Dear Elisa,
I awoke this morning with you on my mind; specifically the review that we discussed
In the last few visits. You have conveyed to me some of your experiences with the Teaching
of Talking Method. You conveyed how you started out doing conventional therapy and how
that was for you. You indicated to me an excitement when I invited you into the “Teaching of
Talking World” of mine with patients and saw what was possible; a new way of doing therapy
that required essentially no homework sheets, etc, but a style of inquiry and answer; question
and answer. A way to stimulate thought, which then triggers language. Interesting questions
that stimulate language. And then making sure that the questions that are posed elicit the number
of words and complexity of language the client is capable of. How cool is that?
What I wish for you to review is how TOT and your mentorship experience with me has impacted
the way you do therapy and the results you have been getting (with examples)
Would you also go through the book and really write about it in a few paragraphs. What makes this
book different from the standard textbooks you had in the past. How is the readability and the style?
What can you tell about the author of this book as compared to the authors who write speech pathology
books. What are the distinctions made by this author and how is he different from the others?
Is this a book you would recommend to your clients and friends? If so, why? What would
happen if a caregiver you were working with in therapy showed interest in doing whatever it took
to help his or her loved one? What would you tell them about the book, and why would you tell them
about it. What do you think would be possible if he or she were to pick up the book and study it for the
methods therein contained? And then applied them? How about fellow colleagues or friends from
school who were working with children and adults with severe speech and language difficulties?
What do you think of the approach within The Teaching of Talking? The chapter on Modeling and the
factors that are necessary to be a good speech model. What do you think of the screening test that will
show the reader what a speech pathologist evaluates, and how the author helps the reader figure out if
The Teaching of Talking is the right approach for them? What do you think of the style of instruction where
I give readers actual transcripts that are verbatim in order to help them learn the method. And repeat them
over and over in order to get the method embedded into the mind of the reader. What do you think of the conclusion
that not only reviews what was written in the book, but the personal viewpoints of simplicity, never making one
wrong or the philosophy of “re-stimulate” rather than making a value judgement or saying the “response was wrong?”
Or the suggestion of successive approximation? Allowing the patient to answer in the best way that he or she can
and reinforcing that, with the thought that therapy is about a gradual movement towards improvement, and realizing
that with each and every opportunity to speak, the person with the communication difficulty (PCD) should improve speaking
clarity and complexity of language? What the approach is about is always ENCOURAGEMENT. The ability to take what
the client/patient is capable of and accept and reinforce that for now, while always stimulating that response through the
model and modifying the model constantly to get the desired response from the client. One of the essential ingredients of
The Teaching of Talking; the model and how the clinician is always modifying his or her model to get the target response
towards speaking clarity and normalcy. By accepting what a client can do for now, and encouraging anything he can produce
the person with the speaking difficulty (PCD) has no stress or feeling of inadequacy since the clinician is constantly taking the response given and re-stimulating by changing the model of the question or the tell me phrase, until the responses are meeting the goal set by clinician (Speech Model SM) and person with the speaking difficulty (PCD).
What do you think of the stories I intersperse throughoutThe Teaching of Talking in order to make a point?
Can you give some examples of what you found to be helpful for you?
Is it the kind of book a speech pathologist or a caregiver could get value out of. It’s readability or simplicity?
What do you think of this new style of doing therapy and the response patients are having when they have the
chance to talk about what is of interest to them, and what they value? (within the structure of language that they can tolerate?)
What I hope you can do dear Elisa, is put your heart into the writing of this review and really convey a message
to the audience. Hopefully an audience who will see the value in a simple method, that is really the
one used by many parents, with children, as a child learns to talk; at home; first simple words, word pairs, phrases
and sentences. The child does not learn to speak with homework sheets, speech notebooks and the like.
The child learns to speak through an intimate relationship with a loved one who is always inquiring. It is
a constant inquiry and answer, which in time gets expanded from simple answers to more complex ones, simply by the
parent or speech model who is constantly expanding and clarifying. It is very much like the fundamental principles of
The Teaching of Talking.
Finally how has this book impacted you as a clinician; Can you share that with others and let them know how you
think it will have a similar effect upon them as slp’s or caregivers. How about our discussion of changing health care and the
caps that will certainly be a thing of the future. How will that impact people with mild to profound speaking difficulties. Can this
book have an impact for clinicians and caregivers alike who will only have a few visits to get someone started in therapy. That
in the future, skilled, ongoing care will be a thing of the past for most people with severe speaking difficulties. And why this book
was written by the author, who saw the future of speech pathology services, and wanted to provide people with speaking difficulties and their loved ones a way back to speaking when their health care delivery system could not?
Reviews are the lifeblood of whether a book makes it in the marketplace or not I hope you will write a review that
comes from your heart and soul and conveys who YOU are and what is possible within the walls of the therapy room,
and the improvement of speaking for others with this method.
I send my very best to you, as always. Your review could have a great influence on whether others would invest their time and effort on this new approach to the improvement in talking!
Mark
Mark A. Ittleman, M.S., CCC/SLP
The Speech Therapist who can make a rock talk!
markittleman@teachingoftalking.com
http://teachingoftalking.com
Office: 713-728-9008
“Helping people speak better
through out the world!”
