Too good to be true

“100% problem free!”

People often think about the benefits of speech & language therapy, but ignore possible problems. But all assessments and interventions can cause problems as well as benefits.

People often don’t think about potential harmful effects that assessments or interventions can have. For example, many people referred for speech and language therapy may be being seen and assessed by lots of other professionals too. This may cause a level of anxiety or uncomfortableness in being asked to perform on tasks they find difficult.

It’s easy to ignore any potential problems of engagement with speech and language therapy when you are keen to help someone get better, but it’s important to make sure you are fully informed and facilitating the service user to make a clear, reasoned choice.

BEWARE when there are claims that a treatment or intervention is “100% problem-free” or does not consider side effects or problems.

REMEMBER: No assessment or intervention is necessarily 100% problem free, for 100% of service users 100% of the time. Assessments and interventions can cause problems as well as having many benefits.