Re:-Interview With An Aquatic Therapist

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I had some time to catch up on backlogged digests and read this

article...its great, thanks for finding it and sharing it LIsa!

I wanted to also bring up for those of you who are not aware of this,

but PT and OT are also offered in aquatic settings. Both of my girls

did aquatic Physical Therapy and Hannah is still continuing her

aquatic PT to address her hypotonia. It is an awesome alternative to

PT if you have access to it. Hannah who has apraxia, is getting

speech, ot and pt twice a week through insurance, and I decided to

have aquatic PT be one of the two sessions. So she gets aquatic PT and

regular PT and its an awesome combination. In addition, it also helps

with her speech. She is so happy in the warm water that she chatters

nonstop with her PT who engages her in whatever Hannah's imagaination

is at the moment and leads the related activities (i.e. Hannah wants

to play pretend princess tea party and they talk about it while

working on muscle strengthening activities). There is also aquatic OT

which I may consider this summer. I cannot recommend aquatic therapy

highly enough if you are able to access this. Check out your local

United Cerebral Palsy (you don't have to have a dx of cp to utlize

their services), your local children's hospital, Easter seals, or

even a major rehabilitation center.

Lori

>

> 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

>

http://community.advanceweb.com/blogs/sp_1/archive/2009/01/15/interview-aquatic-\

therapist-susan-b-nachimson-ma-ccc-slp-cmt-151-part-1.aspx

>

> =====

>