Constructing (in)competence

Chapter 2

“I Used to Be Good With Kids.” Encounters Between Speech-Language Pathology Students and Children With Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD)

Robert Stillman

Ramona Snow

Kirsten Warren

Program in Communication DisordersUniversity of Texas at DallasCallier Center for Communication Disorders

INTRODUCTION

“I used to be good with kids” was a comment made by a graduate speech-language pathology student contrasting her prior experiences with children and her first assignment to provide therapy to a child with pervasive developmental disorders (PDD). The phrase effectively captures the bewilderment induced by children whose social and communicative behaviors are unfamiliar and incongruent with accepted notions about the ways young children ...