Some pictures and a little bit of learning!

To start with , some pics from the clients I specifically mentioned last week - M and Mr Oteng and some before/after type of pictures! :)

M’s improvement, as mentioned, seemed to have nothing to do with a change in medication/care, just a good ol’ fashioned miracle - especially considering the diagnosis and her condition when I first saw her (see previous posts). I can honestly say that although I did my utmost to explain M’s eating and drinking difficulties and try to work on that aspect (again, see previous posts) , the reason why M is not only on the road to recovery but even alive is 100% down to mum. She was the one who decided not to be discharged, especially under duress by hospital staff to free up beds (f’n ridiculous if you’ll pardon my language) and did amazingly in carrying out oral care (the responsibility of the family not the medical staff out here) and following strict instructions regarding food/drink. A wonderful mother and a wonderful kid. I saw M today and she is already understanding “Wh” questions (What, Where etc..) and responding in beautiful sentences.

I would like to point out that in this picture
M is not smiling but clenching her teeth as
a result of a seizure that occured days previous.

A beautiful young girl hopefully on the road to full recovery

Mr O and his recovery is again a testament to not only his strength but also the support of his brother George. I have made a number of blog entries regarding the incredible support/work the duo have made and the steps George has taken to not only support his brother but also relay all information to other family members to carry out strategies based around word-finding difficulties, his dominant difficulty. Additionally, with the help of my Yellow House Colleague Rachael Gibson who I managed to drag down on a number of occasions to deliver oro-motor exercises, an area she is specially trained in, George and Mr O have been working tirelessly on continued home therapy in this area. I will see them for a follow-up on Friday morning to see if Mr O has done his homework ;)

Sooo - onto the main part of this week, the 4th East African Speech and Language Therapy Conference held in Kampala. As I don’t wanna bore non-SLT’s (and even SLT’s as well!) I’m gonna have a little write and then a list of ten things I learnt from the conference.

The conference was brilliant. It was the first conference I’ve ever really been to and I can confidently say it probably nothing like how a normal conference runs and even more confidently say that I hope to be back in 2 years for the next one. There were over 50 people who attended from 15 different countries - most working within or part of working wihin East African countries (lecturers, researchers, SLT’s and other professions) plus some amazing special guest speakers such as Cath Irvine (Intensive Interaction) and Lindy McAllister (Clinical Education). Rachael and Martin (O.T / Head of Mumias EARC) put on an excellent presentation of the Yellow House Team, who we are, the work we have done and the challenges we face and how we plan to overcome them. I joined them and David (O.T from Uganda who works alongside Rach) for the plenary session to answer questions. I didn't even know what the word plenary meant until the conference!

Things I learnt (among others!):

1. In 2005, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated 600 million people had hearing loss with 80% of cases in developing countries. The majority of these cases are preventable/treatable.

2. Currently in Kenya there is approximately one Speech therapist to every 4 million people.

3. A much nicer word for “Challenging behaviour” is “exotic behaviour” as coined by Cath Irvine (note - this is not a term that should be used in the professional world whilst writing case notes!)

4. Some traditional (still practiced) practices to eliminate a stammer are to throw a child into a river repeatedly and to eat peanuts that have been left by a parrot whilst talking.

5. Quibble seems like a fun party game

6. Research should be done into a link between SLT’s and dancing ability because on the whole people were throwing shapes on the Saturday night!

7. Intensive Interaction seems p-retty amazing.  It is aimed at children and adults who have severe learning difficulties and/or autism and who are still at an early stage of communication development however more research is coming up for other client groups it could be useful for. Check it out.

8. If interested in disability work/rights and what is happening all over the globe check out the following: “World report on disability”, “UN convention on rights of persons with Disability”, “Millenium Development Goals” and last but by no means least “Communication Therapy International.

9. Almost purely based on the conference and the speakers, many of whom talked about research, I am beginning to consider a Msc project, possibly within Kenya if at all possible. I am so easily influenced.

10. The amount of people (as mentioned) who attended, plus the types of people and guest speakers has really shown (I’ve been told by those who attended previous year/s) how much speech therapy and the understanding/awareness of communication difficulties in Eastern Africa has grown. Long may it continue.

Turns out I have less than a month left before I return! Additionalyl I’m hoping to finish up with a week spare to make sure I leave everything in a good place before heading to Nairobi a little early to have a bit of a shop and to be lucky enough to observe an experienced therapist who has been living here since 1999 :) (Thanks Emma!)

A last quick plug for a Speech and Language E-Book project I’m trying to get off the ground -  It is an E-book project whereby the aim is to create an easy to read, informative book of short stories based on Speech and Language Therapists and Service Users experiences. The idea is to promote the role of a Speech and Language Therapist, the work we do and the people we do it with. Essentially, the E-publication (through Amazon) is designed to get a greater number of people to understand what we do!

Please e-mail me if interested at jonathanmlfagan@gmail.com and/or join the facebook group cleverly entitled “SLT E-book project”

Hope all’s well with everyone wherever you may reside in the world,

Big hugs,

Jon x

Top 3 songs played on Itunes shuffle whilst writing this:

1. Small Town Girl - Good Shoes
2. To Whom It May Concern - The Civil Wars
3. Emergency - The Answering Machine