Have you ever had to work with a patient that couldn't communicate verbally due a physical condition? How did you effectively work with that patient?

"In my current role, I have worked with a couple of patients that were diagnosed with ALS that lost their ability to communicate verbally. With these patients, it was vital that I consult with our Speech Language Pathologist to assess the patients needs first. After that, in both cases, the patients were given the ability to communicate with computer aided devices. As their Occupational Therapist, it was important for me to be trained on the device that each patient was using so I could effectively communicate with them moving forward."

Be open and honest with your experience on this question. If you have had experience here, talk about how you worked with that particular patient and how you effectively communicated. If you haven't had direct experience working with a non-verbal patient, talk about how you would work with them.

"In my current role, I worked with a patient suffering from aphasia. The patient had a stroke and was unable to verbal communicate upon being admitted. Working with our speech language pathologist, I was able to use a communication board with the patient and they were very receptive to doing to. The arrangement worked out very well and I was in a good place working with a great SLP."