Humor Use in Speech and Language Therapy in Romania

Authors

  • Carolina Bodea-Hațegan PhD Associate Professor at Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Department of Special Education, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
  • Raluca Nicoleta Trifu Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy Cluj-Napoca
  • Dorina Anca Talaș Associate Professor PhD, Department of Special Education Department, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
  • Teodora Popescu School Center for Inclusive Education No. 1 Bistrita, speech therapist
  • Bogdan Nemeș Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18662/rrem/16.1/819

Keywords:

humor, speech and language therapy, health, education, wellbeing

Abstract

Humor, as part of our lives, is also extremely important in different professional settings. Speech and language therapy (SLT) sector is addressing both children and adults with specific language disorders or with non-specific language disorders, secondary to different syndromes or disabilities. In the SLT area, humor is a way through which therapy sessions can be easily introduced, it being an intrinsic modality of approaching children and adults. This article illustrates the data collected in the first Romanian study regarding humor use in the SLT sector, focusing on the way humor is perceived by specialists, but at the same time on the participants’ needs regarding the enriching of the SLT field with more materials both digitally born and/or printed. This study presents extended descriptive data that help us consider humor as a vital element during speech therapy sessions, independently of the professionals’ age, gender, experience and to create a collection of data regarding humor use in speech therapy for future therapeutic effective interventions. Thus, the most relevant collected data are as follows: of the 210 participants in this research just 12 (5.7%) responded that they do not use humor in their professional sector; 94.3% use humor in language disorder therapy activities; 39% use humor in every therapeutic session; more than 68% of participants use verbal humor during their sessions; 199 (94.8%) say that therapeutic materials with humorous content are mainly presented in traditional format (physical material resources); 129 responded they use humor (61.4%) in virtual format too - (digital resources); 68 % of the participants strongly agree/agree that a humor assessment tool is necessary for the effective use of humor in language disorder therapy.

Author Biographies

Carolina Bodea-Hațegan, PhD Associate Professor at Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Department of Special Education, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca

Carolina Bodea Haţegan is a PhD Associate Professor at Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca,
Department of Special Education, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Babeş-Bolyai
University, Cluj-Napoca/ founding member and president of the Association of Specialists in Speech and
Language Therapy in Romania-ASTTLR. Her areas of interest are: speech and language disorders, voice
disorders, language assessment, early intervention in speech and language field, learning disabilities.
Author and co-author of 12 volumes (of which the most recent and most popular is the volume Speech
Therapy. Therapy of language disorders. Open Structures) of over 100 scientific articles, involved in the
process of translation and adaptation for the Romanian language of a series of materials in the field of
speech and language therapy. For the Future ESLA Congress she is the Chair of the Scientific Committee.

Raluca Nicoleta Trifu, Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy Cluj-Napoca

Raluca Trifu is an associate professor and researcher at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Cluj – Napoca and founding member and vice-president of the Association of Specialists in Speech and Language Therapy in Romania-ASTTLR and European Speech and Language Association board member responsible for Professional and Scientific-based Standards.

At university, she primarily teaches students in the medical field and students in the field of special education. In her clinical practice, Raluca focuses on language development in children with typical or impaired development and on adults with neurologic language disorder. Her interests include early intervention and prevention of language impairment and myofunctional therapy.

Raluca is the author and co-author of 5 volumes, over 40 scientific article and numerous conference proceedings. She is involved in the process of translation and adaptation for the Romanian language of a series of materials in the field of speech and language therapy.

Dorina Anca Talaș, Associate Professor PhD, Department of Special Education Department, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca

Dorina Anca Talaș holds a PhD in Psychology, since 2012 she is an associate professor at the Department of Special Education Department, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, where she teaches courses and seminars in the field of language therapy and educational audiology. She has 22 years of teaching experience in pre-university education, including three years in education in the USA, where she participated in training courses in the field of ASD and learning disabilities. He promotes the use of information and communication technologies in education and therapy. He is the author of books, articles and digital resources. She is vice-president of the Association of Specialists in Speech and Language Therapy from Romania

Teodora Popescu, School Center for Inclusive Education No. 1 Bistrita, speech therapist

Teodora Popescu is a spech language therapiest at the CSEI nr 1 Bistrita.

Bogdan Nemeș, Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy

Bogdan Nemeș is a specialist psychiatrist, doctor of medical sciences and associate professor at the Department of Neuroscience,  Discipline  of Medical Psychology and Psychiatry of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Iuliu Hațieganu" Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
He has over 15 years of experience in basic, clinical and epidemiological research in psychiatry and mental health.
He acted as a technical group expert in the government program Caring for Children.

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Published

2024-03-01

How to Cite

Bodea-Hațegan, C. ., Trifu, R. N., Talaș, D. A. ., Popescu, T., & Nemeș, B. (2024). Humor Use in Speech and Language Therapy in Romania. Revista Romaneasca Pentru Educatie Multidimensionala, 16(1), 195-223. https://doi.org/10.18662/rrem/16.1/819

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Section

Reform, Change and Innovation in Education

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