The Speech Maker

Since early 2015, speech pathologist Tracy Littlejohn has been volunteering at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Dandenong, working with members to improve their spoken English.

“Most people seeking asylum who I work with don’t have speech impairments, but do have difficulty effectively communicating in English,” Tracy explained.

“This can be due to difficulty in pronouncing the sounds in English, the differences in speech rate, stress and intonation, or formation of grammatical sentences. These all impact on how well people in our community understand them, and how easily they can integrate into the community and in particular into the workforce.”

Dandenong ASRC’s “terrific” employment and education teams refer members to Tracy who are deemed ready to work but need to improve their English communication and also refer members who require good communication skills to meet their education aspirations.

She starts by assessing members’ speaking skills, such as how they pronounce consonants and vowels, the way they formulate sentences and their stress and intonation patterns. After an assessment, Tracy sets learning goals with members and their sessions target the areas identified as needing extra assistance.

She incorporates iPad apps to demonstrate the way in which sounds are produced. In turn her clients are using voice-recorder apps on mobile devices for their vocal “homework”.

“There is homework after a session because lots of practice is needed to change speech patterns,” Tracy said.

“Most people are highly motivated to do this. Some of the activities encourage generalisation of skills to communication situations such as using the telephone, asking directions or going to an interview.”

Her clients at ASRC Dandenong may only see Tracy “for a session or two to work on a small articulation error or to discuss a specific communication strategy”.

One of Tracy’s clients, Anna*, demonstrates the effectiveness of the speech therapy service. Anna had a strong English vocabulary and was highly motivated to learn, but people often struggled to understand her English. Anna had been told this was why she wasn’t getting past the job-interview stage.

“She was feeling frustrated and disheartened,” Tracy said.

“I worked with Anna weekly initially, then fortnightly, on consonants, vowels, stress patterns, and intonation. As well as practising homework activities, Anna researched and developed her own vocabulary lists.

“I’m happy to say that she is nearly always understood these days, and is working toward achieving some of her longer-term goals for employment.”

After 30 years as a speech pathologist, Tracy enjoys “using some of my professional skills working with ASRC members” as well as offering a service that may otherwise be beyond the financial means of most members.

“It has been a great opportunity to share some stories, and get to know a little of people’s lives. I look forward to my ASRC days each week. They are usually busy, sometimes chaotic, but always a lot of fun,” she said.

According to ASRC Dandenong manager Rosa Misitano “the difference Tracy is making to the lives of people seeking asylum is amazing”.

“So many of them are told they are too difficult to understand; their accents are too heavy. And she is working with members and raising their confidence levels,” Rosa said.

Tracy’s ambitions for her speech therapy role at ASRC Dandenong next year include running more small groups for members to practice speaking English with each other. She is also considering enlisting members as “communication helpers”.

“Lots of people go home to practice and teach a skill they have learnt … so they may be interested to take on a ‘helping’ role,” she said.

*Not her real name