What’s my “why”?

Once upon a time, I had the best boss I could ever ask for. She led a team of over 100 speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, and physical therapists, and, somehow, knew each one of us as more than just an employee. She got to know us in the most unintrusive way. She reminded us that family came first and work would always be there when we came back from taking care of ourselves and our families. And she created an environment where, even though our department could only gather a few times a year, it felt like a gathering of friends, rather than just a meeting full of professional development and business. She fostered true, supportive relationships with and among her colleagues.

During one of these gatherings, which happened to also be a day full of worthwhile professional development, she asked each of us to take a moment and think about the one word that described our “why”. And while this may be just the kind of activity that makes most employees groan and dread professional development days, on that day and with that group, it became the activity that still drives my career today. 

Relationship. That was the word I came up with and the word that I still think of each time I meet a new client, a new parent, and even a new SLP. While I write long term goals and short term objectives about vocabulary, gestalts, and speech sounds, the real goal I have for the children I serve is to build strong relationships with their families, their peers, their teachers and coaches, and anyone else they want. I want their parents to feel confident that their child will one day be able to tell them how their day at school was, or all about the movie they just watched, or what they want their next birthday party to be like. I want the newly graduated SLP to know that this work is about more than k’s and g’s, more than verb tenses and following directions. I want them to know that we are in the business of improving quality of life, that everyone has a story to tell, and that communication is about sharing experiences and telling those stories.

It has become clearer and clearer to me since that day with my big, supportive group of therapist friends that in order to help my clients build relationships with others, I have to build my own relationship with them. This is why you will often hear me ask a timid toddler if it is okay for me to sit next to him, or to spend a session with a little girl watching her favorite scenes from a show so that I can better understand her passion. This is why I will review an evaluation in detail and answer as many questions as a parent may have before even considering worrying about how many words a child says in a session. And this is why I will remind that new SLP that it is okay to say, “I’m new and I’m still learning.” 

When we focus on relationships, children, parents, and therapists alike grow more confident, more comfortable, and more capable every day. When we build trust, kids become more engaged, parents become even more involved in therapy than before, and therapists feel the excitement of each little victory (and the disappointment of each little setback) right along with the family. So speech therapy with me might look very different than what you expect, but, hopefully, it is exactly what you and your child are looking for!