a pinch of SaLT

This week A Pinch of SaLT presents to you an interview with Han - Who has just been practicing in Bali for a year.

1. First things first, why do you work where you work? What are the pros and cons, if that’s not going to get you in trouble?

I worked in a school for children with special needs in Bali, Indonesia. I decided to take a job abroad having worked in a peripatetic role for three years in London. Even though I loved that job, I decided I wanted to take an SLT role that was based in one school. I saw an advert on a Facebook page, and much to my Mother’s dismay, I applied. When I arrived at the school there wasn’t much there - a few assessments, a computer and some old books. Luckily I had totally abused my luggage allowance and had brought supplies (tumbling monkeys, jenga, connect four, you know the drill!) The school itself was beautiful, a converted villa set in amongst the rice fields. The school mainly catered for expat children, mainstream and additional needs. My caseload was approximately 30, although I interacted with the majority of the students on some level. The best thing about the job was the flexibility in where I could deliver the therapy, some students were seen three times a week, in a 1:1, a classroom session and a session out in the community. This made working on generalising functional skills an absolute joy. The most challenging part of the work was probably the capacity at which my team had to work, we had large caseloads of multilingual children; there were some days I worked 10+ hours!

2. What is your caseload like? Is it manageable?

The caseload was awesome. A real mix of diagnosis (some children had very complex needs, but due to the resources on the island had never received a diagnosis). The age of the students ranged from 4.5 years to 19 years old. Which is really broad for one school of 70 children! I absolutely loved working with the slightly older students, where the focus was on functional life skills. We had an absolutely great time going out to coffee shops or running sessions in the shopping mall. In the final term, I ran a SMiLE Therapy group, and we saw some excellent progress because of the intensity we were able to deliver the programme. Although you could, in theory, recommend SMiLE on an EHCP, as a perpetetic therapist it is quite difficult to implement that kind of therapy! So it was a real joy to do with this cohort!

I wouldn’t say my caseload was manageable. I had therapy sessions back to back all day, with 10 minutes for case notes, and then two private clients in the evening (for an hour each). So we worked fairly flatout. The counsellor and I often joked about not seeing each other all day, except when we were running past each other to our next sessions or a developing ‘code-red’ situation!

3. When you’re stuck, where do you go for help?

Google?! No, in all seriousness, I am very lucky and my absolute super-star supervisor from London continued to supervise me whilst I was away. We regularly checked-in and discussed the complex cases I had. I also had an absolute dream team of colleagues (OT, Counsellor & Case Manager). We would often sit and problem solve cases together. I really wouldn’t have survived the year without them.

4. Describe the best day you’ve ever had at work.

That’s a difficult question - there were so many highs (and lows) in Bali. The day that springs to mind though would be our first SMiLE Therapy session. We were working with a group of teenagers, with a range of different needs. The OT and I put the programme together and set the session up. The students had never had a group therapy session together and we also had their classroom teachers there, so that they could help out with the programme.

There was such amazing positive energy in the room, it was really fun working so closely with the OT to bounce ideas off each other. The students engaged really well, and found it hilarious when we acted out the sequence of tasks (in this case it was collecting something from the office). Working closely with other practitioners, and the National teaching staff, was just brilliant.

5. Now describe the worst.

There were plenty of these in Bali, for a variety of different reasons; you regularly get ill, sometimes the power would cut for several hours, the school was fee-paying so some decisions came from ‘the top’ rather than being based on clinical rationale… I have to say, that despite it being one of the most difficult years of work, the highs were definitely worth the lows!

6. Is there anything you do now, regularly, that you never heard of at university?

There are certainly cases you come across, that make you stop in your tracks! One student I worked with had a very rare condition that caused him to ‘faint’ whenever there was a surge in neurological activity. Nothing I learnt at university prepared me to meet this little one in a school on an Indonesian island!

7. If you were to give yourself any advice for newly qualified you, what would it be?

Take advantage of every opportunity you get. It is EXHAUSTING, but be a ‘yes’ person! In the first few years, really look for as many CPD opportunities as you can, to get an understanding of the depth and breadth of things you can specialise in. Networking with other therapists is so helpful and you can quickly get an idea of the kind of place you should work. Saying ‘yes’ to Bali was a huge risk, but it has certainly paid dividends!

8. Which resource or assessment do you use the most?

Boardmaker was an absolute lifesaver. I made single displays or activity boards for many of my caseload and taught the National Teaching staff to use the programme. The software makes it so quick and easy to produce high quality resources, although I did have to get fairly creative with the symbols e.g. using ‘rice’ for ‘tempeh’ (soy bean curd)...

9. When working with other staff, teachers, SLTs, ToD, what do you think is your most helpful strategy or approach?

Building a genuine relationship is so important. As a newly qualified I definitely found this difficult, and it can continue to be challenging! We can be quite imposing to teaching staff especially, as we spend a lot of time in the classrooms. Make sure you sit down and have a chat with them first, and get to know the person not just the teacher. This can make a working relationship much easier. Small talk can be a powerful tool.