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 In the Spotlight - Amy McConkey Robbins, M.S.Communication Consulting Services; Indianapolis, IN Short Bio Amy McConkey Robbins is a speech-language pathologist in private practice in Indianapolis, IN. She is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Speech and Hearing at Vanderbilt University and has published in professional journals and books under such topics as communication assessment, training methodologies, and language development in D/HH children with hearing aids and cochlear implants. She has authored or co-authored several assessment procedures, including the MAIS, IT-MAIS, Mr Potato Head Task and Common Phrases Test. She has worked previously at the Indiana University School of Medicine, Boys Town National Research Hospital, and as a consultant for 3M-International in Brussels, Belgium. She received a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Hollins College, Virginia, a Diploma in Phonetics and Linguistics at Leeds University, Yorkshire, England and a Master of Science in Audiology and Speech Sciences from Purdue University, Indiana. Personal Philosophy/Mission A 14th century Islamic physician, Al Razi, already beat me to my personal practice philosophy: “Pride in one’s knowledge; Humility in one’s use of knowledge.” My work in the last few years has focused much more on relationships than it did when I was a younger clinician. By that I mean that my therapy is geared toward establishing a relationship with parents allowing them to be the change agents in their children’s communication progress. I don’t see children unless their parents attend every session and are active participants in what we do. This focus on relationships isn’t just about how I relate to the parent(s), but also the relationship between the child and his or her family. My sessions often include extended family members, (I have one patient who sometimes comes to therapy with all five of his siblings!), and this leads down a path where families seek advice on issues that I would have balked at 20 years ago such as discipline, toilet training, how to foster resilience and resourcefulness, religious education…….I would never claim to have simple answers to these issues, only to recognize them as part of the whole child, and the whole family. My professional goal: To be a whole clinician. Setting/Caseload Description I primarily see children with hearing loss, and wearing cochlear implants or hearing aids. I also work with a few children with normal hearing who have language-based academic problems. I consult often with the educators who teach my students, as I have enormous respect for the task that faces classroom teachers and I view them as allies. When interacting with regular-education teachers who may initially balk at having a special-needs student in their class, I let them know, “I’m going to try to make your job easier, not harder.” I believe in using materials from the child’s school program as much as possible, so that I’m supporting academic progress, integrating their materials into my work. I have become increasingly distressed in the last few years at the bureaucracy surrounding the IEP process and the time public school clinicians spend writing IEPs. I have sat in case conferences and argued for 20 minutes over whether we should write, “80% of the time; 8 out of 10 times; or 8 out of 10 opportunities.” I see this as a squandering of valuable energy that contributes to burn-out in talented clinicians. Areas of Interest Chris Barton, an Indianapolis-based song-writer and music therapist, has become my colleague in working with most of my patients with hearing loss. She has added a new dimension to what I do, because of the power of music to enhance speech, language, and listening skills in children with cochlear implants and hearing aids. She and I have recently completed a CD and teaching tips for Advanced Bionics called TuneUps! Chris also will contribute her music suggestions to clinicians regularly via the “Listening Room” page of the AB website: www.bionicear.com Chris and I are working with Dave Sindrey to publish TuneUps! Therapy book that details how music can be woven into speech/language therapy, and vice versa. A difficult challenge facing clinicians today is dealing with bilingual children and their families. This is an area of interest for me, having grown up in Latin America and lived abroad during two other times in my life. I recently wrote an article, “Clinical Management of Bilingual Families and their Children with Cochlear Implants” that will appear as an issue of Loud and Clear for Advanced Bionics. Finally, with my father, a retired Methodist pastor, I am working on a project to explore spiritual renewal in clinicians who work with children with special needs. Favorite Therapy/Technique/Materials All my referrals are word-of-mouth. Children who succeed are our best advertisement for what we do. Caseload Management Tip In spite of being a generally disorganized person, I am almost never late for my patients – my sessions start on time and end on time, and the busy parents with whom I work can count on that. I set this as a priority when I went into private practice because of my frustration with businesses that always ran late in their appointments. Recommended Readings A Mind at a Time by Mel Levine; The Power of Now by Eckart Tolle Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz; A Song to Sing, a Life to Live by Don and Emily Saliers |