Dogs and Other Metaphors: Reflections on the Influence of Mark Ylvisaker

ABSTRACT

Mark Ylvisaker's death in 2009 marked the sad cessation of a prolific and rich discourse regarding what matters in brain injury rehabilitation. In this article, I reflect on how my own work has converged with and been influenced by this great thinker and doer. My own work, like Ylvisaker's, has been oriented toward finding contextually relevant ways of assessing and remediating communication and social impairments in people with severe traumatic brain injury. In this article, common themes between Ylvisaker's work and my own are explored, including the usefulness of pragmatic language theory, which helps clarify why context is important when determining whether language is appropriate or not, and also to help reveal where problems occur in the use of subtle, diplomatic, or inferred meanings. This article also reflects upon Ylvisaker's models for remediation and the extent to which these can be encompassed within (as well as shape) more traditional models of social skills training.

KEYWORDS

Traumatic brain injury - communication - social skills - pragmatics - remediation

REFERENCES

• 1 Brooks N, Campsie L, Symington C, Beattie A, McKinlay W. The five year outcome of severe blunt head injury: a relative's view.  J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1986;  49(7) 764-770
• 2 Jennett B, Adams J H, Murray L S, Graham D I. Neuropathology in vegetative and severely disabled patients after head injury.  Neurology. 2001;  56(4) 486-490
• 3 McKinlay W W, Brooks D N, Bond M R, Martinage D P, Marshall M M. The short-term outcome of severe blunt head injury as reported by relatives of the injured persons.  J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1981;  44(6) 527-533
• 4 Tate R L, Broe G A, Lulham J M. Impairment after severe blunt head injury: the results from a consecutive series of 100 patients.  Acta Neurol Scand. 1989;  79(2) 97-107
• 5 Kinsella G, Packer S, Olver J. Maternal reporting of behaviour following very severe blunt head injury.  J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1991;  54(5) 422-426
• 6 McDonald S, van Sommers P. Differential pragmatic language loss following closed head injury: ability to negotiate requests.  Cogn Neuropsychol. 1992;  10 297-315
• 7 Ylvisaker M, Holland A. Coaching, self-coaching and rehabilitation of head injury. In: Johns D Clinical Management of Neurogenic Communicative Disorders. 2nd ed. Boston, MA; Little, Brown 1986
• 8 Ylvisaker M, Feeney T J. Communication and behavior: collaboration between speech-language pathologists and behavioral psychologists.  Top Lang Disord. 1994;  15 37-54
• 9 Ylvisaker M. Communication outcome in children and adolescents with traumatic brain injury.  Neuropsychol Rehabil. 1993;  3 367-387
• 10 Ylvisaker M, Jacobs H E, Feeney T. Positive supports for people who experience behavioral and cognitive disability after brain injury: a review.  J Head Trauma Rehabil. 2003;  18(1) 7-32
• 11 Ylvisaker M, Hanks R, Johnson-Greene D. Perspectives on rehabilitation of individuals with cognitive impairment after brain injury: rationale for reconsideration of theoretical paradigms.  J Head Trauma Rehabil. 2002;  17(3) 191-209
• 12 Ylvisaker M, Turkstra L S, Coelho C. Behavioral and social interventions for individuals with traumatic brain injury: a summary of the research with clinical implications.  Semin Speech Lang. 2005;  26(4) 256-267
• 13 Ylvisaker M, Feeney T J. Collaborative Brain Injury Intervention: Positive Everyday Routines. San Diego, CA; Singular 1998
• 14 Ylvisaker M, Feeney T J. Everyday people as supports: developing competencies through collaboration. In: Ylvisaker M Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation: Children and Adolescents. 2nd ed. Newton, MA; Butterworth-Heinemann 1998: 429-464
• 15 Ylvisaker M, Mcpherson K, Kayes N, Pellett E. Metaphoric identity mapping: facilitating goal setting and engagement in rehabilitation after traumatic brain injury.  Neuropsychol Rehabil. 2008;  18 713-741
• 16 Ylvisaker M. Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation: Children and Adolescents. 2nd ed. MA; Butterworth-Heinemann 1998
• 17 Ylvisaker M, Feeney T, Urbanczyk B. A social-environmental approach to communication and behavior after traumatic brain injury.  Semin Speech Lang. 1993;  14 74-86
• 18 Ylvisaker M, Feeney T J, Szekeres S F. Social-environmental approach to communication and behavior. In: Ylvisaker M Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation: Children and Adolescents. 2nd ed. Newton, MA; Butterworth-Heinemann 1998: 271-302
• 19 Ylvisaker M, Feeney T. Reflections on Dobermans, poodles, and social rehabilitation for difficult-to-serve individuals with traumatic brain injury.  Aphasiology. 2000;  14 407-431
