistance in public. It ultimately renewed my sense of the therapist’s role.
My original perception was limited to the education of younger students; how to help them communicate with others. However, SLP’s should also teach others how to communicate with and understand those with impairments and disabilities, as well. We need to empower people with language impairments to advocate for themselves, even in adulthood. We should lend a platform for teenage and adult voices whenever possible to not only combat the depression that typically accompanies these impairments but also enable them to enhance their lives and everyday experiences in the world. It could honestly save somebody’s life.
References:
Crimesider Staff, Associated Press (2017, Apr 12). Officer charged with shooting autistic man’s unarmed caregiver. CBS News. Retrieved from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/officer-charged-with-shooting-autistic-mans-unarmed-caregiver/.
Owens, R. E., Metz, D. E., Farinella, K. A.. (2015). Introduction to communication disorders: A lifespan evidence-based perspective. U.S.A: Pearson Education, Inc.
Silberman, S. (2017, Sep 8). The Police Need to Understand Autism. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/09/19/opinion/police-autism-understanding.html.
Tactus Therapy (2017, Jun 14). Broca’s Aphasia (Non-Fluent Aphasia). Retrieved from https://youtu.be/JWC-cVQmEmY.
Tactus Therapy (2015, Sep 8). Fluent Aphasia (Wernicke’s Aphasia). Retrieved from https://youtu.be/3oef68YabD0.
