Article from Advance -Interview With An Aquatic Therapist

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Early Intervention Speech Therapy

Interview: Aquatic Therapist B. Nachimson, MA, CCC-SLP, CMT - Part 1

Published January 15, 2009 5:37 PM by Bruno

I have had the absolute pleasure of speaking with and interviewing

B. Nachimson (pronounced /nakumson/). has been practicing

speech therapy for over 30 years in many different arenas and venues.

is trained in both NDT (Neuro-Developmental Treatment) and WATSU

(Water Shiatsu). She is also a certified massage therapist and

implements aquatic therapy with speech clients frequently in practice.

's experiences both in the field of speech-language pathology and

beyond, I'm sure, will delight and amaze you! Enjoy reading below as

we embark upon 's professional journey from a young professional

to a multi-dimensional therapist.

: , tell us about your background and when you first

started practicing as an SLP.

: I began practicing in this profession in August 1976 in public

schools after having received an MA Degree in Speech Pathology at

Humboldt State University, Arcata, California. I received a BA from

Valley State College, now California State University, Northridge

(CSUN), 1965. I spent those between years raising children and taking

a graduate course here and there until I finally found myself in a

great position to complete the teaching credential I began in the '60s

and acquired an MA in the same year. My children were in elementary

school by now and every time I volunteered as a parent I was enticed

into screening students with speech and language issues who were not

being served in the years before public law demanded identification,

assessment and treatment for our students.

: How did you become interested in furthering your

certifications and getting NDT trained, as well as becoming a

certified massage therapist?

: After years of working within the ASHA model and following

recommendations and strategies picked up from specialized continuing

education courses, state and national speech pathology conventions and

multitudes of purchased textbooks and manuals, I was asked to work

with a two-year-old child with cerebral palsy. Her mother asked, `Are

you an NDT Therapist?' `No', I said. `Do you know what that is?' she

asked. `No,' I said again. `Are you interested in learning?' the mom

then asked. `Sure,' I said.

That was the beginning of a shift in this profession for me that was

very interesting, profound, and exciting.

After this, I was led to a colleague who taught NDT

(Neurodevelopmental Treatment, aka Bobaths) strategies for speech

pathologists and my hands-on education began. I had already enrolled

in a massage therapy licensing course. I had a patient, post CVA, with

oral apraxia of speech and severe limitations in breath support who

appeared to benefit from a hands-on approach.

By this time I had taken some courses in Transpersonal Psychology that

emphasized issues in the body that were affected by breath-holding

incidents secondary to trauma. Stroke, CP, seizures were all

conditions that resulted from trauma. It was simple to put the

concepts together from a psychological approach to a functional speech

pathology approach. I was aware that touch needed to be brought into

my practice. As a certified massage therapist (CMT) I was licensed to

practice hands-on chest compression to facilitate deeper and fuller

breath control for my patients. So, now, I was enrolled in massage

therapy and learning NDT simultaneously hoping I was heading in a

positive direction!

: Well, we know now that you definitely were! You have so

many skills! So, now, tell us what led you to doing aquatic speech

therapy?

: In 1986, after my last child graduated from high school, I

prepared to take an 8-week pediatric NDT course in order to enable me

to work with young children with a variety of multiple disorders with

feeding, speech and language needs. I was fortunate to have an

opportunity to work at Easter Seals in San Francisco as a temporary

replacement for a colleague on maternity leave. It was there that I

saw many under 3-year-olds in both the clinic and home-care settings.

The child who led me into water was two-and-a-half years old. He

crawled with a stiff body, had severe laryngeal blocking and was

frequently very angry. It occurred to me that maybe we were not a good

match after frequently being hit by him.

Finally, one day, I asked his mother, `How is this little guy in his

bath? Does he enjoy the water?' It is so amazing when the perfectly

correct moment occurs. His mom responded, " He LOVES his bath—he

laughs and splashes all the time! "

I heard `laugh' and was inspired! I started to discuss working in

water. The rest is history! This sweet boy locked into his body,

traumatized by limited breath support and poor muscle development,

became independent in water. His warm-up time on the ramp was seconds

as he crawled into the water. Mom trusted me to do the right thing.

My personal experience was teaching all of my own children and nieces

and nephews and friends' children to swim for fun. In addition, I

learned in transpersonal psychology workshops about a prenatal journey

in water that is a tool used to help people unlock deeply rooted traumas.

This little guy just went under and used all-fours to swim towards his

mom, pulling his head straight out of the water and laughing a clear,

open belly laugh with no traces of laryngeal blocking or limited

inhalation! It was absolutely AWESOME to say the least.

I wasn't sure how to interpret the session per goals and objectives,

but I knew we addressed increasing respiration for phonation! The

most remarkable awareness was how independent and functional this

child was in water in contrast to totally disabled on land. I knew

there needed to be a transition from water to land. Unfortunately,

there were no follow through sessions with this child, but many new

sessions with other children were tried with new strategies being

developed with each one and hence began my love for aquatic therapy!

Today, my favorite place to practice in my field is when providing

diagnostic therapy in a warm water setting, preferably in a shallow

swimming pool or spa that is at least 93F!

Thank you so much for reading the first half of my interview with the

dynamic aquatic speech therapist, B. Nachimson. Please join us

Tuesday for the second half of our interview, when will explain

her recommendations for successful aquatic therapy as well as where

you can find now!

Bruno Dowling, M.S. CCC-SLP

Occupation: Speech-Language Pathologist

Setting: Early Intervention in Delaware County, PA

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