The interactional dimensions of language therapy
Document Type
Article
Date of Original Version
1-1-1997
Abstract
This article distinguishes between adult- and child-centered intervention practices according to five interrelated dimensions of therapy context: the event, the agenda, the interactional lead, evaluation, and repair. To illustrate how these five dimensions could potentially manifest themselves during interaction, clinicians were asked to engage a child of their own choosing in both adult- and child-centered intervention. The present discussion focuses on a turn-by-turn analysis of an excerpt from one of the child-centered language therapy sessions. Analysis reveals that simply doing away with three-part quiz question sequences, eliminating explicit verbal evaluations of a child's communicative performance, and changing the function of repair does not necessarily result in a more child-centered interaction. To evaluate the child-centeredness of intervention, one must understand the communicative relationships between speakers as they manifest them-selves during ongoing sequences of interaction that are embedded in therapeutic events.
Publication Title, e.g., Journal
Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools
Volume
28
Issue
3
Citation/Publisher Attribution
Kovarsky, Dana, and Judith F. Duchan. "The interactional dimensions of language therapy." Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools 28, 3 (1997): 297-307. doi: 10.1044/0161-1461.2803.297.