"Cajoling" as a means of engagement in the dysphagia clinic

Rapport and cooperation are key features of many clinical interactions including those of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and clients. A desirable by-product of rapport can be described as "engagement" where participants share a mutual focus while working toward a common goal. Through an analysis of clinical discourse, this article maps the trajectory of engagement as manifest in interactions between a SLP and a client with right hemisphere damage and dysphagia. The analysis shows that, in response to some apparently inappropriate comments made by the client, the SLP responded with teasing or what she called "cajoling" behavior. Cajoling accompanied by humor and laughter became the SLP's way of gaining and maintaining cooperation in this context. Instead of such behavior being viewed as "unprofessional," careful mapping of this behavior across several interactions served to demonstrate its value in the ultimate joint achievement of goals. Implications for how such constructions of engagement may be manifest through talk in the SLP clinic are discussed.