• 20 Sperber D, Wilson D. Relevance: Communication and Cognition Oxford. United Kingdom; Basil Blackwell 1986
• 21 Grice H P. Logic and conversation. In: Cole P, Morgan J Syntax and Semantics: Speech Acts. New York, New York; Academic Press 1975
• 22 Clark H H. Responding to indirect speech acts.  Cognit Psychol. 1979;  11 430-477
• 23 McDonald S. Differential pragmatic language loss after closed head injury: ability to comprehend conversational implicature.  Appl Psycholinguist. 1992;  13 295-312
• 24 McDonald S. Pragmatic language skills after closed head injury: ability to meet the informational needs of the listener.  Brain Lang. 1993;  44(1) 28-46
• 25 McDonald S, Pearce S. The “dice” game: a new test of pragmatic language skills after closed-head injury.  Brain Inj. 1995;  9(3) 255-271
• 26 McDonald S, Pearce S. Clinical insights into pragmatic theory: frontal lobe deficits and sarcasm.  Brain Lang. 1996;  53(1) 81-104
• 27 McDonald S, Pearce S. Requests that overcome listener reluctance: impairment associated with executive dysfunction in brain injury.  Brain Lang. 1998;  61(1) 88-104
• 28 Gumperz J J. Foreword. In: Brown P, Levinson SC Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Studies in Interactional Sociolinguistics. Cambridge, United Kingdom; Cambridge University Press 1987: 4
• 29 Snow P, Douglas J, Ponsford J. Discourse assessment following traumatic brain injury: a pilot study examining some demographic and methodological issues.  Aphasiology. 1995;  9 365-380
• 30 Togher L, Hand L, Code C. Analysing discourse in the traumatic brain injury population: telephone interactions with different communication partners.  Brain Inj. 1997;  11(3) 169-189
• 31 Togher L. Giving information: the importance of context on communicative opportunity for people with traumatic brain injury.  Aphasiology. 2000;  14 365-390
• 32 Ylvisaker M, Urbanczyk B, Feeney T. Social skills following traumatic brain injury.  Semin Speech Lang. 1992;  13 308-322
• 33 Ozonoff S, Miller J N. Teaching theory of mind: a new approach to social skills training for individuals with autism.  J Autism Dev Disord. 1995;  25(4) 415-433
• 34 Kavale K A, Forness S R. Social skill deficits and learning disabilities: a meta-analysis.  J Learn Disabil. 1996;  29(3) 226-237
• 35 Bramston P, Spence S H. Behavioural versus cognitive social-skills training with intellectually-handicapped adults.  Behav Res Ther. 1985;  23(3) 239-246
• 36 Benton M K, Schroeder H E. Social skills training with schizophrenics: a meta-analytic evaluation.  J Consult Clin Psychol. 1990;  58(6) 741-747
• 37 Tate R L. Issues in the management of behaviour disturbance as a consequence of severe head injury.  Scand J Rehabil Med. 1987;  19(1) 13-18
• 38 Croker V, McDonald S. Recognition of emotion from facial expression following traumatic brain injury.  Brain Inj. 2005;  19(10) 787-799
• 39 Green R EA, Turner G R, Thompson W F. Deficits in facial emotion perception in adults with recent traumatic brain injury.  Neuropsychologia. 2004;  42(2) 133-141
• 40 Jackson H F, Moffat N J. Impaired emotional recognition following severe head injury.  Cortex. 1987;  23(2) 293-300
• 41 McDonald S, Flanagan S. Social perception deficits after traumatic brain injury: interaction between emotion recognition, mentalizing ability, and social communication.  Neuropsychology. 2004;  18(3) 572-579
• 42 Milders M, Ietswaart M, Crawford J R, Currie D. Social behavior following traumatic brain injury and its association with emotion recognition, understanding of intentions, and cognitive flexibility.  J Int Neuropsychol Soc. 2008;  14(2) 318-326
• 43 McDonald S, Saunders J C. Differential impairment in recognition of emotion across different media in people with severe traumatic brain injury.  J Int Neuropsychol Soc. 2005;  11(4) 392-399
• 44 Channon S, Pellijeff A, Rule A. Social cognition after head injury: sarcasm and theory of mind.  Brain Lang. 2005;  93(2) 123-134
• 45 Bibby H, McDonald S. Theory of mind after traumatic brain injury.  Neuropsychologia. 2005;  43(1) 99-114
• 46 Martin I, McDonald S. Exploring the causes of pragmatic language deficits following traumatic brain injury.  Aphasiology. 2005;  19 712-730
• 47 McDonald S, Bornhofen C, Togher L, Flanagan S, Gertler P, Bowen R. Improving First Impressions: A Step by Step Social Skills Program. Sydney, Australia; ASSBI Resources 2008
• 48 Ylvisaker M. Self coaching: a context sensitive, person centred approach to social communication after traumatic brain injury.  Brain Impair. 2006;  7 246-258
• 49 Gresham F M, Sugai G, Horner R H. Interpreting outcomes of social skills training for students with high-incidence disabilities.  Except Child. 2001;  67 331-344
• 50 McDonald S, Tate R L, Togher L et al. Social skills treatment for people with severe, chronic acquired brain injuries.  Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2008;  89 1648-1659